Lessons from Nahjul Balagha [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Sermons
Sermon
55

SERMON 55

About steadiness in the
battlefield

In the company of the
Prophet of Allah (PBUH) we used to fight our parents, sons,
brothers and uncles, and this continued us in our faith, in
submission, in our following the right path, in endurance over the
pangs of pain and in our fight against the enemy. A man from our
side and one from the enemy would pounce upon each other like
energetic men contesting as to who would kill the other; sometime
our man got over his adversary and some-time the enemy's man got
over ours.

When Allah had
observed our truth He sent ignominy to our foe and sent His
succour to us till Islam got established (like the camel) with
neck on the ground and resting in its place. By my life, if we had
also behaved like you, no pillar of (our) religion could have been
raised, nor the tree of faith could have borne leaves. By Allah,
certainly you will now milk our blood (instead of milk) and
eventually you will face shame. (1)

(1).
When Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr had been killed Muawiyah sent
Abdullah ibn Amir al-Hadrami to Basrah to exhort the people of
Basrah for avenging Uthman's blood because the natural
inclination of most of the inhabitants of Basrah and particularly
of Banu Tamim was towards Uthman. Consequently, he stayed with
Banu Tamim. This was the time when Abdullah ibn Abbas, the
governor of Basrah had gone to Kufah for condolence about Muhammad
ibn Abi Bakr, leaving Ziyad ibn Ubayd (Abih) as his substitute.
When the atmosphere in Basrah began to deteriorate Ziyad informed
Amir al-mu'minin of all the facts. Amir al-mu'minin tried to get
Banu Tamim of Kufah ready but they kept complete silence and gave
no reply. When Amir al-mu'minin saw this weakness and
shamelessness on their part he gave this speech namely that
"During the days of the Prophet (PBUH) we did not see whether
those killed at our hands were our kith and kin, but whoever
collided with Right, we were prepared to collide with him. If we
too had acted carelessly or been guilty of inaction like you then
neither religion could have taken root nor could Islam prosper.
"The result of this shaking was that Ayan ibn Dabiah
al-Mujashii prepared himself but on reaching Basrah he was killed
by the swords of the enemy. Thereafter, Amir al-mu'minin sent off
Jariyah ibn Qudamah as-Sadi with fifty men of Bani Tamim. First
he tried his best to canvass his own tribe but instead of
following the right path they stooped down to abusing and
fighting. Then Jariyah called Ziyad and the tribe of Azd for his
help. Soon on their arrival (Abdullah) Ibn al-Hadrami also came
out with his men. Swords were used from both sides for some time
but eventually Ibn al-Hadrami fled away with seventy persons and
took refuge in the house of Sabil as-Sadi. When Jariyah saw no
other way he got this house set on fire. When fire rose into
flames they came out in search of safety but could not succeed in
running away. Some of them were crushed to death under the wall
while others were killed.