فَاعْقِلْ عَقْلَكَ...

فَاعْقِلْ عَقْلَكَ، وَامْلِكْ أَمْرَكَ، وَخُذْ نَصِيبَكَ وَحَظَّكَ، فَإِنْ كَرِهْتَ فَتَنَحَّ إِلَى غَيْرِ رَحْب وَلاَ فِي نَجَاة، فَبِالْحَرِيِّ لَتُكْفَيَنَّ وَأَنْتَ نَائِم، حَتَّى لاَ يُقَالَ: أَيْنَ فُلاَنٌ؟ وَاللهِ إِنَّهُ لَحَقٌّ مَعَ مُحِقّ، وَمَا أُبَالِي مَا صَنَعَ الْمُلْحِدُونَ، وَالسَّلاَمُ.

[^1]: When Amir al-mu'minin had the idea of suppressing the revolt of the people of Basrah he sent this letter through Imam al-Hasan to Abu Musa (`Abdullah ibn Qays) al-Ash`ari, who had been appointed Governor of Kufah by `Uthman, wherein he has scolded him for his duplicitous and contradictory behaviour and attempted to persuade him to jihad, because on one side he used to say that Amir al-mu'minin was the true Imam and allegiance to him was right and on the other he said that to support him in fighting against the Muslims was not right; but it was a mischief and it was necessary to keep off this mischief.

Thus, Amir al-mu'minin has referred to this contradictory view by the words "huwa laka wa `alayka" (which go in your favour as well as against you). The intention is that when Amir al-mu'minin is the rightful Imam how can fighting his enemy with him be wrong? And if fighting on his side is wrong then what is the meaning of his being the rightful Imam.

In any case, in spite of his dissuading from fighting, the people of Kufah came out in large numbers to join Amir al-mu'minin's army and took full part in the battle, giving such a defeat to the people of Basrah that they never again dared to revolt. Previous…

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