عندما عرض العباس وأبو سفيان عليه البيعة على الخلافة بعد وفاة محمد

[2] About death Amīr al-mu’minīn says that it is so dear to him that even an infant does not so love to leap towards the source of its nourishment while in its mother’s lap. An infant’s attachment with the breast of its mother is under the effect of a natural impulse but the dictates of natural impulses change with the advance of age. When the limited period of infancy ends and the infant’s temperament changes, he does not like even to look at what was so familiar to him but rather turns his face from it in disgust. But the love of prophets and saints for union with Allāh is mental and spiritual, and mental and spiritual feelings do not change, nor does weakness or decay occur in them. Since death is the means and first rung towards this goal their love for death increases to such an extent that its rigours become the cause of pleasure for them and its bitterness proves to be the source of delight for their taste. Their love for it is the same as that of the thirsty for the well or that of a lost passenger for his goal. Thus when Amīr al-mu’minīn was wounded by ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān ibn Muljam’s fatal attack, he said, “I was but like the walker who has reached (the goal) or like the seeker who has found (his object) and whatever is with Allāh is good for the pious.” The Prophet also said that there is no pleasure for a believer other than union with Allāh.