Lessons from Nahjul Balagha [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

letters
letter
9

A
letter to Mu''awiya

Quraysh
was our tribe, but they wanted to kill the Holy Prophet (s) and to
exterminate our family. They conspired against us and made plots
after plots to harm us. They tried their best to frighten and
injure us. They forced us to leave our homes and to retire to the
cave of Shi''b Abi Taalib. It was a very rough and hard place to
live in, and we were forced to lead a very harsh life. Their
instigated their tribe as well as other clans to fight against us.
The Merciful Allah came to our help. He protected and defended us.
From amongst us those who had faith in the Holy Prophet (s) and
Islam stood up to defend him and his cause; their desire was to
achieve the favour of the Lord; and those of Bani Hashim who had
not embraced Islam as yet like Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib also came
to our help because we belonged to them and they to us. From
amongst the Quraysh, the condition of those who had embraced
Islam, was not as bad as ours.

Either they had defensive alliance with the non-believers or some
tribes decided to defend them despite their differences in
religion. While it was the practice of the Holy Prophet (s) that
whenever a battle was raged and his companions behaved cowardly or
ran away from the battlefield (as in Badr, Uhud and Hunayn) which
was usually the case or started making the Muslims nervous (as in
Khandaq), he sent members of his family (Bani Hashim) to fight out
the battle to protect his companions. These members of Bani Hashim
often fought single handed and some even met martyrdom as for
instance, Ubayda bin Haarith was killed in the Battle of Badr,
Hamza bin Abdul Muttalib in Uhud and Ja''far bin Abu Taalib in the
Battle of Mu''tah. Besides these three, there was another person
(here Imam Ali (a) meant himself) who also tried his best to meet
martyrdom. I could name him but the date of his death had not yet
approached and he passed through these terrible ordeals alive.

O time! O world! How could I wonder at your vagaries? People have
started considering such a person (Mu''awiya) equal to me! He in
his whole lifetime never exerted himself in the service of Islam
and Allah as I have done at every moment of my life. In Islam
there is no rank, no honour, no position and no merit for him as
there is for me. No one can pretend to claim any superiority and
excellence over me but a pretender. I do not know of anyone who
served Islam and the Holy Prophet (s) as sincerely and as
constantly as I have. The Almighty Lord knows that I am not wrong
in claiming what I have said and no one can be compared to me in
this respect. All Glory, Praise and Greatness belongs to Him and
to nobody else.

You have requested me to send to you all those people who were
responsible for the murder of Uthman. I pondered over your request
and found that it was not in my power to send them to you or to
anybody else.

I swear by my life that if you do not leave your hypocrisy,
avarice and your rebellious activities they will make themselves
known to you. Instead of your demanding them they will demand for
you. On the sea and land and in the plains and on the hills they
will make their presence known to you and you will not find it
easy or pleasant to face them and will curse the day when you
demanded to see them.