ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books And Caliphate A Bitter Silence The third section on the subject of Caliphate which has been reflected in Nahj al-Balaghah is the matter of silence and moderateness of ‘Ali (A.S.) and its philosophy. By silence is meant the abandonment of a revolt and abstention from carrying the sword in hand.

Otherwise, just as we had previously mentioned ‘Ali (A.S.) did not desist from setting forth his claim and complaining at opportune situations the injustice done to him. ‘Ali (A.S.) remembers this silence as bitter and reckons it to be an affliction and an agony of death: و اغضيت علي القذي و شربت علي الشجي و صبرت علي اخذ الكظم و علي امر من طعم العلقم. “I shut my eyes while there was a thorn in it and drank while there was a bone stuck in my throat.

I was patient while my throat felt suffocated and there was a taste (in my mouth) more bitter than colocynth.” [^1] ‘Ali’s silence was logical and a well-calculated one, not merely arising from compulsion and helplessness. He had two options and he chose the one that was based on expedience and was the most difficult and fatiguing one. It was easy for him to rise up in revolt and, if he had no friends or helpers, then at the most it would have resulted in martyrdom for him and sons.

Martyrdom was the goal of ‘Ali (A.S.) and incidentally in this very situation he addresses Abu Sufyan in one of his famous sentences as such: و الله لابن ابيطالب آنس بالموت من الطفل بثدي امه.

“By Allah the son of Abu Talib is more at ease with death than an infant with the breast of its mother.” [^2] By this sentence, ‘Ali (A.S.) had made Abu Sufyan and others understand that his silence was not due to fear from death but rather for the reason that his active revolt and martyrdom in such a situation would have been damaging to Islam (and not to the advantage of Islam). ‘Ali (A.S.) himself specifies that his silence was a pre-calculated one.