١٨. وَقَالَ (عليه السلام) فِي الَّذِينَ اعْتَزَلُوا الْقِتَالَ مَعَهُ: خَذَلُوا الْحَقَّ، وَلَمْ يَنْصُرُوا الْبَاطِلَ.
18. Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, said about those who avoided fighting on his side: They abandoned right but did not support wrong. [1]
Footnotes :
[1] This saying is about those who claimed to be neutrals, such as ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar, Sa‘d ibn Abī Waqqās, Abū Mūsā al-Ash‘arī, al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays, Muḥammad ibn Maslamah, Usāmah ibn Zayd and Anas ibn Mālik, etc. No doubt these people did not openly support wrong but not to support right is also a kind of support of wrong. Therefore, they will be counted among the opponents of right.
[1] This saying is about those who claimed to be neutrals, such as ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar, Sa‘d ibn Abī Waqqās, Abū Mūsā al-Ash‘arī, al-Aḥnaf ibn Qays, Muḥammad ibn Maslamah, Usāmah ibn Zayd and Anas ibn Mālik, etc. No doubt these people did not openly support wrong but not to support right is also a kind of support of wrong. Therefore, they will be counted among the opponents of right.
