| In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful
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بِسْمِ اللَّـهِ الرَّ‌حْمَـٰنِ الرَّ‌حِيمِ
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| Beware! By Allah, the son of Abu Quhafah (Abu Bakr) dressed himself with it (the caliphate) and he certainly knew that my position in relation to it was the same as the position of the axis in relation to the hand-mill. The flood water flows down from me and the bird cannot fly up to me.
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أَمَا وَالله لَقَدْ تَقَمَّصَها ابْنُ اَبى قُحافَةَ، وَإِنَّهُ لَيَعْلَمُ أَنَّ مَحَلِّيَ مِنهَا مَحَلُّ القُطْبِ مِنَ الرَّحَا، يَنْحَدِرُ عَنِّي السَّيْلُ، وَلا يَرْقَى إِلَيَّ الطَّيْرُ.
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| I put a curtain against the caliphate and kept myself detached from it. Then I began to think whether I should assault or endure calmly the blinding darkness of tribulations
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فَسَدَلْتُ دُونَهَا ثَوْباً، وَطَوَيْتُ عَنْهَا كَشْحاً. وَ طَفِقْتُ اَرْتَأی بَینَ اَنْ اَصُولَ بِید جَذّاءَ، اَوْ اَصْبِرَ عَلی طِخْیة عَمْیاءَ،
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| wherein the grown up are made feeble and the young grow old and the true believer acts under strain till he meets Allah (on his death).
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یهْرَمُ فیهَا الْكَبیرُ، وَ یشیبُ فیهَا الصَّغیرُ، وَ یكْدَحُ فیها مُؤْمِنٌ حَتّی یلْقی رَبَّهُ
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| I found that endurance thereon was wiser. So I adopted patience, although there was pricking in the eye and suffocation (of mortification) in the throat.
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فَرَأَيْتُ أَنَّ الصَّبْرَ عَلَى هَاتَا أَحْجَى. فَصَبَرتُ وَفي الْعَيْنِ قَذىً، وَفي الحَلْقِ شَجاً،
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| I watched the plundering of my inheritance till the first one went his way but handed over the Caliphate to Ibn al-Khattab after himself.
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أرى تُرَاثي نَهْباً، حَتَّى مَضَى الاْوَّلُ لِسَبِيلِهِ، فَأَدْلَى بِهَا إِلَى ابْنِ الْخَطّابِ بَعْدَهُ
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| Then he quoted al-A'sha's verse
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| My days are now passed on the camel's back (in difficulty) while there were days (of ease) when I enjoyed the company of Jabir's brother Hayyan.[1]
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شَتّانَ ما یوْمی عَلی كُورِها وَ یوْمُ حَیانَ اَخی جابِرِ
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| It is strange that during his lifetime he wished to be released from the caliphate, but he confirmed it for the other one after his death. No doubt these two shared its udders strictly among themselves.
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فَيَا عَجَباً! بَيْنَا هُوَ يَسْتَقِيلُها في حَيَاتِهِ إِذْ عَقَدَهَا لاخَرَ بَعْدَ وَفَاتِهِ. لَشَدَّ مَا تَشَطَّرَا ضَرْعَيْهَا
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| This one put the caliphate in a tough enclosure where the utterance was haughty, and the touch was rough, mistakes were in plenty and so also the excuses therefore.
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فَصَيَّرَهَا في حَوْزَة خَشْنَاءَ، يَغْلُظُ كَلْمُهَا، وَيَخْشُنُ مَسُّهَا، وَيَكْثُرُ العِثَارُ فِيهَا وَالاْعْتَذَارُ مِنْهَا،
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| One in contact with it was like the rider of an unruly camel; if he pulled up its rein the very nostril would be slit, but if he let it loose he would be thrown. Consequently, by Allah people got involved in recklessness, wickedness, unsteadiness, and deviation.
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فَصَاحِبُهَا كَرَاكِبِ الصَّعْبَةِ، إِنْ أَشْنَقَ لَهَا خَرَمَ، وَإِنْ أَسْلَسَ لَهَا تَقَحَّمَ، فَمُنِيَ النَّاسُ ـ لَعَمْرُ اللهِ ـ بِخَبْط وَشِمَاس، وَتَلَوُّن وَاعْتِرَاض.
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| Nevertheless, I remained patient despite length of period and stiffness of trial, till when he went his way (of death) he put the matter (of caliphate) in a group and regarded me to be one of them.
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فَصَبَرْتُ عَلَى طُولِ الْمُدَّةِ، وَشِدَّةِ الْمحْنَةِ، حَتَّى إِذا مَضَى لِسَبِيلِهِ جَعَلَهَا في جَمَاعَة زَعَمَ أَنَّي أَحَدُهُمْ.
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| But good Heavens! What had I to do with this “consultation”? Where was any doubt about me with regard to the first of them that I was now considered akin to these?
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فَيَاللهِ وَلِلشُّورَى! مَتَى اعْتَرَضَ الرَّيْبُ فِيَّ مَعَ الاْوَّلِ مِنْهُمْ، حَتَّى صِرْتُ أُقْرَنُ إِلَى هذِهِ النَّظَائِرِ!
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| But I remained low when they were low and flew high when they flew high. One of them turned against me because of his hatred, and the other got inclined the other way due to his in-law relationship and this thing and that thing.
