SERMON 122
When the
Kharijites persisted in their rejecting the Arbitration, Amir al-mu'minin
went to their camp and addressed them thus:
Were all of you
(1) with us in Siffin?
They replied that some of them were but some of them were not. Amir
al-mu'minin said:
Then you divide yourselves
into two groups. One of those who were in Siffin and other of those who
were not present there, so that I may address each as I see suitable. Then
he shouted to the people:
Stop talking and keep quiet
to listen to what I say. Turn your hearts to me. Whomever we ask for
evidence, he should give it according to his knowledge about it.
Then he had a long conversation with them during which he said:
When they had raised the
Qur'an by way of deceit, craft, artifice and cheat, did you not say:
"They
are our brothers and our comrades in accepting Islam.They want us to cease
fighting, and ask for protection through the Book of Allah, the Glorified.
Our opinion is to agree with them and to end their troubles." Then I said
to you, "In this affair the outer side is Faith but the inner side is
enmity."
Its beginning is pity and
the end is repentance. Consequently you should stick to your position, and
remain steadfast on your path. You should press your teeth (to put all
your might) in jihad and should not pay heed to the shouts of the shouter
(2). If he is
answered he would mislead, but if he is left (unanswered) he would be
disgraced."
But when this thing
(Arbitration) was done I found that you agreed to it. By Allah, if I had
refused it, it would not have been obligatory on me. Nor would Allah have
laid its sin on me. And by Allah, not that I have accepted it, I alone am
the rightful person who should be followed, for certainly the Qur'an is
with me. I never forsake it since I adopted its company.
We have been with the
Prophet in battles wherein those killed were fathers, sons, brothers and
relations of one another. Nevertheless, every trouble and hardship just
increased us in our belief, in our treading on the right path, in
submission to (divine) command and in endurance of the pain of wounds.
We now had to fight our
brethren in Islam because of entry into Islam of misguidance, crookedness,
doubts and (wrong) interpretation. However, if we find any way by which
Allah may collect us together in our disorder and by which we may come
near each other in whatever common remains between us we would accept it
and would give up everything else.
(1).
Ibn Abi'l-Hadid writes that this sermon comprises three parts which do not
fit together, because as-Sayyid ar-Radi selected some parts of Amir
al-mu'minin's sermons and did not record other parts as a result of which
the continuity of utterance was not maintained.
Thus, one part ends at "if
he is left unanswered he would be disgraced", the other at "and endurance
at the pain of wound" and the third runs till the end of the sermon.
(2).
This reference is to Mu`awiyah or `Amr ibn al-`As.
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