Amir Al-Mo'mineen (A) began looking at it...

Amir Al-Mo'mineen (A)

began looking at it, when Ibn Abbas (Allah may be pleased with both

of them) said, "O Amir Al-Mo'mineen, I wish you resumed your Sermon

Thereupon he (A) replied, "O Ibn Abbas, it was like the foam of a

camel which gushed out but subsided."

Ibn Abbas says that he never grieved over any utterance as he did

over this one; because Amir Al- Mo'mineen (A) could not finish it as he

wished to. Commenting on this sermon, Allama Razi says:

"The words in this sermon `Like the rider of a camel,' mean to convey

that when a camel rider is stiff in drawing up the rein, then in this

scuffle the nostril gets bruised; but if he lets it loose in spite of the

camel's unruliness, it would throw him somewhere and would get out

of control. Ashnaq- an-Naqah' is used when the rider holds up the rein

and raises the camel's head upwards. In the same sense the word

`Shannaq-an-Naqah' is used. Ibn Sekait has mentioned this in 'Islah-il-

Mantiq' this is because he has used this word in harmony with

'Aslasa-laha' and harmony could be retained only by using both in the

same form. Thus, Amir Al- Mo'mineen (A) has used Ashnaqa laha'as

though in place of 'In Rafaa laha Raasaha,' (i.e., `if he stops it by

After Fatima's visit with women and then the men, which resulted in an

emotional revolution in the hearts of the Muslims, Abu Bakr and Umar

decided to visit the Mistress of women and try to achieve her

contentment with them. The story was reported in 'I'lal Al-Sharaye' as

Digitized by: www.playandlearn.org 259

When Fatima (A) was suffering from her fatal illness, Abu Bakr and

Umar came to visit her. They asked for permission to enter, but she

refused to see them. Upon this, Abu Bakr vowed not to enter any

house until he saw Fatima and asked her to forgive him. Abu Bakr,

because of his oath, was forced to spend that night in the cold with no

cover. Umar then went to Ali (A) and addressed him by saying: "More

than once we have come to see Fatima so as to ask for requital, but

she refuses to grant us permission to enter. If you see to it, you can

get us permission from her to talk to her."

He (Imam Ali (A)) said: "I surely will."

Imam Ali then entered the house and said to Fatima (A): "Daughter of