وحق الخصم المدعي عليك، فإن كان ما يدعي عليك حقا كنت شاهده على نفسك، ولم تظلمه وأوفيته حقه، وإن كان ما يدعي به باطلا رفقت به ولم تأت في أمره غير الرفق، ولم تسخط ربك في أمره ولا قوة إلا بالله.
[1] Zayn al-‘Abidin’s personal qualities of forbearance and pardon are often cited in the sources. Once a man cursed him to his face, but he ignored the man. Then the man shouted: ‘I mean you’! The Imam replied: ‘And from you I am turning away,’ alluding to the Qur’anic verse: Bid to what is honorable and turn away from the ignorant (7:199).If anyone reviled him, he would say: ‘If I am as you say, I ask God to forgive me, and if I am not as you say, I ask God to forgive you’. (A’yan, pp.194, 193).
