Eternal Words Nahj al-Balaghah Letters letter44 - To Ziyad Ibn Abih When Imam Ali Ibn Aba Talib, Peace be Upon Him Came to Know That Mu`awiyah Had Written to Ziyad to Deceive Him and to Attach Him to Himself in Kinship
letter44 - To Ziyad Ibn Abih When Imam Ali Ibn Aba Talib, Peace be Upon Him Came to Know That Mu`awiyah Had Written to Ziyad to Deceive Him and to Attach Him to Himself in Kinship
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I have learned that Mu`awiyah has written to you to deceive your wit and blunt your sharpness. You should be on guard against him because he is the Satan who approaches a believer from the front and from the back, from the right and from the left, to catch him suddenly in the hour of his carelessness and to overcome his intelligence.
During the days of `Umar ibn al-Khattab, Aba Sufyan happened to utter a thoughtless point which was an evil insinuation of Satan from which neither kinship is established nor entitlement to succession occurs. Whoever relies on it is like the uninvited guest to a drinking party or like the dangling cup (tied to a saddle).
Sayyid ar-Razi says the following: “When Ziyad read the letter, he said, ‘By Allah he has testified to it’. This point remained in his mind till Mu`awiyah claimed him (to be his brother from his father’s side).”
Imam Ali ibn Aba Talib’s word “al-waghil” means the man who joins the drinking group so as to drink with them, but he is not one of them. He is, therefore, constantly turned out and pushed away. As for the words “an-nawtul-mudhabdhab”, it is a wooden cup or a bowl, or the like, attached to the saddle of the rider so that it dangles when the rider drives the beast or it hastens its pace.
