Tradition

يا سَوْأَتاهُ غَلَبَتْ إحْداتُهُ عَلَى عَشَراتِهِ!

Imam al-Sajjad (‘a) is narrated to have said: “Woe upon those whose ones exceed their tens!”1

Brief Commentary

Holy Qur’an has mentioned that:

مَنْ جَاءَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ عَشْرُ أَمْثَالِهَا ۖ وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيِّئَةِ فَلَا يُجْزَىٰ إِلَّا مِثْلَهَا وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ

Whoever brings a good deed, he shall have ten like it, and whoever brings an evil deed, he shall be recompensed only with the like of it, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly. (6: 160)

This tradition mentions that the truly wretched are those whose tens (their good deeds which are rewarded ten times as much) are exceeded by their bad deeds (for which they are only punished for once). Imagine that God is rewarding you ten times for the good you have done and only punishing you to the degree of the sins but in spite of this, the good is still outweighed by the bad. This is truly the ultimate disgrace and wretchedness.

• 1. Taken from the book: Tuhaf al-’Uqul, p. 203.