So, before replying, he reproved him saying that every...

So, before replying, he reproved him saying that every question has its own appropriate place and time and that it was not proper to discuss the past at that moment. He told him that the issue of the day was that of Mu’awiya. و هلم الخطب في ابن ابي سفيان... “ Come now to the affair of Ibn Abi Sufyan (Mu’awiya)…”. Anyhow, just as it was his usual temperate method, he did not refrain from answering and clarifying the past realities.

In the Sermon of Shiqshiqiya, he explicitly says: أرى تراثي نَهباً “I witnessed the plundering of my inheritance..” . It is obvious that by inheritance he did not mean family or kinship inheritance but spiritual and divine inheritance. Virtue and Superiority The second issue after the subject of distinct designation and definite right is the subject of virtue and superiority. This matter too has repeatedly been mentioned in Nahj al-Balaghah.

In the Sermon of Shiqshiqiya, ‘Ali (A.S.) says: و اما و الله لقد تقمصها ابن ابي قحافة و انه ليعلم ان محلي منها القطب من الرحي ينحدر عني السيل و لا يرقي الي الطير “By Allah, the son of Abu Quhafah (Abu Bakr) dressed himself with it (the Caliphate) while he certainly knew that my position in relation to it was the same as the position of the axle in relation to the mill.

The torrent (of knowledge and virtue) flows down from me and birds cannot rise up to (the loftiness of) my position.” In Sermon No.195, he first recalls the level of his submission and faith towards the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) and then recounts his sacrifices and help in various instances.

Thereafter, he narrates the incident of the demise of the Holy Prophet when his head rested on his chest, and then mentions the event of giving ‘Ghusl’ (Ablution) to the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.A.) with his own hands while the angels were assisting him in this work and he could listen to their humming voices and perceive the manner in which a group amongst them would come and another…