Masterpieces of Rhetoric Methood (nahj Al-balagha)

Describing His Conduct and That of Mu’awiyah

He Deceives and Commits Evils

By Allah, Mu’awiyah is not more cunning that I but he betrays and commits evil deeds. If I don’t hate deceit I would be the most cunning of all men.

The Price of Swearing Allegiance

He did not swear allegiance till he put a condition that he would pay him its price. The hand of this purchaser may not be successful and the contact of the seller may face disgrace. Now you should take up arms for war and arrange equipment for it.

Eaters of bribe

A letter, whose some meaning has been mentioned, sent to a group of his companions:

You but are fighting the eaters of bribe, the salves of this world, hereies and fabrications I have been known that the son of the whore (Amru bin Al-Aa’s) did not swear allegiance to Mu’a-wiyah till he got him agree that he would pay him a bribe which is the greatest of all what is at his hands of authority. May the hand of this seller, of his religion by his world, be empty. May the hand of this purchaser the support of a treacherous, wicked man by people’s money, be soiled with earth. (i.e. become poor).

You have Ruined Your this and the next World To Amru bin Al-A’as when he accede to Mu’awiyah

You have surely made your religion subservient to this worldly seekings of a man whose misguidance is apparent and whose veil had been torn away. Nobleman is disgraced by his company and prudent is befooled by his associaiton. You have followed in his steps seeking his surplus like the dog that follows the lion resorting to his paws and waiting for whatever remnants of his prey fall down to him. Thus, you have ruined your this world as well as the next life, although if you had stuck to the right, you would have got what you were after. If Allah grants me power over you and Ibn Abi Sufyan (Mu’awiyah) I shall penalize you for what you have done.

I shall Inflict Upon you

A letter to Ziyad ibna Abeeh, his governor of Basrah

I truthfully swear by Allah that if I come to know that you have misappropriated the funds of Muslims, small or big, I shall inflict upon you such punishment which will leave you empty handed, heavy backed and humiliated; Wassalaam.

Enjoying Comforts

From A letter to Ziyad ibna Abeeh too:

Do you expect that Allah may give you the reward of humble person while you yourself vainglorious in His view? And do you hope that He may give you the reward of those practising charity while you enjoy comforts and deny them to the weak people and widows? Certainly man is awarded according to what he has done and meets what he has sent forward.

Beware of Mu’awiyah

From A letter to Ziyad ibn Abih when Imam knew that Mu’awiyah had written to Ziyad to deceive him to attach him to himself in kinship.

I have learnt that Mu’awyiah has written to you to deceive your wit and blunt your sharpness. You should be on guard against him because he is ths Satan who approaches the believer from the front and from the back, from the right and from the left, to break into his inadvertance and overcome his intelligence.

All men to us are Equal

A letter to Sahl ibn Hunayf Al-Ansari, his Governor of Medina, about certain persons who had accede to Mu’awyiah Now, I have come to know that certain persons from your side are stealthily acceding to Mu’awyiah. Do not feel sorry for their numbers and what you lose of their help.

It is enough for them that they have gone into misguidance and for you that you have been relieved of them. They have known justice, seen it, heard and perceived it. They have realized here that, to us, all men are equal in the matter of right. Therefore, they ran away to selfishness and partiality. So, away with them and let them far away. By Allah, they have surely not fled from an oppression nor do they proceeded to a justice.

O’ you semi-men

From a sermon after Sufyan Ibn Auf of Banu Ghamid invaded Al-Anbar; Mu’awyiah had sent him to raid over people the sides of Iraq. To frighten its inhabitants.

The horsemen of Banu Ghamid have reached Al-Anbar and killed Hassan ibn Hassan Al-Bakri. They have removed your horsemen from their garrison and killed virtuous men of you I have come to know that the person of them has been breaking into Muslim women and the other women under protection of Islam and took away their ornaments from legs, arms, necks and ears and no woman could resist it except by reciting the verse of Quran, “We are for Allah, and to He we shall return.”