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لكِنِّي أَسفَفْتُ إِذْ أَسَفُّوا، وَطِرْتُ إِذْ طَارُوا. فَصَغَا رَجُلُ مِنْهُمْ لِضِغْنِه، وَمَالَ الاْخَرُ لِصِهْرهِ، مَعَ هَن وَهَن.
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| Till the third man of these people stood up with heaving breasts between his dung and fodder. With him his children of his grandfather (Umayya) also stood up, swallowing Allah's wealth like a camel devouring the foliage of spring,
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إِلَى أَنْ قَامَ ثَالِثُ القَوْمِ، نَافِجَاً حِضْنَيْهِ بَيْنَ نَثِيلهِ وَمُعْتَلَفِهِ، وَقَامَ مَعَهُ بَنُو أَبِيهِ يَخْضَمُونَ مَالَ اللهِ خَضْمَ الاْبِل نِبْتَةَ الرَّبِيعِ،
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| till his rope broke down, his actions finished him and his gluttony brought him down.
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إِلَى أَنِ انْتَكَثَ عَلَيْهِ فَتْلُهُ، وَأَجْهَزَ عَلَيْهِ عَمَلُهُ، وَكَبَتْ بِهِ بِطْنَتُهُ
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| At that moment, nothing took me by surprise, but the crowd of people rushing to me. It advanced towards me from every side like the mane of the hyena, so much so that al-Hasan and al-Husayn were getting crushed and both the ends of my shoulder garment were torn. They collected around me like a herd of sheep and goats.
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فَمَا رَاعَنِي إلاَّ وَالنَّاسُ إليَّ كَعُرْفِ الضَّبُعِ، يَنْثَالُونَ عَلَيَّ مِنْ كُلِّ جَانِب، حَتَّى لَقَدْ وُطِىءَ الحَسَنَانِ، وَشُقَّ عِطْفَايَ، مُجْتَمِعِينَ حَوْلي كَرَبِيضَةِ الغَنَمِ.
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| When I took up the reins of government one party broke away and another turned disobedient while the rest began acting wrongfully as if they had not heard the word of Allah saying:
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فَلَمَّا نَهَضْتُ بِالاْمرِ نَكَثَتْ طَائِفَةٌ، وَمَرَقَتْ أُخْرَى، وَفَسَقَ [وقسط] آخَرُونَ كَأَنَّهُمْ لَمْ يَسْمَعُوا اللهَ سُبْحَانَهُ يَقُولُ:
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| "This is the abode of the Hereafter which We shall grant to those who do not desire to domineer in the earth nor to cause corruption, and the outcome will be in favour of the Godwary." [2]
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«تِلْكَ الدَّارُ الاخِرَةُ نَجْعَلُهَا للَّذِينَ لاَ يُريدُونَ عُلُوّاً في الاَرْضِ وَلاَ فَسَاداً وَالعَاقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ»
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| Yes, by Allah, they had heard it and understood it, but the world appeared glittering in their eyes and its embellishments seduced them.
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بَلَى! وَاللهِ لَقَدْ سَمِعُوهَا وَوَعَوْهَا، وَلكِنَّهُمْ حَلِيَتَ الدُّنْيَا في أَعْيُنِهمْ، وَرَاقَهُمْ زِبْرِجُهَا!
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| Behold, by Him who split the grain (to grow) and created living beings, if people had not come to me and supporters had not exhausted the argument and if there had been no pledge of Allah with the learned to the effect that they should not acquiesce in the gluttony of the oppressor and the hunger of the oppressed, I would have cast the rope of caliphate on its own shoulders, and would have given the last one the same treatment as to the first one. Then you would have seen that in my view this world of yours is no better than the sneezing of a goat.
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أَمَا وَالَّذِي فَلَقَ الْحَبَّةَ، وَبَرَأَ النَّسَمَةَ، لَوْلاَ حُضُورُ الْحَاضِرِ، وَقِيَامُ الْحُجَّةِ بِوُجُودِ النَّاصِرِ، وَمَا أَخَذَ اللهُ عَلَى العُلَمَاءِ أَلاَّ يُقَارُّوا عَلَى كِظَّةِ ظَالِم، وَلا سَغَبِ مَظْلُوم، لاَلقَيْتُ حَبْلَهَا عَلَى غَارِبِهَا، وَلَسَقَيْتُ آخِرَهَا بِكَأْسِ أَوَّلِها، وَلاَلفَيْتُمْ دُنْيَاكُمْ هذِهِ أَزْهَدَ عِنْدِي مِنْ عَفْطَةِ عَنْز!
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| When Imam 'Ali (a) reached here in his sermon, a man of Iraq stood up and handed him over a writing. Imam 'Ali (a) began looking at it, when Ibn 'Abbas said, “O' Amir al-Mu'minin, I wish you resumed your sermon from where you broke it.” Thereupon he replied:
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| O' Ibn 'Abbas it was like the foam of a Camel which gushed out but subsided.
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هَيْهَاتَ يَابْنَ عَبَّاس! تِلْكَ شِقْشِقَةٌ هَدَرَتْ ثُمَّ قَرَّتْ!
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| Ibn 'Abbas says that he never grieved over any utterance as he did over this one because Amir al-mu'minin could not finish it as he wished to.[3]
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