Nahj al-Balagha Hadith n. 219

Selections from The Sayings and Preaching of Amir al-Muminin Ali ibn Abi Talib (Peace Be Upon Him) Including His Replies to Questions and Maxims Expressed for Various Purposes.
Translated by Sayyid Ali Reza

وَقَالَ (عليه ‏السلام):

Amir al-mu'minin, peace be upon him, said:

أَكْثَرُ مَصَارِعِ الْعُقُولِ

Most of the deficiency of intelligence

تَحْتَ بُرُوقِ الْمَطَامِعِ.

occurs due to the flash of greed. 52

 

52. When a man falls into greed and avarice, he gets entangled in evils like bribery, theft, misappropriation, usury and other immoral acts of this type, while the mind is so dazzled with the brilliance of the evil desires that it fails to see the ill effects and consequences of those bad deeds and to prevent him from them or awaken him from his slumber of unmindfulness. Nevertheless, when he prepares to depart from this world and finds that whatever he had amassed was for this world only and that he cannot take it with him, then, and only then his eyes get opened.