Lessons from Nahjul Balagha [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Sermons
Sermon
155

SERMON 155

About the malice borne by A'ishah; and warning the people
of Basrah about what was to occur:

Whoever can at this
time keep himself clinging to Allah should do so. If you follow me
I shall certainly carry you, if Allah so wills, on the path of
Paradise, even though it may be full of severe hardship and of
bitter taste.

As regards a certain
woman (1), she is in the grip of
womanly views, and malice is boiling in her bosom like the furnace
of the blacksmith. If she were called upon to deal with others as
she is dealing with me she would not have done it. (As for me),
even hereafter she will be allowed her original respect, while the
reckoning (of her misdeeds) is an obligation on Allah.

A part of the same
sermon

This path is the
lightest course and the brightest lamp. Guidance towards virtuous
actions is sought through faith while guidance towards faith is
achieved through virtuous actions. Knowledge is made to prosper
through faith, and death is feared because of knowledge. This
world come to an end with death, while the next world is secured
(by virtuous actions) in this world. For people there is no escape
from resurrection. They are heading for this last end in its
appointed course.

A part of the same
sermon

They have got up from
the resting places in their graves and have set off for the final
objectives. Every house has its own people. They are not changed
nor shifted from there. Commanding for good and refraining from
evil are two characteristics of Allah, the Glorified. They can
neither bring death near nor lessen sustenance.

You should adhere to
the Book of Allah because it is the strong rope, a clear light, a
benefiting cure, a quenching for thirst, protection for the
adherent and deliverance for the attached. It does not curve so as
to need straightening and does not deflect so as to be corrected.
Frequency of its repetition and its falling on ears does not make
it old. Whoever speaks according to it, speaks truth and whoever
acts by it is forward (in action).

A man stood up and
said:

O' Amir al-mu'minin,
tell us about this disturbance and whether you enquired about it
from the Holy Prophet.

Thereupon Amir
al-mu'minin said:

When Allah, the
Glorified sent down the verse:

Alif lam mim. What! Do
people imagine that they will be let off on (their) saying:
"We believe!" and they will not be tried ? (Qur'an,
29:1-2)

I came to know that
the disturbance would not befall us so long as the Prophet (peace
and blessing of Allah be upon him and his progeny) is among us. So
I said, "O' Prophet of Allah, what is this disturbance of
which Allah, the Sublime, has informed you?" and he replied,
"O' Ali, my people will create trouble after me." I
said, "O' Prophet of Allah, on the day of Uhud, when people
had fallen martyrs and I was not among them, and this had been
very annoying to me, did you not say to me, 'cheer up, as
martyrdom is for you hereafter?' " The Prophet replied,
"Yes it is so, but what about your enduring at present?"
I said, "O ' Prophet of Allah, this is not an occasion for
endurance, but rather an occasion for cheering up and
gratefulness." Then he said: "O' Ali, people will fall
into mischief through their wealth, will show obligation to Allah
on account of their faith, will expect His mercy, will feel safe
from His anger and regard His unlawful matters as lawful by
raising false doubts and by their misguiding desires. They will
then hold lawful (the use of) wine by calling it barley water, a
bribe by calling it a gift, and taking of usurious interest by
calling it sale." I said, "O' Prophet of Allah, how
should I deal with them at the time, whether to hold them to have
gone back in heresy or just in revolt." He said, "in
revolt."

(1).
There is no denying the fact that A'ishah's behaviour towards
Amir al-mu'minin was throughout inimical, and very often her
heart's turbidity expressed itself on her face, and her hatred and
dislike became quite apparent, so much so that if in connection
with some affair Amir al-mu'minin's name came up a frown appeared
on her forehead and she did not relish pronouncing it with her
tongue. For example, when Ubaydullah ibn Abdillah ibn Utbah
mentioned to Abdullah ibn Abbas the narration by A'ishah namely
that "in his death-illness the Prophet, taking support on
al-Fadl ibn Abbas and another person, came to her (A'ishah's)
house," Abdullah ibn Abbas said: "Do you know who this
'other man' was?" He said, "No." Then he said, '
"Ali ibn Abi Talib, but she is averse to name him in a good
context." (Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Musnad, vol. 6, pp. 34, 228;
Ibn Sad, at-Tabaqat al-Kabir, vol. 2, part 2, p. 29; at-Tabari,
at-Tarikh, vol. 1, pp. 1800-1801; al-Baladhuri, Ansab al-ashraf,
vol. 1, pp. 544-545; al-Bayhaqi, as-Sunan al-kubra, vol. 3, p.
396).

One cause for this
hatred and malice was the presence of Hadrat Fatimah (p.b.u.h.)
whose wholesome dignity and esteem pricked her heart like a thorn.
Her jealousy towards the other wives (of the Prophet) did not
allow her to let the Prophet love the daughter of his other wife
to such a degree that he should stand on her approach, seat her in
his own place, declare her most honourable of all the women of the
world and bear such love towards her children as to call them his
own sons.

