Jump to content

Letter of Imam Ali (a) to Sahl b. Hunayf

Add links
Priority: c, Quality: c
Without infobox
Without references
From wikishia
The manuscript of Ibn Muhadhdhab of the letter of Imam Ali (a) to Sahl ibn Hunayf

The Letter of Imam Ali to Sahl b. Hunayf (Arabic:رسالة الإمام علي إلى سهل بن حنيف) is one of the letters of Imam Ali (a), written to console Sahl[1] after some of his companions joined Mu'awiya. In this letter, Imam Ali (a) writes to Sahl, his governor in Medina, not to be distressed by the defection of some people of Medina to Mu'awiya. For they did not join Mu'awiya to escape oppression or to achieve justice—since they had witnessed the justice of the Imam's government and its equal treatment of all people—but rather they went to Mu'awiya and were led astray in pursuit of worldly possessions.[2]

Sahl b. Hunayf was a companion of the Prophet (s), a governor of Imam Ali (a) in Medina,[3] and a member of the Shurtat al-Khamis.[4]

The letter of Imam Ali (a) to Sahl b. Hunayf is mentioned in various Shi'a and Sunni sources. However, the version narrated by Sayyid Radi in Nahj al-Balagha differs slightly from the text recorded by al-Baladhuri (a historian of the 3rd/9th century) in Ansab al-Ashraf[5] and by al-Ya'qubi in his Tarikh. This letter is numbered 69 in the edition of Ibn Maytham[6] and is numbered 70 in the editions of Ibn Abi l-Hadid,[7] al-Allama al-Majlisi,[8] Muhammad 'Abduh,[9] Subhi Salih,[10] and Fayd al-Islam.[11]

Text and Translation of the Letter

In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful. بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ الرَّ‌حْمَـٰنِ الرَّ‌حِيمِ
From the letters of Imam Ali (a) to Sahl b. Hunayf al-Ansari, his governor in Medina, concerning a group of its people who joined Mu'awiya. من كتاب له ع إلى سهل بن حنيف الأنصاری و هو عامله على المدينة فی معنى قوم من أهلها لحقوا بمعاوية
Now then, it has reached me that some men from your region are slipping away to join Mu'awiyah. Do not grieve over the numbers you lose or the support that departs from you. أَمَّا بَعْدُ فَقَدْ بَلَغَنِي أَنَّ رِجَالًا مِمَّنْ قِبَلَكَ يَتَسَلَّلُونَ إِلَى مُعَاوِيَةَ فَلَا تَأْسَفْ عَلَى مَا يَفُوتُكَ مِنْ عَدَدِهِمْ وَ يَذْهَبُ عَنْكَ مِنْ مَدَدِهِمْ
Sufficient for them is their deviation, and sufficient for you is your relief from them, that they flee from guidance and truth فَكَفَى لَهُمْ غَيّاً وَ لَكَ مِنْهُمْ شَافِياً فِرَارُهُمْ مِنَ الْهُدَى وَ الْحَقِّ
and hasten toward blindness and ignorance. They are but people of this world, advancing eagerly toward it and rushing headlong to it. وَ إِيضَاعُهُمْ إِلَى الْعَمَى وَ الْجَهْلِ فَإِنَّمَا هُمْ أَهْلُ دُنْيَا مُقْبِلُونَ عَلَيْهَا وَ مُهْطِعُونَ إِلَيْهَا.
They recognized justice, saw it, heard it, and internalized it. They knew that all people are equal to us in matters of truth. وَ قَدْ عَرَفُوا الْعَدْلَ وَ رَأَوْهُ وَ سَمِعُوهُ وَ وَعَوْهُ وَ عَلِمُوا أَنَّ النَّاسَ عِنْدَنَا فِي الْحَقِّ أُسْوَةٌ
Yet they fled from this equality to self-interest and favoritism. May they be cast far from God's mercy. By God, they did not flee from oppression, nor did they join justice. فَهَرَبُوا إِلَى الْأَثَرَةِ فَبُعْداً لَهُمْ وَ سُحْقاً إِنَّهُمْ وَ اللَّهِ لَمْ [يَفِرُّوا] يَنْفِرُوا مِنْ جَوْرٍ وَ لَمْ يَلْحَقُوا بِعَدْلٍ.
We remain hopeful that God will make the difficulties of this matter easy for us and smooth its hardships, if God wills. And peace be upon you. وَ إِنَّا لَنَطْمَعُ فِي هَذَا الْأَمْرِ أَنْ يُذَلِّلَ اللَّهُ لَنَا صَعْبَهُ وَ يُسَهِّلَ لَنَا حَزْنَهُ إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ وَ السَّلَام.

