Lessons from Nahjul Balagha [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Sermons
Sermon
127

SERMON 127

About Important happenings in
Basrah

O' Ahnaf! It is as
though I see him advancing with an army which has neither dust nor
noise, nor rustling of reins, nor neighing of horses. They are
trampling the ground with their feet as if they are the feet of
ostriches.

as-Sayyid ar-Radi
says: Amir al-mu'minin pointed to the Chief of the Negroes,
(Sahibu'z-Zanj) .(1)

Then Amir al -mu'minin
said:

Woe to you (the people
of Basrah's) inhabited streets and decorated houses which possess
wings like the wings of vultures and trunks like the trunks of
elephants; they are the people from among whom if one is killed he
is not mourned and if one is lost he is not searched for. I turn
this world over on its face, value it only according to its (low)
value, and look at it with an eye suitable to it.

A part of the same
sermon

Referring to the Turks
(Mongols)

I (2)
can see a people whose faces are like shields covered with
rough-scraped skins. They dress themselves in silken and woollen
clothes and hold dear excellent horses. Their killing and
bloodshed shall take place freely till the wounded shall walk over
the dead and the number of runners-away shall be less than those
taken prisoner:

One of his companions
said to him: O' Amir al-mu'minin, you have been given knowledge of
hidden things. Whereupon Amir al-mu'minin laughed and said to the
man who belonged to the tribe of Banu Kalb:

O' brother of Kalb!
This is not knowledge of hidden things (ilmu'l-ghayb), (3)
these matters have been acquired from him (namely in Prophet) who
knew them. As regard knowledge of hidden things, that means
knowledge of the Day of Judgement, and the things covered by Allah
in the verse.
Verily, Allah is He
with Whom is the knowledge of the Hour... (Qur'an, 31:34)

Therefore, Allah alone
knows what is there in the wombs, whether male or female, ugly or
handsome, generous or miserly, mischievous or pious, and who will
be the fuel for Hell and who will be in the company of the
Prophets in Paradise. This is the knowledge of the hidden things
which is not known to anyone save Allah. All else is that whose
knowledge Allah passed on to His Prophet and he passed it on to
me, and prayed for me that my bosom may retain it and my ribs may
hold it.

(1).
Ali ibn Muhammad was born in the village of Warzanin in the
suburbs of Ray and belonged to the Azariqah sect of the
Kharijites. He claimed to be a sayyid (descendant of the Holy
Prophet) by showing himself the son of Muhammad ibn Ahmad
al-Mukhtafi ibn Isa ibn Zayd ibn Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Ali ibn
Abi Talib, but the experts on lineality and biographers have not
accepted his claim to being a sayyid and have given his father's
name as Muhammad ibn Abd ar-Rahim instead of Muhammad ibn Ahmad.
The former was from the tribe of Abd al-Qays and had been born of
a Sindi maid-slave.

Ali ibn Muhammad rose
as an insurgent in 255 A.H. in the reign of al-Muhtadi Billah and
associated with him the people from the suburbs of Basrah on
promise of money, wealth and freedom. He entered Basrah on the
17th Shuwwal, 255 A.H. killing and looting, and in only two days
he put to death thirty thousand individuals, men, women and
children, and displayed extreme oppression, bloodshed, savageness
and ferocity. He dismantled houses, burnt mosques, and after
continuous killing and devastation for fourteen years, was killed
in the month of Safar, 270 A.H. in the reign of Muwaffaq Billah.
Then people got rid of his devastating deeds.

Amir al-mu'minin's
prophecy is one of those prophecies which throw light on his
knowledge of the unknown. The details of his army given by Amir
al-mu'minin namely that there would be neither neighing of horses
nor rustling of weapons therein is a historical fact. The
historian at-Tabari has written that when this man reached near
al-Karkh (a sector of Baghdad) with the intention of insurrection,
the people of that place welcomed him, and a man presented him a
horse for which no rein could be found despite a search. At last
he rode it using a rope for the rein. Similarly there were at that
time only three swords in his force - one with himself, one with
Ali ibn Aban al-Muhallabi, and one with Muhammad ibn Salm, but
later they collected some more weapons by marauding.

(2).
This prophecy of Amir al-mu'minin is about the attack of the
Tartars (Mongols) who were inhabitants of the Mongolian desert in
the north west of Turkistan. These semi-savage tribes lived by
marauding, killing and devastating. They used to fight among
themselves and attack neighbouring areas. Each tribe had a
separate chief who was deemed responsible for their protection.
Chingiz Khan (Temujin) who was one of the ruling chiefs of these
tribes and was very brave and courageous had risen to organise all
their divided tribes into one, and, despite their opposition he
succeeded in overpowering them through his might and sagacity.
Collecting a large number under his banner he rose in 606 A.H.
like a torrent and went on dominating cities and ruining
populations till he conquered the area upto North China.

When his authority was
established he offered his terms of settlement to Alau'd-Din
Khwarazm Shah, ruler of the neighbouring country of Turkistan, and
through a deputation concluded an agreement with him that the
Tartar traders would be allowed to visit his country for trade and
their life and property would not be subject to any harm. For some
time they traded freely without fear but on one occasion
Alau'd-Din accused them of spying, seized their goods and had
them killed by the Chief of Atrar. When Chingiz Khan learnt of the
breach of the agreement and the killing of Tartar merchants his
eyes cast forth flames and he began trembling with rage.

