Peak of Eloquence Nahjul Balagha By Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib - English Translation - Sermon 3

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Peak of Eloquence Nahjul Balagha By Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib - English Translation - Sermon 3

Known as the sermon as ash-Shaqshaqiyya 1
Beware! By Allah, the son of Abu Quhafah (Abu Bakr) 2
dressed himself with it (the caliphate) and he certainly knew that my
status in relationship to it was the same as the status of the axis in
relationship to the hand-mill. The flood water flows down from me
and the bird cannot fly up to me. I put a curtain against he caliphate
and kept myself detached from it.
Then I began to think whether I should assault or endure calmly
the blinding darkness of tribulations wherein the grown up are feeble and
the young grow old and the true believer acts under strain till he meets
Allah (on this death). I found that endurance thereon was wiser. So I
adopted patience although there was pricking in the eye and suffocation
(of mortification) in the throats. 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.
Then he quoted a verse by al-A’sha and went on to say:
My days are now passed on the camel’s back (in difficulty) while
there were days (of ease) when I enjoyed the company of Ja bir’s brother
Hayyan.3
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. This one put
the caliphate in a tough enclosure where the utterance was haughty and
the touch was rough. Mistakes were in plenty and also the excuses
therefore. 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
w9ould be thrown. Consequently, by Allah, people got involved in
recklessness, wickedness, unsteadiness and deviation.
Nevertheless, I remained patient despite a length of period and
stiffness of trial, until when he went his way (of death) he put the matter
(of Caliphate) in a group4 and regarded me to be one of them. But good
Heavens! What had I to do with his “consultation”? Where was any doubt
about me with regard to the first of them that I was now considered akin
to these ones? 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, till the third man of these people stood up with
heaving breasts between his dung and fodder. With him his children of
the grand-father (Umayyah) also stood up, swallowing up Allah’s wealth5
like a camel devouring the foliage of spring, till his rope broke down, his
actions finished him and his gluttony brought him down prostrate.
At that moment, nothing took me by surprise, but the crowd of
people rushing to me. It advanced toward me form every side like the
mane of the hyena so much so that Hassan and Hussain were getting
crushed and both the ends of my shoulder garment were torn. They
collected around me like the herd of sheep and goats. 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:
That abode in the hereafter, We assign if for those who intend not
to exult themselves in the earth, nor (to make) mischief (the rein), and the
end is (best) for the pious. (Holy Quran 28: 83)
Yes, by Allah, they had heard it and understood it but the world
appeared glittering in their eyes and its embellishments seduced them.
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 no 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 lst one the same treatment as to
the first one. Then you would have seen that in my view this world of
yours is not better than the sneezing of a goat.