Sacid ibn Mansur said in his Sunan\ Hushaym narrated to us:

Hajjaj narrated to us: A Shaykh from Fazarah told me: I heard cAli saying, ‘Praise belongs to Allah Who made our enemy ask us about something that had occurred to him in the matter of his deen. Mucawiyah wrote to me, asking me about the ambiguous hermaphrodite.13 I wrote to him that he should make him inherit according to how he urinates.’ Hushaym said the same from Mughirah from ash-Shacbi from cAli.

Ibn cAsakir narrated that Al-Hasan said: When cAli came to Basra, Ibn al-Kawwa’ and Qais ibn cAbbad stood before him and said to him, ‘Will you not inform us about this course which you are set upon, taking charge of the ummah, so that some of them are striking others; is it a covenant of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, which he made with you?

Tell us, for you are the trusted one in whom we have confidence about that which you have heard.’ 13 i.e. does the hermaphrodite inherit property as a man or as a woman?

He said, ‘As for my having a covenant about that from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, then no. By Allah, if I was the first to affirm him, I will not be the first to attribute a lie to him. If I had had a covenant from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about that, I would never have allowed the brother of Bani Taym ibn Murrah (Abu Bakr) and cUmar ibn al-Khattab to stand upon his minbar, I would have fought them with my own hand, even if I could find nothing but this garment of mine. However, the Messenger of Allah was not killed, and he did not die suddenly, rather he lingered in his illness for days and nights, with the mu’adhdhin coming to him to announce the time of the prayer to him. He would order Abu Bakr, who would lead the people in prayer, while he knew my standing. One of his wives wanted to turn him away from Abu Bakr, and he refused and became angry. He said, “You are the female companions of Yusuf! Tell Abu Bakr to lead the people in prayer!” When Allah took His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, we considered our affairs and we chose for our worldly affairs he whom the Prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was satisfied with for our deen. The prayer is the root of Islam and it is the amir of the deen, and the support of the deen, so we pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr, for he was worthy of that, no two of us disagreed about him, none of us bore testimony against others, and nor did we deny his privilege. I discharged what was due to Abu Bakr, acknowledged the obedience that was his right, went on military expeditions with him in his troops. I would take when he gave me, go on military expeditions when he sent me on them, and I would lash with my whip for the hadd punishment for him.

‘When he died, cUmar undertook it (the khilafah) and he took it according to the Sunnah of his companion (Abu Bakr) and that which he knew of his affair. We pledged allegiance to cUmar, no two of us disagreeing about him, nor any of us bearing testimony against any others, nor did we deny his privilege. I discharged what was due to cUmar, acknowledged the obedience that was his right, and went on military expeditions with him in his armies. I would take when he gave me, go on military expeditions when he sent me on them, and I would lash with my whip for the hadd punishment for him.

‘When he died, I recalled within myself my close relationship (to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace), my priority, my precedence and my merit, thinking that no-one would hold another equal to me. However, he (cUmar) was afraid that, if the khalifah after him would do a wrong action, it would attach to him in his grave. He withdrew himself and his son from it, for if there had been any partiality in him he would have preferred his son for it (the khilafah). He quit himself of it, passing it on to a group of six from Quraysh of whom I was one. When the group met, I thought that they would not consider anyone equal to me. cAbd ar-Rahman ibn cAwf took a compact from us that we would listen to and obey whomever Allah gave authority over us. Then later he took the hand of cUthman ibn cAffan and put his hand in his.

‘I considered my affair, and (saw that) my obedience had preceded my oath of allegiance, and my covenant had been taken for another.

We therefore pledged allegiance to cUthman. I discharged what was due to him, acknowledged the obedience that was his right, and went on military expeditions with him in his armies. I would take when he gave me, go on military expeditions when he sent me on them, and I would lash with my whip for the hadd punishment for him.

‘When he was struck down I considered my affair. The two khalifahs, who had taken hold of it through the covenant of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to the two of them regarding [or in respect of] the prayer, had gone.

This one, with whom the covenant had been taken, had been killed.

The people of the two Harams (Makkah and Madinah) pledged allegiance to me, and the people of these two provinces (Kufa and Basra). One sprang into it who is not the like of me, his relationship not as my relationship, nor his knowledge like my knowledge, nor does he have priority like my priority, and I have more right to it than him.’ Abu Nucaym narrated in ad-Dala’il from Jacfar ibn Muhammad that his father said: Two men were brought before cAli in a dispute, and so he sat at the base of a wall. A man said to him, ‘The wall will fall down!’ cAli said, ‘Carry on. Allah suffices as a guardian.’ He passed judgement between them, stood up and then the wall fell down.

