I decided that to be patient was wiser...

I decided that to be patient was wiser; so I became patient while seeing eye sores, tongue-tied, witnessing my inheritance being plundered," to the end of his shaqshaqi sermon, which is khutba 3 in Nahjul Balaghah , page 25, Vol. 1. He often said: "O Lord!

I seek Thy assistance against Quraysh and those who support them, for they have cut my flesh, demeaned my status, and disputed with me about what is mine, then they said: ‘It is only right that we take it, and that you should abandon it.'" Refer to either khutba 167 or page 103, Vol. 2, of Nahjul Balaghah . In the same khutba , someone said to him: "You seem to be so much concerned about this matter." The Imam (as) answered: "No; by God you are more concerned about it than I am.

I have demanded one of my own rights, while you have stood between it and my attaining thereof." He, peace be upon him, has also said: "By Allah, since the time when Allah took the life of his Messenger, peace be upon him and his progeny, till today, I have always been pushed away from my right, while others are preferred over me," as in khutba 5, page 36, Vol. 1, of Nahjul Balaghah .

He, peace be upon him, said once: "We have a right; if we do not attain it, we will have to mount old camels even if the journey is lengthy."[^2] He, peace be upon him, said in a letter he wrote to his brother ‘Aqil: "May the One who affects justice retaliate on my behalf against Quraysh who have separated me from my own kin and deprived me the support of my own maternal brother," as stated in epistle 36, page 67, Vol. 3, in Nahjul Balaghah .

He, peace be upon him, quite often used to say: "I looked around and found no supporter other than my whom I preferred to protect against death, overlook against my wish, and I remained patient, containing my anger though it is more bitter than colocynth [Citrullus Colocynthis]," as in khutba 25, page 62, Vol. 1, of Nahjul Balaghah .

Some of his friends asked him once: "How did you keep your folk away from that post knowing that you have more right to it than anyone else?" He, as stated on page 79, Vol. 2, of Nahjul Balaghah , statement 157, answered: "O fellow of Banu Asad! You are disturbed by such a mysterious matter to the extent that you ask your question awkwardly. Yet we are obligated to you due to our kinship, and you have the right to ask such a question.