Then they got back laden with wealth without any wound or loss of life. If any Muslim dies of grief after all this he is not to be blamed but rather there is justification for him before me How strange! How strange! By Allah my heart sinks to see unity of these people on their wrong and your dispersion about your right. Woe and grief befall you as. You have become a target at which arrows are shot. You are raided on but you don’t raid, you are invaded but don’t invade. Allah is being disobeyed and you remain agreeable to it.

When I order you to make a raid on them in summer you say it is hot weather. Respite us till heat subsides from it. When I order you to march in winter you say it is severely cold; give us time till cold clears from us All this are just execuses to flee from heat and cold so you from sword flee more quickly, by Allah, semi-men not men, your intelligence is that of children and your wit is that of women.

I wish I have not seen you nor known you. By Allah, this acquaintance has brought about regret and resulted in distress. May Allah fight you! You have filled my bosom with rage and counteracted my plans by disobeying and deserting me so much so that Quraysh started saying that the son of Abi Talib is brave but does not know (the tactics of) war.

May Allah orphan them is there anyone more stubborne in war and older in practicing it than I? I undertook it as I hadn’t reached twenty yet, and here I am, exceding sixty, but one who is not obeyed has no opinion.

Even If I Strike Him With My Sword

Even if I strike the nose of a believer with this, my sword for hating me he does not hate me, and even if I pour out all the riches of this world in the lap of a hypocrite to love me he doesn’t love me.

Will There Be Talk Without Action Rebuking his dissuasive companions:

O’ people, your bodies are together but your desires are divergent. Your talk softens hard-stoned mountains and your action tempts your enemy into you. If one calls you the call rece-ives no heed. And he who sufferes from you his heart has no solace. Which dewelling after your dwelling do you protect and with which Imam after me would you go for fighting? By Allah, really deceived is the one whom you deceive while,

by Allah, he who won you had won the most abortive lot. By Allah, I am now in a position that I neither believe in your speech nor hope for your support, not threaten the enemy with you. What is the matter with you? What is your treatment? What is your cure? The other party are also men like you. Will there be speech without action, carelessness without piety and a baseless hope?

I Don’t Improve You By Corrupting Myself From a speech admonishing his companions too:

How much do I deal with you smoothly such as old worn clothes are dealt with, as they when sewed from one side get torn from the other. Do you whenever a brigade from Al-Sham draws near you, everyone of you shuts his door and hides himself like the lizard in its hole or a hyena in its den. By Allah he whom you support is humilliated. By Allah, you are numerous in courtyards but few under banners. Certainly, I know what can improve you and straightens your crookedness. But I do not improve your condition by corrupting myself!

Determining Without Hurry

Some of his companions suggested preparation to fight with him, after he sent Jarir ibn Abdillah Al-Bajali to Mu’awyiah:

My preparion for war with the people of Al-Sham while Jarir is still there would be a closing the door for Al-Sham and prevention of its people from a good action if they intend doing it. My opinion is to determine without hurry.

I have meditated and reflected upon this matter thoroughly from all its sides but I do not find any way except war or heresy. There had been over the people a ruler who brought about new unislamic practices and gave people the reasons to speak so they spoke them they resented and changed.

I Am Tired Of Rebuking You To mobilize people for fighting with the people of Al-Sham Woe to you. I have become tired of rebuking you. When I invite you to fight your enemy your eyes revolve as though you are in the clutches of death, and in the senselessness of last moments. You are like nothing but camels whose shepherd have strayed, so that whenever they are collected from one side they disperse from the other side! You are intrigued against but do not intrigue.

Your boundaries are decreased but you do not get enraged. Your enemy do not sleep but you are unmindful. By Allah, spineless people are subdued. By Allah, I think about you that when battle rages and death hovers around you, you will cut away from the son of Abi Talib like the severing of the head from the trunk. By Allah he who gives his enemy the chance to remove his flesh, crush his bones and cut his skin into pieces, then it means that his helplessness is great and what is surrounded within the sides of his chest (i.e his heart) is weak.

You be that person if you wish, as to me before I accept it there would be an encounter with sharp-edged swords in which the moths bones of skulls fly; thereafter let Allah do what ever He likes!