وَقَالَ عَلَيۡهِ السَّلَامُ لَمَّا عَزَمَ عَلَى حَرۡبِ الۡخَوَارِجِ وَقِيلَ لَهُ: إِنَّ الۡقَوۡمَ عَبَرُوا [في بعض النسخ: إِنَّ الۡقَوۡمَ قَدۡ عَبَرُوا، أو: اِنَّهُمۡ قَدۡ عَبَرُوا] جِسۡرَ النَّهۡرَوَانِ
When Amīr al-Muʾminīn showed his intention to fight the Khārijites, he was told that they had crossed the bridge of Nahrawān and gone over to the other side. Amīr al-Muʾminīn said:
مَصَارِعُهُمۡ دُونَ النُّطۡفَةِ، وَاللهِ! لَا يُفۡلِتُ مِنۡهُمۡ عَشَرَةٌ، وَلَا يَهۡلِكُ مِنۡكُمۡ عَشَرَةٌ.
Their falling place is on this side of the river. By Allāh, not even ten of them will survive, while from your side not even ten will be killed. [1]
[قال الشريف:] يَعۡنِي بِٱلنُّطۡفَةِ مَاءَ ٱلنَّهۡرِ، وَهِيَ أَفۡصَحُ كِنَايَةٍ عَنِ الۡمَاءِ وَإِنۡ كَانَ كَثِيرًا جَمًّا. [وزاد في بعض النسخ:] وَقَدۡ أَشَرۡنَا إِلَىٰ ذَلِكَ فِيمَا تَقَدَّمَ عِنۡدَ مَضِيِّ مَا أَشۡبَهَهُ.
as-Sayyid ar-Raḍī says: In this sermon “nuṭfah” implies the River Euphrates, and for water this is the nicest expression, even though water may be much.
Notes:
[1] This prophecy cannot be attributed to wit and far-sightedness, because far-sighted eyes may forecast victory or defeat and preconceive the outcome of war, but to tell about the correct figures of the killed on either side is beyond their capacity. This can be done only by one who can unveil the unknown future and see the coming scene with his eyes, and who sees the sketches yet to appear on the page of the future with the help of the light of knowledge possessed by him as Imām. Consequently, events occurred just according to what this inheritor of Prophet’s knowledge had said, and from among the Khārijites all except nine persons were killed. Two of them fled away to ʿUmān, two to Sijistān, two to Kirmān and two to al-Jazīrah, while one escaped to Tall Mawzān in Yemen. Of Amīr al-Muʾminīn’s party, only eight men fell as martyrs, whose names are as follows: Rūbah ibn Wabr al-Bajalī, Saʿīd ibn Khālid al-Subayʿī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥammād al-Ajnī, Fayāḍ ibn Khalīl al-Azdī, Kaysūm ibn Salamah al-Juhanī, ʿUbayd ibn ʿUbayd al-Khūlānī, Jamīʿ ibn Jaʿtham al-Kindī, and Ḥabīb ibn ʿĀṣim al-Asadī.
[1] This prophecy cannot be attributed to wit and far-sightedness, because far-sighted eyes may forecast victory or defeat and preconceive the outcome of war, but to tell about the correct figures of the killed on either side is beyond their capacity. This can be done only by one who can unveil the unknown future and see the coming scene with his eyes, and who sees the sketches yet to appear on the page of the future with the help of the light of knowledge possessed by him as Imām. Consequently, events occurred just according to what this inheritor of Prophet’s knowledge had said, and from among the Khārijites all except nine persons were killed. Two of them fled away to ʿUmān, two to Sijistān, two to Kirmān and two to al-Jazīrah, while one escaped to Tall Mawzān in Yemen. Of Amīr al-Muʾminīn’s party, only eight men fell as martyrs, whose names are as follows: Rūbah ibn Wabr al-Bajalī, Saʿīd ibn Khālid al-Subayʿī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥammād al-Ajnī, Fayāḍ ibn Khalīl al-Azdī, Kaysūm ibn Salamah al-Juhanī, ʿUbayd ibn ʿUbayd al-Khūlānī, Jamīʿ ibn Jaʿtham al-Kindī, and Ḥabīb ibn ʿĀṣim al-Asadī.
