History of Khulafah Rashideen by Jalal ad-Din as-Suyuti - translated by Abdassamad Clarke

Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said, ‘Precaution is bad opinion.’ He said, ‘The close one (i.e. the near relative) is the one whom affection renders close even if his kinship makes him distant. The distant one is the one whom enmity makes far even though his kinship makes him a near relative. There is nothing nearer to the body than the hand, and yet the hand, if it is corrupt, is cut off and if it is cut off, then it is cauterised.’ Abu Nucaym narrated it.

He said, ‘Take five things from me: Let none of you fear anything but his wrong action; let him hope for nothing but his Lord; let someone who does not know, not be shy of learning; and let someone who does not know, not be shy of saying, “Allah knows best”; and patience has the same relation to iman as does the head to the body:

when patience goes then iman goes, for when the head goes, then the body goes.’ Sacid ibn Mansur narrated it in his Sunan.

He said: The real faqih is the one who does not make people despair of the mercy of Allah; who does not grant them licence to disobey Allah; who does not make them feel secure from the punishment of Allah; who does not abandon the Qur’an longing for something other than it; because there is no good in worship in which there is no knowledge, there is no knowledge unless there is understanding along with it, and there is no recitation if there is no reflection in it. Ibn ad-Daris narrated it in the Fada’il al-Qur’an.

He said: The coolest thing for my liver, when I am asked about what I don’t know, is to say, Allah knows best.’ Ibn cAsakir narrated it.

He said: Whoever wants to give people what is due from him, let him love for them what he loves for himself. Ibn cAsakir narrated it.

He said: Seven things are from the shaytan: strong anger, strong sneezing, strong yawning, vomiting, nosebleeds, secret discourse, and falling asleep during dhikr (remembrance of Allah).

He said: Eat the pomegranate with its pulp for it is the stomachic (literally: the tan of the stomach). Sacid ibn Mansur narrated it.

He said: A time will come to people in which the believer will be more humiliated than a female slave. Sacid ibn Mansur narrated it.

Abu’l-Aswad ad-Du’ali said, eulogising cAli, ‘Eye, woe to you! Come to our aid; Do you not weep for the Amir al-Mu’minin?

Umm Kulthum (the daughter of cAli and Fatimah, and the wife of cUmar) weeps over him With her tears, and she has seen death.

Say to the Khawarij wherever they are - and may the eyes of the envious not find rest - “Is it in the month of fasting that you have distressed us, Through the best of men altogether?

You have killed the best of those who mounted steeds And tamed them, and of those who mounted ships, Of those who wore sandals and cut them to measure, And who recited the Mathani (the Fatihah) and the Clear (Book).

All the qualities of good were in him, And the love of the Messenger of the Lord of the Worlds.” Quraysh knew, wherever they were, That you (cAli) were the best of them in standing and in deen.

When I looked towards the face of Abu Hussein I saw the full moon over the onlookers.

Before his killing we were in good; We would see the mawla of the Messenger of Allah among us.

He was establishing the truth without doubting concerning it, And he was just to enemies and close relatives.

He would not conceal any knowledge that he had, And he did not have the character of the haughty ones.

It is as if when people lost cAli, They were ostriches bewildered in a land for years.

Do not rejoice at our affliction Mucawiyah ibn Sakhr, For the rest of the khulafa are from us.