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SERMON 217

About the excesses of the Quraysh

O' my Allah! I beseech Thee to take revenge on the Quraysh and those who are assisting them for they have cut asunder my kinship and over-turned my cup and have joined together to contest a right to which I was entitled more than anyone else. They said to me: "If you get your right that will be just but if you are denied the right that too will be just. Endure it with sadness or kill yourself in grief." I looked around but found no one to shield me protect me or help me except the members of my family. I refrained from flinging them into death and therefore closed my eyes despite the dust kept swallowing saliva despite (the suffocation of) grief and endured pangs of anger although it was more bitter than colocynth and more grievous than the bite of knives.

as-Sayyid ar-Radi says: This utterance of Amir al-mu'minin hasalready appeared in an earlier Sermon (171) but I have repeated it here because of the difference of versions.

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Here by those whom Allah led from darkness into guidance the reference is to the persons whom Amir al-muيminin was addressing. Ibn Abiيl-Hadid writes in this connection:

The reference here is not to his own self because he had never been an unbeliever so as to have accepted Islam after that but in these words he is referring to those group of people whom he was addressing. (Sharh Nahj al-balaghah vol. 11 p. 108)


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[ 217 ] ومن كلام له عليه السلام

في التظلم والتشكي من قريش

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْتَعْدِيكَ (1) عَلَى قُرَيْشٍ، فَإِنَّهُمْ قَدْ قَطَعُوا رَحِمِي، وَأَكْفَأُوا إِنَائِي (2) ، وَأَجْمَعُوا عَلَى مُنَازَعَتِي حَقّاً كُنْتُ أَوْلَى بِهِ مِنْ غَيْرِي، وَقَالُوا: أَلاَ إِنَّ فِي الْحَقِّ أَنْ تَأْخُذَهُ، وَفِي الْحَقِّ أَنْ تُمْنَعَهُ، فَاصْبِرْ مَغْمُوماً، أَوْ مُتْ مُتَأَسِّفاً. فَنَظَرْتُ فَإِذَا لَيْسَ لِي رَافِدٌ (3) ، وَلاَ ذَابٌّ (4) وَلاَ مُسَاعِدٌ، إِلاَّ أَهْلَ بَيْتِي، فَضَنِنْتُ (5) بِهِمْ عَنِ الْمَنِيَّةِ، فَأَغْضَيْتُ عَلَى الْقَذى (6) ، وَجَرِعْتُ رِيقِي عَلَى الشَّجَا (7) ، وَصَبَرْتُ مِنْ كَظْمِ الغَيْظِ عَلى أَمَرَّ مِنَ العَلْقَمِ، وَآلَمَ لِلْقَلْبِ مِنْ خَزِّ الشِّفَارِ (8).

قال الشريف رضي اللّه عنه: وقد مضى هذا الكلام في أثناء خطبة متقدمة، إلاّ أنّي كرّرتُهُ هاهنا لاختلاف الروايتين.

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