وَمِنۡ كَلَامٍ لَهُ عَلَيۡهِ السَّلَامُ
From one of his statements
فِي ذِكۡرِ الۡكُوۡفَةِ
About the calamities befalling Kūfah
كَأَنَّي بِكِ يَاكُوفَةُ! تُمَدِّينَ مَدَّ الۡأَدِيمِ الۡعُكَاظِيِّ، تُعۡرَكِينَ بِالنَّوَازِلِ، وَتُرۡكَبِينَ بِالزَّلَازِلِ، وَإِنَّي لَأَعۡلَمُ أَنَّهُ مَا أَرَادَ بِكِ جَبَّارٌ سُوءاً إِلَّا ابۡتَلَاهُ اللهُ بِشَاغِلٍ، وَرَمَاهُ بِقَاتِلٍ!
O Kūfah, as though I see you being drawn like the tanned leather of ʿUkāẓ [1] in the market, you are being scraped by calamities and being ridden by severe troubles. I certainly [2] know that if any tyrant intends evil for you, Allāh will afflict him with worry and fling him with a killer (set someone on him to kill him).
Notes:
[1] During pre-Islamic days, a market used to be organized every year near Mecca. Its name was ʿUkāẓ, where mostly hides were traded, as a result of which leather was attributed to it. Besides sale and purchase, literary meetings were also arranged, and Arabs used to attract admiration by reciting their works. After Islām, because of the better congregation in the shape of ḥajj, this market went down.
[2] This prophecy of Amīr al-Muʾminīn was fulfilled word by word, and the world saw how the people who had committed tyranny and oppression on the strength of their masterly power had to face tragic end, and what ways of their destruction were engendered by their bloodshedding and homicidal activities. Consequently, the end of Ziyād ibn Abīhi (son of unknown father) was that, when he intended to deliver a speech for vilification of Amīr al-Muʾminīn, suddenly paralysis overtook him and he could not get out of his bed thereafter. The end of the bloodshed perpetrated by ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād was that he fell a prey to leprosy, and eventually bloodthirsty swords put him to death. The ferocity of al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ath-Thaqafī drove him to the fate that snakes cropped up in his stomach, as a result of which he died after severe pain. ʿUmar ibn Hubayrah died of leucoderma. Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qasrī suffered the hardships of prison and was killed in a very bad way. Muṣʿab ibn al-Zubayr and Yazīd ibn al-Muhallab ibn Abī Ṣufrah were also killed by swords.
[1] During pre-Islamic days, a market used to be organized every year near Mecca. Its name was ʿUkāẓ, where mostly hides were traded, as a result of which leather was attributed to it. Besides sale and purchase, literary meetings were also arranged, and Arabs used to attract admiration by reciting their works. After Islām, because of the better congregation in the shape of ḥajj, this market went down.
[2] This prophecy of Amīr al-Muʾminīn was fulfilled word by word, and the world saw how the people who had committed tyranny and oppression on the strength of their masterly power had to face tragic end, and what ways of their destruction were engendered by their bloodshedding and homicidal activities. Consequently, the end of Ziyād ibn Abīhi (son of unknown father) was that, when he intended to deliver a speech for vilification of Amīr al-Muʾminīn, suddenly paralysis overtook him and he could not get out of his bed thereafter. The end of the bloodshed perpetrated by ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Ziyād was that he fell a prey to leprosy, and eventually bloodthirsty swords put him to death. The ferocity of al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ath-Thaqafī drove him to the fate that snakes cropped up in his stomach, as a result of which he died after severe pain. ʿUmar ibn Hubayrah died of leucoderma. Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qasrī suffered the hardships of prison and was killed in a very bad way. Muṣʿab ibn al-Zubayr and Yazīd ibn al-Muhallab ibn Abī Ṣufrah were also killed by swords.
