Peak of Eloquence Nahjul Balagha By Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib - English Translation - Sermon 173

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About Talhah ibn Ubaydillah
(Delivered when he received the news that Talhah and az-Zubayr
had already left for Basra to fight him):
As far as I am concerned, I will never be too afraid to fight or to
initiate a battle because I am satisfied with the promise of Allah’s support
for me. By Allah, Talhah has hastened with an oath to avenge Othman’s
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murder fearing lest the demand for Othman’s blood be made against his
own self. This is so because the people’s idea in this matter is about him
and, in fact, he was the most anxious among them for killing Othman .
Therefore, he has tried to create a misunderstanding by collecting forces
in order to confuse the matter and to create doubt.
By Allah, he did not act in either of three ways about Othman: If
the son of Affan (Othman) was wrong, as Talhah believed, it is necessary
for him to support those who killed178 him or to keep away from his
supporters. If Othman was the victim of oppression, then Talhah should
have been among those who were keeping (the assailants) away from him
or were advancing pleas on his behalf. If he was in doubt about these two
alternatives, then it was incumbent upon him to leave him (Othman) and
to retire, to leave the men with him. But he adopted none of these three
ways and came out with a thing in which there is nothing good and his
excuses are not acceptable.