When the latter hear what they say regarding rejecting those authentic ahadith...

When the latter hear what they say regarding rejecting those authentic ahadith, they would hold their statements as gospel­revealed and would publicize them among the commoners and the ignorant, thus making them well­known in every land and using them as principles upheld in every time. There is another group of people who were custodians of hadith in those days, and who were forced by fear to overlook the ahadith praising ‘Ali and Ahl al­Bayt (as).

If those poor folks were asked about what those flatterers were saying regarding rejecting the accurate sunan containing ‘Ali's contributions and those of Ahl al­Bayt (as), they would fear, if they told the general public of what they knew, that a blind, deaf and dumb dissension might occur.

They were, therefore, forced out of fear to seek shelter by side­tracking the subject for fear of being rebuked by the flatterers and those who publicize for them, and for fear of those who repeat their words like parrots from among the populace and ignorant commoners. Kings and rulers ordered people to denounce the Commander of the Faithful.

They pressured them to do so once by tempting them with money, and once by threatening them with their armies and dreadful promises of retribution, thus forcing them to belittle him and his lineage, so much so that they painted a disgusting picture of him in their books and narrated ahadith whereby ears feel offended, making the cursing of his name from the pulpits a tradition followed by the Muslims during both ‘Iids and on Fridays.

The Light of Allah cannot be put out, and the contributions of His walis cannot be hidden; otherwise, those traditions would not have reached us through the sources of both groups, accurately and explicitly implying his caliphate.

No texts are more consecutively reported than the texts in his praise, and I, by Allah, wonder about the favours which He has bestowed upon ‘Ali ibn Abu Talib, His servant and the brother of His Messenger, how his light pierced through the clouds, the pitch of darkness, and survived the tumultuous waves, letting its ray shine on the world like midday sun!

You may refer, in addition to all the irrefutable proofs you have heard, to the text of inheritance, for it by itself is an irrefutable proof, Wassalam. Sincerely, Sh [^1]: Refer to page 15, Vol. 3, of Sharh Nahjul Balaghah by Ibn Abul-Hadid, and you will find out what atrocities befell (as) and their Shi’ahs in those days.