I am the (grand) son of the light which shone out (to the world) .

I am the (grand) son of the light which shone out (to the world) . I am of the House, from whom God has sent away abomination and whom God has purified thoroughly. I am of the House for whom God has required love in his Book, when God, the Most High, said: Say: I do not ask you for any reward except love for (my) kin. Whoever earns good, will increase good for himself [ XXXIII 33 ]. The good is love for us, the House. Then he sat down. Abd Allah b.

al-Abbas, may God have mercy on him, arose in front of him and said: People, this is the son of your Prophet, the testamentary trustee (wasi) of your Imam. So pledge allegiance to him. The people answered him saying: No one is more loved by us nor has anyone more right to succession (khilafa). They rushed forward to pledge allegiance to him as successor. That was on Friday on the eleventh of the month of Ramadan in the year 40 A.H. (660).

Then he assigned (the posts of) the tax collectors and he gave instructions to the governors (of the provinces). He sent Abd Allah b. al-Abbas to Basra. He took charge of all the matters. When Mu'awiya b. Abi Sufyan learnt of the death of the Commander of the faithful, peace be on him, and the people's pledge of allegiance to his son, al-Hasan, peace be on him, he sent a man of secretly to Kufa and a man from Banu al-Qayn to Basra.

They were to write reports to him to undermine affairs for al-Hasan, peace be on him. Al-Hasan, peace be on him, learned of that. He ordered the Himyari to be brought out from among (the tribe) of Lakhm in Kufa. He had him brought out and executed. (Al-Hasan) wrote to al-Basra, ordering the Qayni to be brought out from among the Banu Sulaym. He was brought out and executed.

Then al-Hasan, peace be on him, wrote to Muawiya: You sent men to use deception and to carry out assassinations and you sent out spies as if you want to meet (in battle). That is something which will soon happen so wait for it, if God wills. I have learnt that you have become haughty in a way that no wise man would become haughty. In that you are just as al-Awwal described: Say to him who desires the contrary of the one who has died: Prepare for another like him, as if (from the same) root.

I and the one among us who has died are like the one who goes in the evening so that (the other) may come in the morning. Muawiya replied to him with his letter, which there is no need to mention.