ومن كلام له (عليه السلام) في ذمّ العاصين من أصحابه
Condemning his disobedient men
أَحْمَدُ اللهَ عَلَى مَا قَضَى مِنْ أَمْر، وَقَدَّرَ مِنْ فِعْل، وَعَلَى ابْتِلاَئِي بِكُم أَيَّتُهَا الْفِرْقَةُ الَّتِي إذَا أَمَرْتُ لَمْ تُطِعْ، وَإذَا دَعَوْتُ لَمْ تُجِبْ، إنْ أُمْهِلْتُمْ خُضْتُمْ، وَإنْ حُورِبْتُمْ خُرْتُمْ، وَإنِ اجْتَمَعَ النَّاسُ عَلَى إمَام طَعَنْتُمْ، وَإنْ أُجِبْتُمْ إلَى مُشَاقَّة نَكَصْتُمْ. لاَ أَبَا لِغَيْرِكُمْ! مَا تَنْتَظِرُونَ بِنَصْرِكُمْ وَالْجِهَادِ عَلَى حَقِّكُمْ؟ الْمَوْتَ أَوِ الذُّلَّ لَكُمْ؟ فَوَاللهِ لَئِنْ جَاءَ يَوْمِي ـ وَلَيَأْتِيَنِّي ـ لَيُفَرِّقَنَّ بَيْني وَبَيْنَكُمْ وَأَنا لِصُحْبَتِكُمْ قَال، وَبِكُمْ غَيْرُ كَثِير.
I praise Allāh for whatever matter He ordained and whatever action He destines, and for my trial with you, O’ group of people who do not obey when I order and do not respond when I call you. If you are at ease you engage in (conceited) conversation, but if you are faced with battle you show weakness. If people agree on one Imām you taunt each other. If you are faced with an arduous matter you turn away from it. May others have no father (woe to your enemy!) what are you waiting for, in the matter of your assistance and for fighting for your rights? For you there is either death or disgrace. By Allāh, if my day (of death) comes, and it is sure to come, it will cause separation between me and you, although I am sick of your company and feel lonely with you.
لله أَنْتُمْ! أمَا دِينٌ يَجْمَعُكُمْ! وَلاَ مَحْمِيّةٌ تَشْحَذُكُمْ ! أَوَلَيْسَ عَجَباً أَنَّ مُعَاوِيَةَ يَدْعُو الْجُفَاةَ الطَّغَامَ فَيَتَّبِعُونَهُ عَلَى غَيْرِ مَعُونَة وَلاَ عَطَاء، وَأَنَا أَدْعُوكُمْ ـ وَأَنْتُمْ تَرِيكَةُ الاْسْلاَمِ، وَبَقِيَّةُ النَّاسِ ـ إلَى الْمَعُونَةِ أَوطَائِفَة مِنَ الْعَطَاءِ، فَتَفَرَّقُونَ عَنِّي وَتَخْتَلِفُونَ عَلَيَّ؟ إِنَّهُ لاَ يَخْرُجُ إِلَيْكُمْ مِنْ أَمْرِي رِضىً فَتَرْضَوْنَهُ، وَلاَ سُخْطٌ فَتَجْتَمِعُونَ عَلَيْهِ، وَإنَّ أَحَبَّ مَا أَنَا لاَق إِلَيَّ الْمَوْتُ! قَدْ دَارَسْتُكُمُ الْكِتَابَ، وَفَاتَحْتُكُمُ الْحِجَاجَ، وَعَرَّفْتُكُمْ مَا أَنْكَرْتُمْ، وَسَوَّغْتُكُمْ مَا مَجَجْتُمْ، لَوْ كَانَ الاْعْمَى يَلْحَظُ، أَوِ النَّائِمُ يَسْتَيْقِظُ! وَأَقْرِبْ بِقَوْم مِنَ الْجَهْلِ بِاللهِ قَائِدُهُمْ مُعَاوِيَةُ! وَمُؤَدِّبُهُمُ ابْنُ النَّابِغَةِ!
May Allāh deal with you! Is there no religion which may unite you nor sense of shamefulness that may sharpen you? Is it not strange that Mu‘āwiyah calls out to some rude low people and they follow him without any support or grant, but when I call you, although you are the successors of Islam and the (worthy) survivors of the people, with support and distributed grants you scatter away from me and oppose me? Truly, there is nothing between me to you which I like and you also like it, or with which I am angry and you may also unite against it. What I love most is death. I have taught you the Qur’ān, clarified to you arguments, apprised you of what you were ignorant and made you swallow what you were spitting out. Even a blind man would have been able to see, and he who was sleeping would have been awakened. How ignorant of Allāh is their leader Mu’āwiyah and their instructor Ibn an-Nābighah. [1]
Footnote :
[1] “an-Nābighah” is the surname of Layla hint Ḥarmalah al-‘Anaziyyah, mother of ‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ. The reason for attributing him to his mother is her common reputation in the matter. When Arwā hint al-Ḥārith ibn ‘Abd al-Muṭṭālib went to Mu‘āwiyah, during the conversation, when ‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ intervened, she said to him: “O son of an-Nābighah, you too dare speak, although your mother was known publicly and was a singer of Mecca. That is why five persons claimed you (as a son), and when she was asked she admitted that five people had visited her and that you should be regarded as the son of him you resembled most. You must have resembled al-‘Āṣ ibn Wā’il and therefore you came to be know as his son.”
These five persons were (1) al-‘Āṣi ibn Wā’il, (2) Abū Lahab, (3) Umayyah ibn Khalaf, (4) Hishām ibn al-Mughirah, and (5) Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb. (Ibn ‘Abd Rabbih, al-‘Iqd al farīd, vol. 2, p. 120; Ibn Ṭayfūr, Balāghāt an-nisā’, p. 27; Ibn Ḥijjah, Thamarāt al-awrāq, vol. 1, p. 132; Ṣafwat, Jamharat khuṭab al-‘Arab, vol. 2, p. 363; Ibn Abi’l-Ḥadīd, vol. 6, pp. 283—285, 291; al-Ḥalabī, as-Sīrah, vol. 1, p. 46).
[1] “an-Nābighah” is the surname of Layla hint Ḥarmalah al-‘Anaziyyah, mother of ‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ. The reason for attributing him to his mother is her common reputation in the matter. When Arwā hint al-Ḥārith ibn ‘Abd al-Muṭṭālib went to Mu‘āwiyah, during the conversation, when ‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ intervened, she said to him: “O son of an-Nābighah, you too dare speak, although your mother was known publicly and was a singer of Mecca. That is why five persons claimed you (as a son), and when she was asked she admitted that five people had visited her and that you should be regarded as the son of him you resembled most. You must have resembled al-‘Āṣ ibn Wā’il and therefore you came to be know as his son.”
These five persons were (1) al-‘Āṣi ibn Wā’il, (2) Abū Lahab, (3) Umayyah ibn Khalaf, (4) Hishām ibn al-Mughirah, and (5) Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb. (Ibn ‘Abd Rabbih, al-‘Iqd al farīd, vol. 2, p. 120; Ibn Ṭayfūr, Balāghāt an-nisā’, p. 27; Ibn Ḥijjah, Thamarāt al-awrāq, vol. 1, p. 132; Ṣafwat, Jamharat khuṭab al-‘Arab, vol. 2, p. 363; Ibn Abi’l-Ḥadīd, vol. 6, pp. 283—285, 291; al-Ḥalabī, as-Sīrah, vol. 1, p. 46).
