Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 2 of 2

130 The Battles of the Camel and Sifleen, and the issue of arbitration
(a) Az-Zubayr said to his son: "0 my son, if you have any difficulty
in doing so (paying off the debts), then seek help from my
Master." This is an example of his deeply-rooted certainty and
strong faith that resulted from sincere bust in Allah (&) and
turning to Him to meet his needs and relieve his distress. The
true believer firmly believes that everything is in the hands of
Allah (&). If he finds himself in hardship and distress, the first
thing that crosses his mind is Allah (g) and how He dominates
and controls everything. Those created beings who may have
some connection to his situation are also in the hands of Allah
(s); their hearts are in His hand, and He directs them as He
wills. So the believer turns to Allah (&) before anyone else and
asks Him (;gV;j) to meet his needs and relieve his distress. Then he
follows the principle of cause and effect that Allah (B) has
made a means of reaching the desired results, while believing
that they are no more than means and that the One Who does and
decrees things is Allah (s). He (&) is able to cause the means
to have no impact, so that they do not lead to the usual results.447
(b) Was ai-Zubayr (&) a wealthy man? From the text above, we
see that ai-Zubayr (&) was not one of the wealthy who were
known for their wealth. Instead, he felt a sense of hardship and
was concerned about the trusts and debts that he owed; he was
afraid that his land and property would not be sufficient to pay
off all that he owed. This text also shows us that Abdullah ibn
ai-Zubayr, like his father, was expecting that the debts would be
more than the wealth and land. When his father asked him: "Do
you think that what we owe will leave anything of our wealth?"
Abdullah could not answer him. If he was expecting anything
other than what his father was expecting, he would have given
him an answer to put his mind at rest at this critical moment, to
tell him that the matter was different from what he thought and
was expecting; however, he went along with his father in his