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91

SERMON 91

When people decided to Swear
allegiance(1) at Amir
al-mu'minin's hand after the murder of Uthman, he said:

Leave me and seek some
one else. We are facing a matter which has (several) faces and
colours, which neither hearts can stand nor intelligence can
accept. Clouds are hovering over the sky, and faces are not
discernible. You should know that if I respond to you I would lead
you as I know and would not care about whatever one may say or
abuse. If you leave me then I am the same as you are. It is
possible I would listen to and obey whomever you make in charge of
your affairs. I am better for you as a counsellor than as chief.

(1).
When with the murder of Uthman the seat of Caliphate became
vacant, Muslims began to look at Ali (p.b.u.h.) whose peaceful
conduct, adherence to principles, and politia lacumen had been
witnessed by them to a great extent during this long period.
Consequently, they rushed for swearing allegiance in the same way
as a traveller who had lost his way and catches sight of the
objective would have rushed towards it, as the historian at-Tabari
(in at-Tarikh, vol .I, pp. 3066, 3067, 3076) records:

People thronged on Amir
al-mu'minin and said, "We want to swear allegiance to you
and you see what troubles are befalling Islam and how we are
being tried about the near ones of the Prophet."

But Amir al-mu'minin
declined to accede to their request whereupon these people raised
a hue and cry and began to shout loudly, "O' Abu'l-Hasan, do
you not witness the ruination of Islam or see the advancing flood
of unruliness and mischief? Do you have no fear of Allah?"
Even then Amir al-mu'minin showed no readiness to consent because
he was noticing that the effects of the atmosphere that had come
into being after the Prophet had overcome hearts and minds of the
people, selfishness and lust for power had become rooted in them,
their thinking affected by materialism and they had become
habituated to treating government as the means for securing their
ends. Now they would like to materialise the Divine Caliphate too
and play with it. In these circumstances it would be impossible to
change the mentalities or turn the direction of temperaments. In
addition to these ideas he had also seen the end in view that
these people should get further time to think over so that on
frustration of their material ends hereafter they should not say
that the allegiance had been sworn by them under a temporary
expediency and that thought had not been given to it, just as
Umar's idea was about the first Caliphate, which appears from his
statement that:
Abu Bakr's Caliphate
came into being without thought but Allah saved us from its
mischief. If anyone repeats such an affair you should kill him.
(as-Sahih, al-Bukhari, vol 8, pp.210, 211; al-Musnad, Ahmad ibn
Hanbal, vol.1, p.55; at-Tabari, vol.1, p.l822; Ibn al-Athir,
vol.2, p.327; Ibn Hisham, vol.4, pp.308-309; Ibn Kathir, vol.5,
p.246)

In short, when their
insistence increased beyond limits, Amir al-mu'minin delivered
this sermon wherein he clarified that "If you want me for
your worldly ends, then I am not ready to serve as your
instrument. Leave me and select someone else who may fulfil your
ends. You have seen my past life that I am not prepared to follow
anything except the Qur'an and sunnah and would not give up this
principle for securing power. If you select someone else I would
pay regard to the laws of the state and the constitution as a
peaceful citizen should do. I have not at any stage tried to
disrupt the collective existence of the Muslims by inciting
revolt. The same will happen now. Rather, just as keeping the
common good in view I have hitherto been giving correct advice, I
would not grudge doing the same. If you let me in the same
position it would be better for your worldly ends, because in that
case I won't have power in my hands so that I could stand in the
way of your worldly affairs, and create an impediment against your
hearts' wishes. However, if you are determined on swearing
allegiance on my hand, bear in mind that if you frown or speak
against me I would force you to tread on the path of right, and in
the matter of the right I would not care for anyone. If you want
to swear allegiance even at this, you can satisfy your wish."

The impression Amir
al-mu'minin had formed about these people is fully corroborated by
later events. Consequently, when those who had sworn allegiance
with worldly motives did not succeed in their objectives they
broke away and rose against his government with baseless
allegations.