ومن خطبة له (عليه السلام) [خطبها عند علمه بغزوة النعمان بن بشير صاحب معاوية لعين التمر] [وفيها يبدي عذره، ويستنهض الناس لنصرته]
In disparagement of those who shrink from fighting
مُنِيتُ بِمَنْ لاَ يُطِيعُ إِذَا أَمَرْتُ وَلا يُجِيبُ إِذَا دَعَوْتُ، لاَ أَبَا لَكُمْ! مَا تَنْتَظِرُونَ بِنَصْرِكُمْ رَبَّكُمْ؟ أَمَا دِينٌ يَجْمَعُكُمْ، وَلاَ حَمِيَّةَ تُحْمِشُكُمْ؟! أَقُومُ فِيكُمْ مُسْتَصْرِخاً، وَأُنادِيكُمْ مُتَغَوِّثاً، فَلاَ تَسْمَعُونَ لي قَوْلاً، وَلاَ تُطِيعُون لِي أَمْراً، حَتَّى تَكَشَّفَ الاْمُورُ عَنْ عَوَاقِبِ الْمَساءَةِ، فَمَا يُدْرَكُ بِكُمْ ثَارٌ، وَلاَ يُبْلَغُ بِكُمْ مَرَامٌ، دَعَوْتُكُمْ إِلَى نَصْرِ إِخْوَانِكُمْ فَجَرْجَرْتُمْ جَرْجَرَةَ الْجَمَلِ الاْسَرِّ، وَتَثَاقَلْتُمْ تَثَاقُلَ الْنِّضْوِ الاْدْبَرِ، ثُمَّ خَرَجَ إِلَيَّ مِنْكُمْ جُنَيْدٌ مُتَذَائِبٌ ضَعِيفٌ ﴿كَأَنَّمَا يُسَاقُونَ إِلَى الْمَوْتِ وَهُمْ يَنظُرُونَ﴾.
I am faced with men who do not obey when I order and do not respond when I call them. May you have no father! (Woe to you!) What are you waiting for to rise for the cause of Allah? Does not faith join you together, or sense of shame rouse you? I stand among you shouting and I am calling you for help, but you do not listen to my word, and do not obey my orders, till circumstance show out their bad consequences. No blood can be avenged through you and no purpose can be achieved with you. I called you for help of your brethren but made noises like the camel having pain in stomach, and became loose like the camel of thin back. Then a wavering weak contingent came to me from amongst you: “as if they are being led to death and they are only watching.” [1] (Qur’ān, 8:6)
قال السيد الشريف: أقول: قوله (عليه السلام): «مُتَذَائِبٌ» أي: مضطرب، من قولهم: تذاءبت الريح أي: اضطرب هبوبها، ومنه سمّي الذئب، لاضطراب مشيته.
as-Sayyid ar-Raḍī says: Amīr al-mu’minīn’s word “mutadhā‘ib” means “muḍṭarib” (i.e. moved or troubled), as they say “tadhā‘abat ar-rīḥ” (i.e. the winds blow in troubled manner). Similarly the wolf is called “dhi‘b” because of its trouble movement.
Footnote :
[1] Mu‘āwiyah sent a contingent of two thousand soldiers under an-Nu‘mān ibn Bashir to assault ‘Aynu’t-Tamr. This place was a defence base of Amīr al-mu’minīn near Kufah whose incharge was Mālik ibn Ka‘b al-Arḥabī. Although there were a thousand combatants under him, but at the moment only hundred men were present there. When Mālik noticed the offensive force advancing he wrote to Amīr al-mu’minīn for help. When Amīr al-mu’minīn received the message he asked the people for his help but only three hundred men got ready as a result of which Amīr al-mu’minīn was much disgusted and delivered this sermon in their admonition. When Amīr al-mu’minīn reached his house after delivering the sermon ‘Adī ibn Ḥātim aṭ-Ṭā’ī came and said, “O Amīr al-mu’minīn a thousand men of Banu Tayyi‘ are under me. If you say I shall send them off.” Amīr al-mu’minīn said, “It does not look nice that people of one tribe only should meet the enemy. You prepare your force in the Valley of an-Nukhaylah.” Accordingly he went there and called people to jihād, when besides Banu Tayyi‘ one thousand other combatants also assembled. They were still preparing to set off when word reached from Mālik ibn Ka‘b that there was no need for help as he had repulsed the enemy.
The reason of this was that Mālik had sent off ‘Abdullāh ibn Ḥawālah al-Azdī hastily to Qaraẓah ibn Ka‘b al-Anṣāri and Mikhnaf ibn Sulaym al-Azdī so that if there was delay in the arrival of support from Kufah he could get help from here in time. ‘Abdullāh went to both, but got no help from Qaraẓah. However, Mikhnaf ibn Sulaym got ready fifty persons under ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān ibn Mikhnaf and they reached there near evening. Upto that time the two thousand men (of the enemy) had not been able to subdue the hundred men of Mālik. When an-Nu‘mān saw these fifty men he thought that their forces had started coming in so he fled away from the battlefield. Even in their retreat Mālik attacked them from rear and killed three of their men.
[1] Mu‘āwiyah sent a contingent of two thousand soldiers under an-Nu‘mān ibn Bashir to assault ‘Aynu’t-Tamr. This place was a defence base of Amīr al-mu’minīn near Kufah whose incharge was Mālik ibn Ka‘b al-Arḥabī. Although there were a thousand combatants under him, but at the moment only hundred men were present there. When Mālik noticed the offensive force advancing he wrote to Amīr al-mu’minīn for help. When Amīr al-mu’minīn received the message he asked the people for his help but only three hundred men got ready as a result of which Amīr al-mu’minīn was much disgusted and delivered this sermon in their admonition. When Amīr al-mu’minīn reached his house after delivering the sermon ‘Adī ibn Ḥātim aṭ-Ṭā’ī came and said, “O Amīr al-mu’minīn a thousand men of Banu Tayyi‘ are under me. If you say I shall send them off.” Amīr al-mu’minīn said, “It does not look nice that people of one tribe only should meet the enemy. You prepare your force in the Valley of an-Nukhaylah.” Accordingly he went there and called people to jihād, when besides Banu Tayyi‘ one thousand other combatants also assembled. They were still preparing to set off when word reached from Mālik ibn Ka‘b that there was no need for help as he had repulsed the enemy.
The reason of this was that Mālik had sent off ‘Abdullāh ibn Ḥawālah al-Azdī hastily to Qaraẓah ibn Ka‘b al-Anṣāri and Mikhnaf ibn Sulaym al-Azdī so that if there was delay in the arrival of support from Kufah he could get help from here in time. ‘Abdullāh went to both, but got no help from Qaraẓah. However, Mikhnaf ibn Sulaym got ready fifty persons under ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān ibn Mikhnaf and they reached there near evening. Upto that time the two thousand men (of the enemy) had not been able to subdue the hundred men of Mālik. When an-Nu‘mān saw these fifty men he thought that their forces had started coming in so he fled away from the battlefield. Even in their retreat Mālik attacked them from rear and killed three of their men.
