Eternal Words Nahj al-Balaghah Sermons SERMON 217 - Excesses of the Quraishi Tribesmen
SERMON 217 - Excesses of the Quraishi Tribesmen
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O Lord! I beseech You to take revenge on the tribesmen of Quraish and on those who are assisting them, for they have cut asunder my kinship and over-turned my cup. They have joined together to contest a right to which I was entitled more than anyone else. They said to me: “If you get your right, that would be just, but if you are denied the right, that, too, would be just. Endure it with sadness or kill yourself in grief.” I looked around but found no one to shield me, protect me or help me except the members of my family. I refrained from flinging them into death and, therefore, closed my eyes despite the dust, kept swallowing saliva despite (the suffocation of) grief and endured the pangs of anger although they were more bitter than colocynth and more grievous than the stabs of knives.
Sayyid ar-Razi says the following: “This utterance of Imam Ali ibn Aba Talib (p.b.u.h.) has already appeared in an earlier Sermon (No. 171), but I have repeated it here because of the difference of versions.”