He sent word to
Alau'd-Din to return the goods of the Tartar merchants and to
hand over to him the ruler of Atrar. Alau'd-Din, who was mad with
power and authority, did not pay any heed, and acting
short-sightedly killed even the plenipotentiary of Chingiz Khan.
Now Chingiz Khan lost all patience and his eyes filled with blood.
He rose with his sword in hand, and the Tartar warriors leapt
towards Bukhara on their speedy stallions. Alau'd-Din came out
with four hundred thousand combatants to face him but could not
resist the incessant assaults of the Tartars, and having been
vanquished only after a few attacks ran away to Nishabur across
the river Jaxartes (Sihun). The Tartars smashed Bukhara and razed
it to the ground. They pulled down schools and mosques, burning to
ashes the houses and killing men and women without distinction.
Next year they assaulted Samarqand and devastated it completely.
After the flight of Alau'd-Din, his son Jalalu'd-Din Khwarazm
Shah had assumed the reins of government The Tartars chased him
also, and for ten years he fled from one place to the other but
did not fall in their hands. At last he crossed over the river out
of the boundaries of his realm. During this time the Tartars did
their utmost to ruin populated lands and to annihilate humanity.
No city escaped their ruining and no populace could avoid their
trampling. Wherever they went they upset the kingdom, overthrew
governments, and in a short time established their authority over
the northern portion of Asia.

When Chingiz Khan died
in 622 A.H. his own son Ogedei Khan succeeded him. He searched out
Jalalu'd-Din in 628 A.H. and killed him. After him Mongka Khan,
the son of the other son of Chingiz Khan, occupied the throne.
After Mongka Khan, Qubilai Khan succeeded to a part of the country
and the control of Asia fell to the share of his brother Hulagu
Khan. On the division of the whole realm among the grandsons of
Chingiz Khan, Hulagu Khan was thinking of conquering Muslims areas
when the Hanafite of Khurasan in enmity with the Shafiite invited
him to attack Khurasan. He therefore led an assault on Khurasan,
and the Hanafite, thinking themselves to be safe from the Tartars,
opened the city gates for them. But the Tartars did not make any
distinction between Hanafite and Shafiite and killed whoever fell
to their hands. After killing most of its population they took it
in occupation. These very differences between the Hanafite and the
Shafiite opened for him the door of conquest upto Iraq.
Consequently, after conquering Khurasan his courage increased and
in 656 A.H. he marched on Baghdad with two hundred thousand
Tartars. al-Mustasim Billah's army and the people of Baghdad
jointly faced them, but it was not in their power to stop this
torrent of calamity. The result was that the Tartars entered
Baghdad on the day of Ashura' carrying with them bloodshed and
ruin. They remained busy in killing for forty days. Rivers of
blood flowed in the streets and all the alleys were filled with
dead bodies. Hundred of thousands of people were put to the sword
while al-Mustasim Billah was trampled to death under foot. Only
those people who hid themselves in wells or underground places and
hid from their sight could survive. This was the devastation of
Baghdad which shook the Abbasid Kingdom to its foundation, so
that its flag could never fly thereafter.

Some historians have
laid the blame of this ruin on Ibn al-Alqami (Abu Talib, Muhammad
ibn Ahmad al-Baghdadi), the minister of al-Mustasim Billah, by
holding that, moved by the general masses of the Shiahs and the
ruin of al-Karkh sector (of Baghdad), he invited Hulagu Khan
through the latter's minister, the great scholar Nasiru'd-Din
Muhammad ibn Muhammad at-Tusi, to march on Baghdad. Even if it be
so, it is not possible to ignore the historical fact that before
this the Abbasid Caliph an-Nasir Lidini'llah had initiated the
move for the attack on the Muslim areas. When the Khwarazm Shahs
declined to acknowledge the authority of the Caliphate he had sent
word to Chingiz Khan to march on Khwarazm, from which the Tartars
had understood that there was no unity and co-operation among the
Muslims. Thereafter the Hanafite had sent for Hulagu Khan to crush
the Shafiite as a consequence of which the Tartars secured
control over Khurasan, and prepared the way to march towards
Baghdad. In these circumstances to hold only Ibn al-Alqami
responsible for the ruination of Baghdad and to ignore the move of
an-Nasir Lidini'llah and the dispute between the Hanafite and the
Shafiite would be covering up the facts, when in fact the cause
for the ruin of Baghdad was this very conquest of Khurasan, whose
real movers were the Hanafite inhabitants of the place. It was by
this conquest that Hulagu Khan had the courage to march on the
centre of Islam; otherwise it cannot have been the result of a
single individual's message that he assaulted an old capital like
Baghdad, the awe of whose power and grandeur was seated in the
hearts of a large part of the world.

(3).
To know hidden things on a personal level is one thing, while to
be gifted by Allah with knowledge of any matter and to convey it
to others is different. The knowledge of the future which the
prophets and vicegerents possess is gained by them through Allah's
teaching and informing. Allah alone has knowledge of events which
are to happen in the future. Of course, He passes this knowledge
on to whoever He wills. Thus He says:
(He alone is) the
"Knower of the unseen, neither doth He reveal His secrets
unto any (one else) save unto that one of the Messengers whom He
chooseth..." (Qur'an, 72:26-27)

In this way Amir
al-mu'minin also received knowledge of the future through the
instructions of the Prophet or inspiration from Allah, for which
these words of Amir al-mu'minin stand evidence. Of course,
sometimes it is not proper or expedient to disclose certain
matters and they are allowed to remain under a veil. Then no one
can be acquainted with them as Allah says:
Verily, Allah is
He with Whom is the knowledge of the Hour and He sendeth down
the rain, and knoweth He what is in the wombs; and knoweth not
any soul what he shall earn the morrow, and knoweth not any soul
in what lands he shall die: Verily Allah is All-knowing, All-
aware. (Qur'an, 31:34)