Peak of Eloquence Nahjul Balagha By Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib - English Translation - Sermon 222

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About Keeping Aloof from Oppression and Misappropriation. Aqil’s Condition of Poverty and Destitution

By Allah, I would rather remain all night long wake on the as-sa’dan thorns (a plant having sharp prickles), or be driven in chains as a prisoner, than meet Allah and His Messenger on the Day of Judgement having oppressed anyone or usurped anything of the world’s wealth. How can I oppress anyone for a world that is fast moving towards destruction, then I shall remain in the earth for a long time?

By Allah, I certainly saw (my brother) Aqil fallen a prey to destitution. He asked me for one saa’ (about three kilograms’ weight) of wheat, and I also saw his children with dishevelled hair and a dusty countenance due to starvation, as though their faces had been blackened by indigo. He came to me several times and repeated his request to me again and again. I heard him and he thought I would sell my faith to him and follow his path, leaving my own. Then I heated a piece of iron and took it near his body so that he might learn a lesson from it. He cried as a person in protracted illness the cries of pain, and he was about to get burnt by its branding. Then I said to him, “May mourning women mourn you, O Aqil! Do you cry on account of this (heated) iron which has been made by a man for sport, while you are driving me towards the Fire which Allah, the Powerful, has prepared as a sign of His wrath? Should you cry from pain, but I should not cry from its flame?!”

A more strange incident than this is that of a man198 who came to us in the night with a closed flask full of honey paste, but I disliked it as though it was the saliva or vomit of a serpent. I asked him whether it was a reward, or zakat (poor-tax), or charity, for we, members of the Prophet’s family (x) are forbidden from receiving them. “Childless women may

mourn you! Have you come to deviate me from the religion of Allah, or are you mad, or have you been overpowered by some jinn, or are you speaking senselessly?!”

By Allah, even if I were to be given all the domains of the seven heavens with all that exists under the skies in order to disobey Allah to the extent of snatching one grain of barley from an ant, I would never do it. For me, your world is lighter than the leaf in the mouth of a locust that is

198This is a reference to al-Ash`ath ibn Qays.

690

chewing it. What has Ali to do with bounties that will pass away and pleasures that will not last? We seek the protection of Allah from the slip of wisdom, from the evils of falling into error, and from Him do we seek succor.