الشورى بعد عمر، وأهل الجمل

[1] On the occasion of the Consultative Committee Sa‘d ibn Abī Waqqās repeated to Amīr al-mu’minīn what Caliph ‘Umar had said in his last hours namely that “O ‘Alī , you are very greedy for the position of caliphate,” and ‘Alī replied that, “He who demands his own right cannot be called greedy; rather greedy is he who prevents the securing of the right and tries to grab it despite being unfit for it.” There is no doubt that Amīr al-mu’minīn considered the Caliphate to be his right, and demanded his right. The demand for a right does not dispel a right so that it may be put forth as an excuse for not assigning him the caliphate, and the demand may be held as a mark of greed. Even if it was greed, who was not involved in this greed? Was not the pull between the muhājirūin and the anṣār, the mutual struggle between the members of the Counsultative Committee and the mischief mongering of Ṭalḥah and az-Zubayr the product of this very greed. If Amīr al-mu’minīn had been greedy for this position, he would have stood for it, closing his eyes to the consequences and results, when ‘Abbās (uncle of the Prophet) and Abū Sufyān pressed him for (accepting) allegiance, and when, after the third Caliph people thronged to him for (swearing) allegiance, he should have accepted their offer without paying any attention to the deteriorated conditions. But at no time did Amīr al-mu’minīn take any step which could prove that he wanted the Caliphate for the sake of caliphate, but rather his demand for the caliphate was only with the object that its features should not be altered and the religion should not become the victim of others’ disires, not that he should enjoy the pleasures of life which could be attributed to greed.

[2] Explaining the meaning, Ibn Abi’l-Ḥadīd writes that Amīr al-mu’minīn’s intention was to say: They (the Quraysh and those who are assisting them) were not only content to keep me away from my right over the caliphate which they have usurped (from me), but rather claimed that it was their right whether to give it to me or prevent me from the same; and that I have no right to argue with them. Furthermore, the intention (of Amīr al-mu’minīn) is that: If they had not said that it is right to keep away from the caliphate, it would have been easy to endure it because this would have, at least, showed their admitting my right although they were not prepared to concede it. (Sharḥ Nahj al-balāghah, vol. 9, p. 306)