There is in at-TuyuriyyatW\t\\ its isnad from Jacfar ibn Muhammad that his father said: A man said to cAli ibn Abi Talib, ‘We hear you saying in the khutbah, “O Allah, set us right with that which You set right the khalifahs who followed the right course and were guided,” so who are they?’ His eyes filled with tears and he said, ‘They are my two beloveds, Abu Bakr and cUmar, the two imams of guidance, the two shaykhs of Islam, the two men of Quraysh, who are to be taken as exemplars after the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Whoever takes them as exemplars will be protected (from error), and whoever follows their footsteps will be guided on the straight path, and whoever clings to them is of the party of Allah.’ cAbd ar-Razzaq narrated that Hujr al-Madari said: cAli ibn Abi Talib said to me, ‘What will you do when you are ordered to curse me?’ I said, ‘Will that happen?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘What should I do?’ He said, ‘Curse me, but do not forsake me.’ He (Hujr) said:

Muhammad ibn Yusuf, the brother of al-Hajjaj - and he was the amir of Yemen - ordered me to curse cAli, so I said, ‘The amir has told me to curse cAli, so you curse him! may Allah curse him!’ No-one understood it except for one man.

At-Tabarani narrated in al-Awsat and Abu Nucaym in ad-Dala’il from Zadhan that cAli was relating a hadith and a man accused him of lying. cAli said to him, ‘Shall I supplicate against you if you are lying?’ He said, ‘Supplicate!’ He supplicated against him and he did not leave before his eyesight went.

He narrated that Zirr ibn Hubaysh said: Two men sat eating the morning meal, one of them having five small loaves and the other three small loaves. When they had placed the meal in front of them a man passed by them and greeted them. They said, ‘Sit down and eat.’ He sat down, ate with them and they ate equally of the eight loaves. The man stood, tossed down eight dirhams and said, ‘Take them in place of what I have eaten from you two, and what I have consumed of your food.’ The two of them quarrelled. The man who had the five loaves said, ‘I have five dirhams and you have three.’ The man who had the three loaves said, ‘I will not be content unless the dirhams are divided in two halves between us.’ They raised it before the Amir al-Muminin cAli, and told him their story. He said to the man who had the three loaves, ‘Your companion has offered you what he offered you. His bread was more than your bread, so be content with the three.’ He said, ‘By Allah, I will not be content with him except with the bitter truth.’ cAli said, ‘There is nothing for you, in bitter truth, except for one dirham and he has seven dirhams!’ The man said, ‘Glory be to Allah!’ He said, ‘That’s it!’ He said, ‘Show me the reason in the bitter truth so that I can accept it.’ cAli said, ‘Do the eight loaves not have twenty-four third parts? You ate them and you were three persons, not knowing who ate more or less, so we will assume that you ate equally.’ He continued, ‘You ate eight thirds but you only had nine thirds. Your companion ate eight thirds and he had fifteen thirds, of which he ate eight leaving seven which the man who had the dirhams ate, and he ate one of your nine. You have one (dirham) for your one (third of a loaf) and he has seven.’ The man said, ‘I am now content.’ Ibn Abi Shaybah narrated in the Musannaf that cAta’ said: A man was brought to cAli and two men bore witness against him that he had stolen. He took up (another) thing from people’s affairs and threatened false witnesses, saying, ‘If I am brought a false witness, I will do such and such with him.’ Then he sought for the two witnesses but could not find them, so he let the man go.

cAbd ar-Razzaq narrated in the Musannaf. Ath-Thawri narrated to us from Sulayman ash-Shaybani from a man that a man was brought to cAli. Someone said, ‘This man claims that he had a wet dream about my mother.’ He said, ‘Go and stand him in the sun and strike his shadow.’ Ibn cAsakir narrated by way of Jacfar ibn Muhammad from his father that the seal-ring of cAli was silver and that its engraving was, ‘Blessed as the One Who Decrees is Allah.’ He narrated that cAmr ibn cUthman ibn cAffan said: The engraving on the seal-ring of cAli was, ‘Sovereignty belongs to Allah.’ He narrated that al-Mada’ini said: When cAli entered Kufa, one of the wise men of the Arabs came to see him and said, ‘By Allah, Amir al-Mu’minin, you have ornamented the khilafah and it has not ornamented you. You have raised it up and it has not raised you up. It was in more need of you than you were of it.’ He narrated from Mujammic that cAli used to sweep out the bait al-mal and then perform a prayer, hoping that it would be evidence for him that he had not stored wealth within (keeping it) away from the Muslims.

