Eternal Words Nahj al-Balaghah Letters letter17 - In Reply to a Letter from Mu`awiyah
letter17 - In Reply to a Letter from Mu`awiyah
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As for your demand to me to (hand over) Syria, I cannot give you today what I denied you the day before. As regarding your statement that the war has eaten up Arabia save its last breath, you should know that those whose right has been eaten up will go to Paradise, whereas those who are wrong shall go to Hell. As for your equality in war and in (the numbers of) men, certainly you cannot be more penetrating in doubtfulness (of belief) than I am in certainty (of belief), and the people of Syria are not more greedy for this world than the people of Iraq are for the next one.
As for your saying that both of us are sons of `Abd Manaf, it is undoubtedly so, but Umayyah cannot be like Hashim, nor can Harb be like `Abdul-Muttalib, nor can Aba Sufyan be like Aba Talib. The muhajir (immigrant) cannot be a match for whoever was set free (when Mecca fell), nor can one of a pure descent be a match for one who is adopted, nor the pursuer of truth can be a match to the adherent to wrongdoing, nor can a believer be a match for a hypocrite... How bad are the successors who go on following their predecessors who have already fallen into the fire of Hell!
Besides, we also have the distinction of Prophethood among us by virtue of which we subdued the strong and raised up the downtrodden. When Allah made Arabia enter (the fold of) His religion and when the [Arab] people submitted to it willingly or unwillingly, you were among those who entered the religion either out of greed or out of fear, at a time when those who had gone first had preceded and when the first Muhajiran had acquired their own distinction.
Now, do not give Satan have a share in you, nor should you let him have his sway over you, and that is an end of the matter.
