" Nevertheless...

" Nevertheless, I remained patient despite the length of period and stiffness of trial, till when he went his way (of death), he put the matter (of Caliphate) in a group and regarded me to be one of them. But good Heavens! What had I to do with this 'consultation'? Where was any doubt about me with regard to the first of them that I was now considered akin to these ones? But I remained low when they were low and flew high when they flew high.

One of them turned against me because of his relationship and this thing and that thing, till the third man of these people stood up with heaving breasts between his dung and fodder. With him, his children of his grand-father, (Umayyah) also stood up swallowing up Allah's wealth like a camel devouring the foliage of spring, till his rope broke down, his actions finished him and his gluttony brought him down prostrate.

" At that moment, nothing took me by surprise, but the crowd of people rushing to me. It advanced towards me from every side like the mane of the hyena so much so that Hassan and Hussayn were getting crushed and both the ends of my shoulder garment were torn. They collected around me like the herd of sheep and goats.

When I took up the reins of government one party broke away and another turned disobedient while the rest began acting wrongfully as if they had not heard the word of Allah saying: That abode in the hereafter, We assign it for those who intend not to exult themselves in the earth, nor (to make) mischief (therein); and the end is (best) for the pious ones (28:83) " Yes, by Allah, they had heard it and understood it but the world appeared glittering in their eyes and its embellishments seduced them.

Behold, by Him who split the grain (to grow) and created living beings, if people had not come to me and supporters had not exhausted the argument and if there had been no pledge of Allah with the pious to the effect that they should not accept the gluttony of the oppressor and the hunger of the oppressed, I would have cast the rope of Caliphate on its own shoulders, and would have given the last one the same treatment as to the first one.

Then you would have seen that in my view this world of yours is no better than the sneezing of a goat." It is said that when Amir al-Mu'mineen (a.s.) reached here in his sermon a man from Iraq came up and handed him a letter.