AbuT-Qasim az-Zujaji said in his Amali: Abu Jacfar Muhammad ibn Rustum at-Tabari narrated to us: Abu Hatim as-Sijistani narrated to us: Yacqub ibn Ishaq al-Hadrami narrated to me: Sacid ibn Salim al-Bahili narrated to me: My father narrated to us from my grandfather from Abu’l-Aswad ad-Du’ali - or he said: from my grandfather Abu’1-Aswad from his father that he said: I entered upon the Amir al-Mu’minin cAli ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, and saw him with his eyes lowered, deep in thought. I said, ‘What are you thinking about Amir al-Mu’minin? He said, ‘I have heard in this city of yours mistakes (in the use of Arabic), and I want to make a book on the principles of Arabic.’ I said, ‘If you do this, you will give life to us, and this language will remain among us.’ Later, after three days I came to him, and he gave me a page in which was, ‘In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

The word is noun, verb and particle. The noun is that which tells you about the named thing. The verb is that which tells you about the movement of the named thing. The particle is that which tells you of a meaning which is neither a noun nor a verb.’ He said, ‘Follow this up and add to it what occurs to you. Know, Abu’l-Aswad ad-Du’ali, that things are threefold: a substantive, a pronoun, and a thing which is neither a substantive nor a pronoun. The men of knowledge only have differing degrees of excellence in recognition of what is neither substantive nor pronoun.’ Abu’l-Aswad said: I compiled some things on it and I showed them to him. The particles of nasb (which put the noun governed by them in the accusative) were in it. Of them I mentioned inna, anna, laita, lacalla, and ka’anna but I did not mention lakinna. He said to me, ‘Why did you leave it out?’ I said, ‘I did not reckon it to be one of them.’ He said, ‘It is one of them so add it in among them.’ Ibn cAsakir narrated that Rabicah ibn Najid said: cAli said, ‘Be among people as the bee is among birds, for there is no bird that doesn’t regard it (the bee) as insignificant. If the birds knew what blessing there is in its belly, they would not do that to it. Mix with people with your tongues and your persons, and be separate from them in your actions and your hearts; because' a man has what he earns, and on the Day of Resurrection he will be with whomever he loves.’ He narrated that cAli said: Be more concerned for the acceptance of your action than you are for the action; for, an action with fearful obedience will not be little. How could an action which is accepted be little?

He narrated that Yahya ibn Jucdah said: cAli ibn Abi Talib said, ‘Carriers of the Qur’an (memorisers of it)! act according to it! for the knowledgeable man (':alim) is only one who knows, then acts according to what he knows, and whose knowledge is in accord with his action. There will be people whose knowledge will not pass below their collarbones (i.e. to their hearts), whose inner selves are at variance with their appearances, and whose actions are at variance with their knowledge. They will sit in circles competing for superiority with each other, to such an extent that a man will become angry at the man who sits beside him because he sits beside another and leaves him. Those, their actions in these assemblies of theirs will not rise up to Allah.’ He narrated that cAli said: At-tawfiq (being directed by Allah to the right course) is the best leader, good character is the best associate, the intellect is the best companion, courtesy the best inheritance, and there is no loneliness worse than conceit.

He narrated that al-Harith said: A man came to cAli and said, ‘Tell me about the decree.’ He said, ‘It is a dark path; do not travel it.’ He said, ‘Tell me about the decree!’ He said, ‘A deep ocean; do not enter it.’ He said, ‘Tell me about the decree!’ He said, ‘The secret of Allah which is concealed from you; do not investigate it!’ He said, ‘Tell me about the decree!’ He said, ‘Questioner! Did Allah create you for what He wills or for what you will?’ He said, ‘Of course, for what He wills.’ He said, ‘Then He will make use of you for what He wills.’ He narrated that cAli said: Calamities have endings. Whoever suffers misfortune must go to the end of them. It is only right for an intelligent man, when some misfortune occurs to him, that he should submit to it until its time ends, because in trying to repulse it before the natural ending of its time there is increase in its unpleasantness.

He narrated that it was said to cAli, ‘What is generosity?’ He said, ‘That which comes from the man as an initiative. As for that which comes in response to a request, it is only shame and feigning generosity.’ He narrated from cAli that a man came to him, spoke well of him, praised him excessively, and something about him had already reached him (cAli) before that. He said, ‘I am not as you say. And I am better than what you believe within your self.’ He narrated that cAli said: The recompense of disobedience is weakness in worship, constriction in livelihood and shortcoming in pleasure.’ Someone asked, ‘What is a shortcoming in pleasure?’ He said, ‘When one obtains the fulfilment of a permitted appetite something intervenes which prevents one having the desire fulfilled.’ He narrated from cAli ibn Rabicah that a man said to cAli, and the man used to hate him, ‘May Allah establish you!’ cAli said, ‘...

upon your heart.’ He narrated that ash-Shacbi said: Abu Bakr used to speak poetry (i.e. compose it), cUmar used to speak poetry, cUthman used to speak poetry, but cAli was more poetical than the three.

