Lessons from Nahjul Balagha [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

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Sermon
33

SERMON 33

Abdullah ibn Abbas says that
when Amir al-mu'minin set out for war with the people of
Basrah he came to his audience at Dhiqar and saw that he was
stitching his shoe. Then Amir al-mu'minin said to me, "What
is the price of this shoe?" I said: "It has no
value now." He then said, "By Allah, it should have been
more dear to me than ruling over you but for the fact that I
may establish right and ward off wrong." Then he came out and
spoke:

Verily, Allah sent
Muhammad (p.b.u.h.a.h.p.) when none among the Arabs read a book or
claimed prophethood. He guided the people till he took them to
their (correct) position and their salvation. So their spears
(i.e. officers) became straight and their conditions settled down.

By Allah, surely I was
in their lead till it took shape with its walls. I did not show
weakness or cowardice. My existing march is also like that. I
shall certainly pierce the wrong till right comes out of its side.

What (cause of
conflict) is there between me and the Quraysh? By Allah, I have
fought them when they were unbelievers and I shall fight them when
they have been misled. I shall be the same for them today as I was
for them yesterday.

By Allah, the Quraysh
only take revenge against us because Allah has given us (i.e. the
Holy Prophet and his progeny) preference over them. So, we have
allowed them into our domain, whereupon they have become as the
former poet says:
By my life, you
continued drinking fresh milk every morning,

And (continued) eating fine stoned dates with butter;

We have given you the nobility which you did not possess before;

And surrounded (protected) you with thoroughbred horses and
tawny-coloured spears (strong spears) (1).

(1).
In fact, the aim of the poet here is to say that the condition of
the addressee's life, from the moral and material point of view,
had been worse in the past, and that the poet and his tribe have
given him the best means of leading their lives. But as the result
of this improved condition the addressee has completely lost
himself and forgotten his past condition and thinks that he had
had this kind of life previously.

Now, Amir al-mu'minin
wants to convey the same idea here to the Quraysh as Fatimah
(p.b.u.h.) the holy daughter of the Holy Prophet said in her
speech on Fadak:
(O' People) ... You
were on the brink of the pit of Hell Fire (Qur'an, 3:103). You
were as worthless as the mouthful of water. You were minority
like the handful greedy and a spark of the hasty. You were as
down-trodden as the dust under feet. You drank dirty water. You
ate untanned skin. You were abased and condemned. But Allah has
rescued you through my father Muhammad (p.b.u.h.a.h.p.). . .