Hadith 18

ted to Abu Muslim and he entered. Ali-asws handed over the answer to the letter of Muawiya. Abu Muslim said, ‘I have seen a group, what is your-asws matter with them? ’ He-asws said: ‘And what is that? ’ He said, ‘It reached the people that you-asws intend to hand over the killers of Usman to us, so they clamoured and gathered and worn their weapons, and they are claiming that they, all of them killed Usman’. He-asws said: ‘By Allah-azwj! I-asws did not intend to hand them over to you even for the blink of an eye, at all! I-asws have struck this matter upon the nose, and its eyes (looked at all options), but I-asws did not see it appropriate for me that I-asws hand them over to you, nor to someone else’. Abu Muslim went out with the letter and he was saying, ‘Now, the striking is good’. And it was from the answer of Ali-asws; ‘From a servant of Allah-azwj, Ali-asws, Amir Al-Momineen, to Muawiya Bin Abu Sufyan. As for after, a brother of Khowlan arrived to me-asws with a letter from you mentioning in it, Muhammad-saww and what Favours Allah-azwj has Conferred with upon him-saww, from the guidance and the Revelation. The Praise is for Allah-azwj who is Truthful of the Promise and Aided him-saww with the Help and Empowered for him-asws in the country, and he-saww prevailed over the inimical people, and the adversaries from his-saww people, the ones who pounced upon him-asws, and were watching and waiting for him-saww, and they manifest his-saww belying, and duelled to him-saww with the enmity, and they prevailed upon expelling him-saww and his-saww companions, and his-saww family, and rallied the Arabs against him, and gathered them upon warring him-saww, and they fought regarding his-saww matter, every fight, and they overturned the affairs to him-saww, until there came the Truth and the Command of Allah prevailed, and they were disliking it [9: 48]. I-asws was the intense of the people with tolerance upon him-saww, and protector of his-saww family and the closest ones. I-asws was the closes of his-saww people, except the one whom Allah-azwj Protected from the, O Ibn Hind! For a long time now, the strangeness has been disappointing to us, and you had come and you were obscene when you began informing us about the afflictions of Allah-azwj Blessed and Exalted regarding our Prophet-saww Muhammad-saww and regarding us-asws. In that, you were like the bringer of dates to a stone, or like a caller of his guide to the struggle. And you mentioned that Allah-azwj the Exalted had Selected supporters for him-saww from the Muslims, Allah-azwj was aided by them, so they were in their status in His-azwj Presence, in accordance to their merits in. The most superior of them in, as you alleged, and most advising of them to Allah-azwj and His-azwj Rasool-saww is the ‘Siddique’ (Abu Bakr), and the caliph of the caliph ‘Al-Farouq’ (Umar). And by my-asws life! You have mentioned a matter that completes your isolation, all of it, and if deficient, its deficiency would not come across you; and what are you and ‘Al-Siddique’? The ‘Siddique’ (truthful) is one who ratif