Imam Ali (AS) called him and asked of him: "I am given to understand that you have purchased this house for eighty dinars and a sales deed has also been completed regularizing it with signatures of witnesses". Shurayh replied, "O Amir al-Mu'minin this is a fact". Hearing this Imam Ali (AS) felt annoyed and said to him: "Shurayh be warned that a thing (death) will come to you; it will not take any notice of this sales deed nor will it accept the testimony of the witnesses but it will take you out of this house alone and unattended and will drag you to your grave. And before such a thing happens, you must think well over the fact whether you have purchased this house with the money which does not belong to you but to somebody else and whether the purchase price was acquired with foul means or it was an ill-gotten wealth, which met its cost, if it was so, then remember that you will part (through death) with this house and in the bargain you will lose your place in Paradise. If you had come to me prior to this transaction I would have drafted such a sales deed for you that you would not have cared to purchase this property even for a dirham. You know what the transfer deed would have been like, it would have been phrased in the following words:
روي أنّ شريح بن الحارث قاضي أميرالمؤمنين(عليه السلام) اشترى على عهده داراً بثمانين ديناراً،
It is related that Shurayh ibn al-Harith (al-Kindi) who was Amir al-mu'minin's Qadi (judge) at Kufah during his tenure purchased a house for eighty Dinars.
فبلغه (عليه السلام) ذلك، فاستدعى شريحاً، وقال له:
When it became known to Amir al-mu'minin he sent for him and said to him:
بَلَغَنِي أَنَّكَ ابْتَعْتَ دَاراً بِثَمانِينَ دِينَاراً،
I have come to know that you have purchased a house for eighty Dinars,
وَكَتَبْتَ لَهَا كِتَاباً،
and that you have written a document for it
وَأَشْهَدْتَ فِيهِ شُهُوداً.
and put witnessing on it.
فقال شريح: قد كان ذلك يا أميرالمؤمنين. قال: فنظر إليه(عليه السلام) نظر مغضب ثمّ قال له:
Shurayh, replied: Yes, Amir al-mu'minin, it is so. Amir al-mu'minin cast an angry look at him and said to him:
يَا شُرَيْحُ،
O Shurayh,
أَمَا إِنَّهُ سَيَأْتِيكَ مَنْ لاَ يَنْظُرُ فِي كِتَابِكَ،
beware, shortly one body (the angel of death) will come to you who will not look at the document,
وَلاَ يَسْأَلُكَ عَنْ بَيِّنَتِكَ،
nor question you about your evidence
حَتَّى يُخْرِجَكَ مِنْهَا شَاخِصاً،
but take you out of it far away
وَيُسْلِمَكَ إلَى قَبْرِكَ خَالِصاً.
and deposit you in your grave quite alone.
فَانْظُرْ يَا شُرَيْحُ لاَ تَكُونُ ابْتَعْتَ هذِهِ الدَّارَ مِنْ غَيْرِ مَالِكَ،
Look! O Shurayh, if you have purchased this, house from money other than yours
أَوْ نَقَدْتَ الَّثمَنَ مِنْ غَيْرِ حَلاَلِكَ!
or paid the price from unlawful source,
فَإِذَا أَنْتَ قدْ خَسِرْتَ دَارَ الدُّنْيَا وَدَارَ الاْخِرَةِ!
you have incurred loss of this world as well as of the next.
أَمَا إِنَّكَ لَوْ كُنْتَ أَتَيْتَنِي عِنْدَ شِرَائِكَ مَا اشْتَرَيْتَ لَكَتَبْتُ لَكَ كِتاباً عَلَى هذِهِ النُّسْخَةِ،
If you had come to me at the time of purchase I would have written for you a document on this paper
فَلَمْ تَرْغَبْ فِي شِرَاءِ هذِهِ الدَّارِ بِدِرْهَم فَمَا فَوْقُ.
and then you would not have liked to purchase the house even for one Dirham, not to speak of more.
والنسخة هذه:
That document is this:-
هذَا مَا اشْتَرَى عَبْدٌ ذَلِيلٌ،
This is about a purchase made by a humble slave (of Allah)
مِنْ مَيِّت قَدْ أُزْعِجَ لِلرحِيلِ،
from another slave ready to depart (for the next world).
اشْتَرَى مِنْهُ دَاراً مِنْ دَارِ الْغُرُورِ،
He has purchased a house out of houses of deceit
مِنْ جَانِبِ الْفَانِينَ،
in the area of mortals
وَخِطَّةِ الْهَالِكِينَ،
and the place of those liable to perish.
