Peak of Eloquence Nahjul Balagha By Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib - English Translation - Letter 36

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36

To His Brother, Aqil ibn Abu Talib1, in Reply to His Letter Containing a Reference to the Army Which Imam Ali Ibn Abu Talib (x) Had Sent to Meet an Enemy

I sent him a large army of Muslims. When he came to know of it, he fled away and retreated in repent. They met him on the way when the sun was about to set. They grappled for a while like nothing. It was about an hour then he rescued himself, half-dead, as he had almost been taken by the neck and only the last breath had remained in him. In this way, he escaped in panic.

Leave the tribesmen of Quraish rushing in misguidance, their galloping in disunity and their leaping over destruction. They have joined

together to fight me as they had joined to fight the Messenger of Allah (k) before me. I wish the tribesmen of Quraish will get the reward of thus treating me. They disregarded my kinship [to the Prophet (k)] and deprived me of the power due to me from the son of my mother (i.e. the Holy Prophet [h]).

As regarding your inquiry about my opinion to fight till I die, I am in favor of fighting those who regard fighting as lawful. The crowd of men around me does not give me strength, nor does their dispersal from me cause any loneliness. Surely, do not consider the son of your father as weak or afraid, even though all people have forsaken him. Bow down submissively before injustice or hand over his reins into the hand of the puller, or allow his back to be used by the rider to sit on. But he is as the man of Banu Salim has:

If you inquire how I am, then listen: I am enduring and strong Against the Vicissitudes of time. I do not allow myself to be forlorn Lest the foe feels joyed and the friend feels the sorrow.