SERMON 173
On Eligibility for the Caliphate
The Prophet is the trustee
of Allah's revelation, the Last of His Prophets. the giver of tidings of
His mercy and the warner for His chastisement.
O' people. the most rightful
of all persons for this matter (namely the caliphate) is he who is most
competent among them to maintain it, and he who knows best Allah's
commands about it. If any mischief is created by a mischief-monger, he
will be called upon to repent. If he refuses. he will be fought. By my
life, (1) if the
question of Imamah was not to be decided unless all the people were
present, then there would be no such case.
But those who agreed about
it imposed the decision on those who were absent, so much so that he who
was present could not dissent and the one who was absent could not choose
(any one else). Know that I shall fight two persons - one who claims what
is not his and the other who ignores what is obligatory upon him.
The need for sagacity in fighting against Muslims
O' creatures of Allah! I
advise you to have fear of Allah because it is the best advice to be
mutually given by persons, and the best of all things before Allah.
The door of war has been
opened between you and the other Muslims. And this banner will be borne
only by him who is a man of sight, of endurance and of knowledge of the
position of rightfulness.
Therefore, you should go
ahead with what you are ordered and desist from what you are refrained. Do
not make haste in any matter till you have clarified it. For in the case
of every matter which you dislike we have a right to change it.
The behaviour of this world with its adherents
Know that this world which
you have started to covet and in which you are interested, and which
sometimes enrages you and sometimes pleases you is not your (permanent)
abode, nor the place of your stay for which you might have been created,
nor one to which you have been invited. Know that it will not last for you
nor will you live along with it.
If anything out of this
world deceives you (into attraction), its evils warn you too. You should
give up (the objects of) its deceits in favour of (the objects of) its
warning and (the objects of) its attractions in favour of (the objects of)
its terrors.
And while here in it,
advance towards that house to which you have been called, and turn away
your hearts from the world. None of you should cry like a maid slave over
anything which she has been deprived of.
Seek the perfection of
Allah's bounty over you by endurance in obedience to Allah and in guarding
what He has asked you to guard, namely His Book.
Know that the loss of
anything of this world will not harm you, if you have guarded the
principles of your religion. Know also that after the loss of your
religion nothing of this world for which you have cared will benefit you.
May Allah carry our hearts and your hearts towards the right and may He
grant us and you endurance.
(1).
When the people collected in the Saqifah of Banu Sa`idah in connection
with the election, even those who were not present there were made to
follow the decision taken there, and the principle was adopted that those
present at the election had no right to reconsider the matter or to break
the allegiance and those not present could do nothing but acquiesce in the
agreed decision.
But when the people of
Medina swore allegiance at the hands of Amir al-mu'minin, the Governor of
Syria (Mu`awiyah) refused to follow suit on the ground that since he was
not present on the occasion he was not bound to abide by it, whereupon
Amir al-mu'minin gave a reply in this sermon on the basis of these
accepted and agreed principles and conditions which had been established
among these people and had become incontrovertible namely that: "When the
people of Medina and the ansar and the muhajirun have sworn allegiance on
my hand, Mu`awiyah had no right to keep aloof from it on the ground that
he was not present on the occasions nor were Talhah and az-Zubayr entitled
to break the pledge after swearing allegiance."
On this occasion, Amir
al-mu'minin did not argue on the strength of any saying of the Prophet
which would serve as his final say about the caliphate, because the
grounds for refusal in his case was in respect of the modus operandi of
the principle of election. Therefore, in keeping with the requirements of
the situation a reply based on the agreed principles of the adversary
could alone quieten him. Even if he had argued on the strength of the
Prophet's command it would have been subjected to various interpretations
and the matter would have been prolonged instead of being settled.
Again Amir al-mu'minin had
seen that soon after the death of the Prophet all his sayings and commands
had been set aside. Therefore, how after the lapse of a long time, could
one be expected to accept it when habit had been established to follow
one's free will against the Prophet's sayings.
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