Nahjul Balagha Part 1, The Sermons

Sermon 70: I was sitting when sleep overtook me...

Spoken on the morning of the day when Amir al-mu'minin was fatally struck with sword.

I was sitting when sleep overtook me. I saw the Prophet of Allah appear before me, and I said: "O Prophet of Allah! What crookedness and enmity I had to face from the people. "The Prophet of Allah said: "Invoke (Allah) evil upon them," but I said, "Allah may change them for me with better ones and change me for them with a worse one”.

as-Sayyid ar-Radi says: "al-awad" means crookedness and "al-ladad" means enmity, and this is the most eloquent expression.

Alternative Sources for Sermon 70

(1) Ibn Sa`d, al-Tabaqat, III, 36;

(2) Abu al-Faraj, Maqatil, 16;

(3) Ibn `Abd Rabbih, al-`Iqd, II, 298;

(4) al-Qali, Dhayl al-'Amali, 190;

(5) Ibn Qutaybah, al-'Imamah, I, 160;

(6) Muhammad ibn Habib, al-Mughtalin, on the authority of Abu `Abd al-Rahman al-Salami;

(7) Ibn `Abd al-Birr, al-'Isti`ab, III, 61;

(8) al-Mufid, al-'Irshad, 9;

(9) al-Murtada, Ghurar, IV, 78;

(10) al-Baladhuri, Ansab, II, 495.