All these things
pained her much and naturally her feelings on such an occasion
were that if she had borne children they would have been the
Prophet's sons and they would have been the pivot of the Prophet's
affection instead of Imam Hasan and Imam Husayn. But she was not
gifted with any issue and she gratified her own desire to be a
mother by adopting the surname Umm Abdillah (mother of the slave
of Allah) after her sister's son. In short all these things
created the passion of hatred in her heart, as a result of which
she off and on complained to the Prophet against Hadrat Fatimah
but could not succeed in diverting the Prophet's attention from
her.

News about this
mortification and estrangement also reached the ears of Abu Bakr.
That would only perturb him as he too could do nothing, except
that his verbal sympathies were with his daughter. At last the
Prophet left this world and the reins of Government fell into his
hands. Now was the opportunity for him to avenge as best as he
could and to perpetrate whatever violence he had in mind.
Consequently the first step he took was that, in order to deprive
Hadrat Fatimah of inheritance, he denied the principle of
inheritance in the case of the prophets and held that neither do
the prophets inherit nor are they inherited from, but the property
left by them escheats to the state. Fatimah was so much affected
that she gave up speaking to him and passed away from this world
with these very feelings. A'ishah did not even take the trouble
to express any sorrow at her tragic death. Thus Ibn Abi'l-Hadid
has written:

When Fatimah expired,
all the wives of the Prophet came to Bani Hashim in condolence
except A'ishah. She did not come and showed herself sick and
words from her reached Ali which displayed her joy. (Sharh Nahj
al-balaghah, vol. 9, p. 198).

As long as she bore so
much malice against Hadrat Fatimah, how could Fatimah's spouse be
spared similar enmity and malice. Particularly when such events
also occurred which worked like a fan and roused her feeling of
hatred, such as the incident of "Ifk" when Amir
al-mu'minin said to the Prophet: "She is no better than the
buckles of your shoe, leave her and divorce her away." On
hearing this A'ishah must have felt miserable in her bed, and
must have developed the severest feeling of hatred against him.
There were also moments when distinction was conferred on Amir
al-mu'minin in preference to Abu Bakr. For instance, in connection
with the dispatch of the Qur'anic verses on Bara'ah (innocence),
the Prophet removed Abu Bakr from the job, recalled him and
assigned it to Amir al-mu'minin saying that he had been commanded
by Allah to take it himself or send it through a member of his
family. Similarly the Prophet closed all the doors opening into
the mosque including that of Abu Bakr but allowed the door of Amir
al-mu'minin's house to continue to open thereinto.

A'ishah could not
relish Amir al-mu'minin's distinction over her father, and
whenever there was any occasion for such distinction she did her
best to undo it. When in his last days the Prophet ordered the
contingent under Usamah ibn Zayd to march, and ordered Abu Bakr
and Umar also to go under his command, they received a message
from the wives of the Prophet that his condition was serious and
therefore the contingent should come back instead of proceeding
further. This was because their far-reaching sight had realised
that the only purpose in getting Medina vacated by the muhajirun
and the ansar could be that after the death of the Prophet no one
should stand in Amir al-mu'minin's way and that he should get the
caliphate without any trouble. On receipt of this message the
contingent under Usamah came back. When the Prophet learnt this he
again ordered Usamah to march with the contingent and even said,
"Allah may curse him who keeps away from the
contingent," whereupon they again set off, but they were
again called back till the Prophet's illness assumed serious
proportions, but Usamah's contingent did not go out as it did not
want to. After this Abu Bakr was sent word through Bilal that he
should deputise the Prophet in leading the prayers in order to
pave the way for his Caliphateship. Accordingly, keeping this in
view he was first shown as the Prophet's caliph (deputy) in
prayers and eventually was accepted as his caliph for all
purposes. Thereafter matters were so contrived that Amir
al-mu'minin could not get the Caliphate. However, after the reign
of the third caliph circumstances took such a turn that people
were obliged to swear allegiance at Amir al-mu'minin's hand. On
this occasion A'ishah was present in Mecca. When she learnt about
Amir al-mu'minin's caliphate her eyes began emitting flames, and
rage and anger perturbed her mind, and her hatred for Amir
al-mu'minin assumed such seriousness that she rose against him on
the excuse of avenging blood of the same man (Uthman) whom she
had herself proclaimed fit to be killed, and openly declared war
as a result of which so much bloodshed occurred that the whole
land of Basrah was smeared with the blood of those killed, and the
door of disunity was opened for good. (Sharh, Ibn Abi'l-Hadid,
vol. 9, pp. 190-200).