Ali is the master of truth, the chief possessed of rectitude, the mountain of gentleness, the ocean of knowledge, the pole of religion. He is the cupbearer who pours out the water of Kauçar, the imâm who shows the true path, the cousin of Muhammad, the lion of God, the chosen one, the elect, the husband of the virgin, the chaste lord, the son-in-law of the Prophet. He came to explain the guidance; he came to unveil the secret of “ask me”; he is the director of religion, full of merit; he is its absolute judge. Since Ali alone is privy to the secrets of God, there can be no doubt about his eminent knowledge. According to a saying of Muhammad, Ali knows the divine essence; nay, more! he is part of it. If someone was brought back to life by the breath of Jesus, Ali healed a severed hand with a single word. In the caaba he was accepted by God; he broke the idols there, even while standing on the back and shoulders of the Prophet. His heart held the secrets of the mystery; he could have drawn his white hand from his breast. If his hand had not been truly white, how could the sword Zulfikar have rested upon it? At times he was troubled by his cares; at times he whispered secrets into a well; in all the horizons he found no one whom he could make his companion; he entered the sanctuary, and there was no mahram.
O thou who art a prey to fanaticism, who remainest now in hatred, now in love! If thou flatterest thyself that thou hast intelligence and heart, why give way to fanaticism? O ignorant man! there was no deviation in the caliphate; for how can one think that it could have occurred on the part of Abû Bekr and Omar? Had it occurred in the case of these two leaders, both would have designated their sons as their successors, and, although these two eminent personages had had the truth attested by trustworthy men, the others would have raised an objection. But since no one opposed it, there were no rival claims. If, then, no one came to prevent Abû Bekr from being proclaimed caliph, dost thou wish to give the lie to everyone? But if thou givest the lie to the companions of the Prophet, thou dost not accept the Prophet’s own words, when He saith: “Each of my friends is a shining star, and my tribe is the best tribe. The best of men are my friends; they are my allies and my beloved.” If the best becomes, in thy eyes, the worst, how can one call thee clear-sighted? Canst thou admit that the companions of the Prophet would willingly have accepted unworthy men, to seat them in the place of Muhammad? This is not admissible for the companions of the Prophet. If the choice of the majority was not good, then the collection of the Coran in a volume was no better. Yet all that the companions of the Prophet did, they did justly and properly. By denying the election of one person, you condemn thirty-three thousand. He who has placed his hope in God alone has not tied his camel’s knee. If he remains in suspense in this matter, how can he receive the truth from God? Hold not, therefore, such an opinion.
Had the deviation occurred in favour of Abû Bekr, would he ever have said, “Kill me”? Had it occurred in favour of Omar, would he have killed his child by wounding him with a stick? Abû Bekr was ever a man of the spiritual path, heedless of all things and assiduous at the celestial court. He gave Mahomet his wealth and his daughter; he devoted himself to him, and, timid though he was, he never betrayed him; he was pure of the husk of fictions, for he was in the marrow of true knowledge. If one considers the pulpit of the khalifat as it ought to be considered, one will wish to place Abû Bekr upon it. When one reflects on all that happened before and after, how can one call this eminent personage unjust?
Then comes Omar, the separator, who had justice alone in view. At one time he moved bricks, at another he gathered thorns; at one time he carried wood upon his back; at another, while in the city, he asked the way. Every day he was busily occupied, and for all his food he took only a few mouthfuls of bread. Those who shared his bread at his table received nothing from the public treasury. When he slept, the sand was his bed, and the earth of the valley his pillow. He would shoulder a waterskin like a water-carrier, and carry drinking water to an old woman while she slept. At night he would go and watch over his army with ardour. He said to Khadija: “O thou who art clear-sighted! hast thou seen the least hypocrisy in Omar? In vain do they disguise from me the faults I know, and offer me gifts!”
If Omar had obtained the caliphate unjustly, why would he have worn a garment weighing seventeen manns? He had neither a robe nor a carpet, and he sewed two pieces of leather together to mend his torn belt. He who exercised so great a sovereignty in this manner could not have been guilty of partiality.
He who at one time carried bricks and at another stirred clay, would he not then have performed these hard labours in vain? But if he had cast the caliphate to the winds, at least he ought to have accepted the sultanate. For, in his time, the cities of the infidels were, in his name, emptied of infidelity. If thou dost make a fanatical opposition to Omar, thou hast no sense of justice; die of thy anger on this account. Omar perished by poison, and thou, how often dost thou not die of anger because of him, although thou hast not swallowed poison as he did? O ignorant man, who knowest not justice! Do not judge the caliphate according to thine own way of seeing. Were it so, a hundred fires would fall upon thy heart because of this grief. In any case, supposing that one of the first three caliphs had usurped the caliphate, he would have taken upon himself the burden of a hundred kinds of ills which they suffered. It is not easy, while the soul is in the body, to be burdened with a thing that another person ought to have borne.
He who at one time carried bricks and at another stirred clay, would he not then have performed these hard labours in vain? But if he had cast the caliphate to the winds, at least he ought to have accepted the sultanate. For, in his time, the cities of the infidels were, in his name, emptied of infidelity. If thou dost make a fanatical opposition to Omar, thou hast no sense of justice; die of thy anger on this account. Omar perished by poison, and thou, how often dost thou not die of anger because of him, although thou hast not swallowed poison as he did? O ignorant man, who knowest not justice! Do not judge the caliphate according to thine own way of seeing. Were it so, a hundred fires would fall upon thy heart because of this grief. In any case, supposing that one of the first three caliphs had usurped the caliphate, he would have taken upon himself the burden of a hundred kinds of ills which they suffered. It is not easy, while the soul is in the body, to be burdened with a thing that another person ought to have borne.