He narrated that Nabit al-Ashjaci said: cAli ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, said, ‘When hearts enclose despair And the wide breast is constricted with their worry, And calamities take up their abode and are at rest, And misfortunes take up residence in their places, And no way is seen to remove the harm, And the cunning one does not gain freedom by his trickery, A helper comes to you, right upon your despair, Whom the Near, the Answerer brings, And all misfortunes, when they reach their limit, Near deliverance is joined with them.’ He narrated that ash-Shacbi said: cAli ibn Abi Talib said to a man whom he disliked keeping the company of another man, ‘Do not accompany an ignorant brother; Beware of him! How many an ignorant man has destroyed A forbearing man when he took him as his brother.

A man is measured by another man If he walks along with him.

One thing has measures and Similarities for another thing.

The measure of a sandal is another sandal, When it is placed beside it.

For the heart there is an indication O f the heart when it meets it.’ He narrated that al-Mubarrad said: Written on the sword of cAli ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, was:

‘People have an eagerness for the world and (want) to manage it, And its purity is mixed for you with impurity.

They are not provided it with intelligence after it had been divided up, But rather they are provided it in measured portions.

How many a courteous and intelligent man it does not help! A fool attains his world through (his) shortcoming.

If it had been from strength or conquest, Then hawks would have flown off with the sparrows’ provisions.’ He narrated that Hamzah ibn Habib az-Zayyat said: cAli ibn Abi Talib used to say:

‘Do not disclose your secret except to yourself, For every sincere one has a sincere advisor.

I have seen deviating men Who do not leave alone an unblemished skin (without trying to attack it).’ He narrated thatcUqbah ibn Abi’s-Sahba’ said: When Ibn Muljam struck cAli, al-Hasan went in to see him, weeping. cAli said to him, ‘My son, memorise from me four and four.’ He said, ‘What are they, father?’ He said, ‘Intelligence is the wealthiest of riches, the greatest poverty is folly, the loneliest solitude is conceit, and the noblest of noble qualities is good character.’ He said, ‘And the other four?’ He said, ‘Beware of keeping the company of a fool, for he wants to benefit you and he harms you; beware of befriending a liar, for he will make the remote seem near to you and the near seem remote; beware of befriending a mean person for he will sit inactively however much you are in need of him; and beware of befriending an immoral person, for he will sell you for a trifling sum.’ Ibn cAsakir narrated from cAli that a Jew came to him and said to him, ‘When did our Lord come into existence?’ cAli’s face flushed with anger and he said, ‘He was not, and then He was? He is, without existence. He is, without cause. He is, without anything before Him nor any end. All ends fall short of Him, for He is the end of every end.’ Then the Jew accepted Islam.

Ad-Darraj narrated in his well known Juz with an unknown isnad from Maysarah that the Qadi Shurayh said: When cAli was setting out to Siffin, he found that he was missing a coat of armour of his. When the war was over and he returned to Kufa, he came across the armour in the hands of a Jew. He said to the Jew, ‘The armour is mine; I have not sold it or given it away.’ The Jew said, ‘It is my armour and it is in my hand.’ He said, ‘Let us go to the qadi! cAli went first, sat beside Shurayh, and said, ‘If it was not because my opponent is a Jew, I would have sat beside him in the gathering, but I heard the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saying, “Humiliate them, since Allah has humiliated them.’” Shurayh said, ‘Speak, Amir al-Mu’minin.’ He said, ‘Yes. This armour, which this Jew has, is my armour; I did not sell it and I did not give it away.’ Shurayh said, ‘What do you say, Jew?’ He said, ‘It is my armour and it is in my possession.’ Shurayh said, ‘Do you have any evidence, Amir al-Mu’mininT He said, ‘Yes. Qanbar and al-Hasan will witness that the armour is mine.’ Shurayh said, A son’s witness is not acceptable on behalf of his father.’ cAli said, A man from the Garden, and his testimony is not acceptable? I heard the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saying, “Al- Hasan and al-Hussein are the two lords of the youth of the people of the Garden.’” The Jew said, 'The. Amir al-Mu’minin brought me before his qadi, and his qadi gave judgement against him. I witness that this is the truth, and I witness that there is no god but Allah and I witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and that the armour is your armour.’