Notes

  1. ↑ Ṭūsī, Rijāl al-Ṭūsī, p. 66, Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 2, p. 157.
  2. ↑ Nahj al-balāgha, Edited by Ṣubḥī Ṣāliḥ, letter 70, p. 461.
  3. ↑ Ṭūsī, Rijāl al-Ṭūsī, p. 66, Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 2, p. 157.
  4. ↑ Barqī, Rijāl al-Barqī, p. 4.
  5. ↑ Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 2, p. 157.
  6. ↑ Ibn Maytham, Sharḥ Nahj al-balāgha, vol. 5, p. 225.
  7. ↑ Ibn Abī l-Ḥadīd, Sharḥ Nahj al-balāgha, vol. 18, p. 52.
  8. ↑ Majlisī, Sharḥ Nahj al-balāghat al-muqtaṭaf min Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 3, p. 307.
  9. ↑ ʿAbduh, Sharḥ Nahj al-balāgha, vol. 3, p. 144.
  10. ↑ Fayḍ al-Islām, Tarjumah wa sharḥ Nahj al-balāgha, vo. 5, p. 1071.
  11. ↑ Nahj al-balāgha, Edited by Ṣubḥī Ṣāliḥ, letter 70, p. 461.

References

  • ʿAbduh, Muḥammad. Sharḥ Nahj al-balāgha. Cairo: Maṭbaʿat al-Istiqāma, [n.d.]
  • Barqī, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad. Rijāl al-Barqī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Dānishgāh-i Tihrān, 1342 SH.
  • Balādhurī, Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā. Ansāb al-ashrāf. Edited by Muḥammad Bāqir Maḥmūdī. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Aʿlamī lil-Maṭbūʿāt, 1st edition, 1394 AH.
  • Fayḍ al-Islām, ʿAlī Naqī. Tarjumah wa sharḥ Nahj al-balāgha. [n.p]. 1368 SH.
  • Ibn Abī l-Ḥadīd, ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd. Sharḥ Nahj al-balāgha. Edited by Muḥammad Abū l-Faḍl Ibrāhīm. Qom: Maktabat Āyatullāh al-Marʿashī al-Najafī, 1st edition, 1404 AH.
  • Ibn Maytham, Maytham b. ʿAlī. Sharḥ Nahj al-balāgha. Tehran: Nashr al-Kitāb, 1404 AH.
  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Sharḥ Nahj al-balāghat al-muqtaṭaf min Biḥār al-anwār. Edited by ʿAlī Anṣāriyān wa Murtaz̤ā Ḥājj ʿAlī Fard. Tehran: Vizārat-i Farhang wa Irshād-i Islāmī, 1408 AH.
  • Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tarjuma-yi gūyā wa sharḥ-i fashurda-ʾī bar Nahj al-balāgha. Qom: Hadaf, 1st edition, [n.d.]
  • Sayyid Raḍī, Muḥammad b. Ḥusayn. Nahj al-balāgha. Edited by Ṣubḥī Ṣāliḥ. Qom: Hijrat, 1st edition, 1414 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan al-. Rijāl al-Ṭūsī. Edited by Qayyūmī Iṣfahānī, Jawād. Qom: Muʾassasat al-Nashr al-Islāmī al-tābiʿat li-Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn bi-Qum al-Muqaddasa, 1373 SH.
  • Yaʿqūbī, Aḥmad b. Abī Yaʿqūb al-. Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, [n.d.]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikishia.net/w/index.php?title=Letter_of_Imam_Ali_(a)_to_Sahl_b._Hunayf&oldid=207992"