وَتَجْمَعُ هذِهِ الدَّارَ حُدُودٌ أَرْبَعَةٌ:
This house has four boundaries as follows:
الْحَدُّ الاْوَّلُ يَنْتَهِي إِلَى دَوَاعِي الاْفَاتِ،
The first boundary is contiguous to sources of calamities;
وَالْحَدُّ الثَّانِي يَنْتَهِي إِلَى دَوَاعِي الْمُصِيباتِ،
the second boundary adjoins the sources of distress;
وَالْحَدُّ الثَّالِثُ يَنْتَهِي إلَى الْهَوَى الْمُرْدِي،
the third boundary adjoins devastating desire;
وَالْحَدُّ الرَّابِعُ يَنْتَهِي إِلَى الشَّيْطَانِ الْمُغْوِي،
and the fourth boundary adjoins deceitful Satan
وَفِيهِ يُشْرَعُ بَابُ هذِهِ الدَّارِ.
and towards this opens the door of this house.
اشْتَرَى هذَا الْمُغْتَرُّ بِالاْمَلِ،
This house has been purchased by one who has been waylaid by desires
مِنْ هذَا الْمُزْعَجِ بِالاْجَلِ،
from one who is being driven by death
هذِهِ الدَّارَ بِالْخُرُوجِ مِنْ عِزِّ الْقَنَاعَةِ،
at the price of leaving the honour of contentment
وَالدُّخُولِ فِي ذُلِّ الطَّلَبِ وَالضَّرَاعَةِ،
and entering into the humility of want and submissiveness.
فَمَا أَدْرَكَ هذَا الْمُشْتَرِي فِيَما اشْتَرَى مِنْ دَرَك،
If the purchaser encounters some (evil) consequences of this transaction
فَعَلَى مُبَلْبِلِ أَجْسَامِ الْمُلُوكِ،
then it is for him who dismantles the bodies of monarchs,
وسَالِبِ نُفُوسِ الْجَبَابِرَةِ،
snatches the lives of despots,
وَمُزِيلِ مُلْكِ الْفَراعِنَةِ،
destroys the domain of Pharaoh
مِثْلِ كِسْرَى وَقَيْصَرَ،
like Kisras, )1( Caesars,) 2(
وَتُبَّع وَحِمْيَرَ،
Tubba`s )3( and Himyars )4(
وَمَنْ جَمَعَ الْمَالَ عَلَى الْمَالِ فَأَكْثَرَ،
and all those who amass wealth upon wealth and go on increasing it,
وَمَنْ بَنَى وَشَيَّدَ،
build high houses
وَزَخْرَفَ
and decorate them
وَنَجَّدَ، وَادَّخَرَ
and collect treasures and preserve them,
واعْتَقَدَ، وَنَظَرَ بِزَعْمِهِ لِلْوَلَدِ،
as they claimed according to their own thinking, for children
إِشْخَاصُهُمْ جَمِيعاً إِلَى مَوْقِفِ الْعَرْضِ وَالْحِسَابِ،
to take them to the place of accounting and judgement
وَمَوْضِعِ الثَّوَابِ وَالْعِقَابِ،
and the position of reward and punishment.
إذَا وَقَعَ الاْمْرُ بِفَصْلِ الْقَضَاءِ،
When the verdict will be passed
(وَخَسِرَ هُنَا لِكَ الْمُبْطِلُونَ)
those who stood on falsehood would then be the losers. (Qur'an, 40: 78)
شَهِدَ عَلَى ذلِكَ الْعَقْلُ إِذَا خَرَجَ مِنْ أَسْرِ الْهَوَى،
This document is witnessed by intelligence when it is free from the shackles of desires
وَسَلِمَ مِنْ عَلاَئِقِ الدُّنْيَا.
and safe from the attachments to this world.
1. Kisra, is the Arabicised form of "Khusraw" which means a King whose domain of rule extends to a vast area. This was the title of the rulers of Iran.
2. Caesar, was the title of the rulers of Rome, which in Latin means that child whose mother dies before delivery and who is extractedby cutting open her body. Since among the Kings of Rome, Augustus was born like this he was known by this name and after that this word was adopted as the title of every ruler.
3. Tubba', is an appellation of each of the Kings of Yemen who possessed Himyar and Hadramawt. Their names have been mentioned in the holy Qur'an in chaps. 44:37 and 50:14.
4. Himyar, originally, an important tribe in the ancient Sabaean kingdom of south-western Arabia; later the powerful rulers of much of southern Arabia from c. 115 BC to c. AD 525. The Himyarites were concentrated in the area known as Dhu Raydan (later called Qataban) on the coast of present-day Yemen; thus they were probably aided in the overthrow of their Sabaean kinsmen by the discovery of a sea route from Egypt to India, which deprived the inland Sabaean kingdom of its former importance as a centre for overland trade. The Himyarites (classical Homeritae) inherited the Sabaean language and culture, and from their capital at Zafar their power at times extended eastward as far as the Persian Gult and northward into the Arabian Desert. At the beginning of the 4th century AD the Himyar capital was moved northward to San'a, and later in that century both Christianity and Judaism gained firm footholds in the area. Internal disorders and changing trade routes caused the kingdom to decline, and in 525, after several unsuccessful attempts, Abyssinian invaders finally crushed the Himyarites. A Himyar apeal to Persia for aid led to Persian control in 575. (The New Encyclopaedia Britanica [Micropaedia], vol.5, p.49, ed. 1973-1974)
