About twelve thousand men...

About twelve thousand men, who pretended sacredness and religiousness, though they understood nothing of them, addressed him by his personal name. They warned and threatened him if he would not yield to what they wanted, saying: “O Ali, respond to the people according to Allah’s Book when you are summoned to it; otherwise, we will kill you as we had killed (Uthman) bin Affan! By Allah we would do it if you did not respond to them.” The Imam (a.s) said to them: “Woe unto you!

I was the first to summon (people to follow) Allah’s Book and the first to respond to it. It is not lawful for me nor can I, concerning my religion, that I am summoned to Allah’s Book and do not accept it. I have fought against them that they may follow the…