After Ibne Abbas said to him: “The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) sent him
on missions and did not regard him young. Do you and your companion regard
him young?”1
After the fact that Umar said to Ibne Abbas: “O Ibne Abbas, I don’t have
any opinion about your friend, except that he is a victim.”
And Ibne Abbas replied: “By God, when Almighty Allah commanded him
to take Surah Baraat from Abu Bakr, He did not regard him as young of age.”2
After the fact that the father of two grandsons of Messenger of Allah
(s.a.w.a.) said: “I am the servant of Allah and brother of Messenger of Allah
(s.a.w.a.); I am more deserving for this matter than you. I will not pay allegiance
to you, on the contrary, you should pay allegiance to me.”
Umar says: “We will not leave you, till you give allegiance.”
Ali (a.s.) said: “O Umar, Milk the camel of Caliphate, your share is secure.”3
After the fact that Ali (Karram Allahu Wajhu4) on nights, while he carried
Fatima, daughter of Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) mounted on a quadruped and
went to the doors of Ansar and Fatima sought help from them, they said:
“O daughter of Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.), we paid allegiance to this man
and if your husband and cousin had approached us before, we would not have
paid allegiance to Abu Bakr.”
Ali (Karram Allahu Wajhu) said: “Shouldn’t I have completed last rites of
Prophet; and while he lay unburied in the house, come out to claim Caliphate?”
Fatima said: “Abul Hasan did only what was right and they did something
for which Almighty Allah will take revenge from them and would demand our
rights from them.”5
After the fact that Ali (a.s.) says:
“Beware! By Allah, the son of Abu Qahafah6 (Abu Bakr) dressed himself
with it (the Caliphate) and he certainly knew that my position in relation to it was
the same as the position of the axis in relation to the hand-mill. The flood water
flows down from me and the bird cannot fly upto me. I put a curtain against the
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 made feeble and the young
grow old and the true believer acts under strain till he meets Allah (on his 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 throat. I watched
the plundering of my inheritance till the first one went his way, but handed over
the Caliphate to Ibne Khattab after himself.
(Then he quoted al-Asha’s verse):
“My days are now passed on the camel’s back (in difficulty) while there
were days (of ease) when I enjoyed the company of Jabír’s brother Hayyan.”
It is strange that during his lifetime he wished to be released from
Caliphate,7 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 enclosure8 where the utterance was haughty and the touch was rough.
Mistakes were in plenty and so 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 would be thrown. Consequently, by Allah,
people got involved in recklessness, wickedness, unsteadiness and deviation.
Nevertheless, I remained patient despite length of period and stiffness of
trial, till when he went his way (of death)9 he put the matter (of Caliphate) in a
group and regarded me to be one of them. But good Heavens! what had I to do
with this “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 them10 turned against
me because of his hatred and the other got inclined the other way due to his inlaw relationship11
and this thing and that thing,12 till the third man of these people
stood up with heaving breasts between his dung and fodder. With him his
children of his grand-father, (Umayyah) also stood up swallowing up Allah’s
wealth like a camel devouring the foliage of spring, till his rope broke down, his actions finished him and his gluttony brought him down prostrate.”