“Then I began to think whether I should assault or endure...

“Then I began to think whether I should assault or endure calmly the blinding darkness of tribulations wherein the grown up become feeble and the young grow old and the true believer acts under strain till he meets Allah. I found that endurance thereon was wiser.

So I adopted patience although there was a thorn in the eye and suffocation in the throat.” [^3] Islamic Unity Naturally, everybody wishes to know which matter kept ‘Ali (A.S.) in so deep a thought that he did not wish to see any harm come to it and instead attached so much importance that he was prepared to tolerate the agonies and the sufferings? Roughly it should be said that the important reason was the unity of the Muslims and the non- initiation of discord.

The Muslims who were newly displaying their power and strength to the world were indebted to their unity and alliance of their creed (of faith). They acquired their astounding prosperity in the later years from this very unity. It was due to this expediency that ‘Ali (A.S.) as a rule, kept silent and acted moderately.

Is it believable that a pious youth of thirty ­three years could have been pushed to such corners; and controlled himself to such extent and been so much loyal towards Islam that for the sake of Islam, he chose the path which lead to his own deprivation of rights? Yes, it is possible to believe. The extraordinary character of ‘Ali (A.S.) became manifest in such a situation. It is not merely a conjecture.

‘Ali (A.S.) has himself rationalized his actions and has, with utmost explicitness, given no reasons for his behavior other than his concern over discord among the Muslims. Especially during the period of his own Caliphate when Talha and Zubair broke their allegiance and started an internal conspiracy, ‘Ali (A.S.) repeatedly compares himself with them (i.e.

Talha and Zubair) after the departure of the Holy Prophet and says: “I have overlooked my obvious right for the sake of not causing discord among the Muslims while they (in spite of willingly and voluntarily giving their allegiance) have broken it and have not bothered about the emergence of disunity among the Muslims.

­ In explaining Sermon No.119, lbn Abi al-Hadeed narrates from Abdullah ibn Junadah who said: “In the initial period of ‘Ali’s Caliphate, I was in Hijaz and I intended to go to Iraq. In Mecca I performed my ‘Umra’ ­(lesser pilgrimage) and came to Medina. I entered the mosque of the Holy Prophet and saw that people had gathered together for prayers.