Peak of Eloquence Nahjul Balagha By Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib - English Translation - Letter 118

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Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib (x) collected the people and exhorted

them1 to jihad but they observed a long silence. Then he said the following: “What is the matter with you. Have you lost your wits?! A group of them replied: “O Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib (x)! If you go

forth we shall be with you, whereupon Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib (x)

said the following:

What has happened to you?! You may not be guided aright or shown the right path. Should I, under such circumstances, go forth?! In fact, at this time one of the brave and the valorous among you whom I select should go out. It does not suit me to leave the army, the city, the public treasury, the land revenue, the dispensation of justice among Muslims and looking after the demands of the claimants and to follow one contingent after the other moving here and there like featherless arrow moving in the quiver.

I am the axis of the mill. It rotates on me while I remain in my status. As soon as I leave, the center of its rotation will be disturbed and its lower stone will also be disturbed. By Allah, this is very bad advice. By Allah! If I had not been hoping for martyrdom by my meeting with the enemy, and my meeting with them has been ordained, I will have secured my carrier and went away from you and will not have sought you so long as the north and South differed.

There is no benefit in the majority of your numbers because of a lack of unity of your hearts. I have put you on the clear path whereon no one will perish except who perishes by himself. He who sticks to it will achieve Paradise and he who deviates goes to Hell.