Documents of the Right Word

themselves; each of them thought of himself as a person not good
enough for the office of caliphate. For they had the attribute of
modesty commanded by Allâhu ta’âlâ. Is the allegation that “The
following day hadrat Alî came forward with arrogance, one of the
gravest sins, and defied others, asking if there was anyone better,
braver, more learned than he was,” something commensurable
with being Muslim? Most of the paths of Tasawwuf begin with
hadrat Alî. Leaders of Tasawwuf educate their disciples in
accordance with hadrat Alî’s instructions. And the first lesson they
teach is modesty. While many âyat-i-kerîmas advise us to forgive
our brothers in Islam their faults, how could it ever be justifiable
to refer the wickedness of nursing a grudge for thirty years and
advising others to maintain this hostility till the end of the world to
a mean sinner, let alone to hadrat Alî? Great teachers of
Tasawwuf educate their disciples by quoting the âyat-i-kerîmas
teaching that everything is made by Allâhu ta’âlâ and advising
contentment with qadhâ (fate, destiny). How could a person who
advised this have been against qadhâ himself? Is it something
believable? Is this allegation not a sheer slander? How could
hadrat Alî be said to have been impatient with a problematic
situation despite the âyat-i-kerîmas advising patience at times of
trouble? Could hadrat Alî have forgotten about all the âyat-ikerîmas
warning against worldly ambitions and sowed seeds of
instigation and faction among the Ummat-i-Muhammadiyya only
for worldly ambitions? Could it be permissible to make such
allegations about that honourable Imâm, whose statements have
been utilizeed as maxims of sagacity and virtue by Muslims?
The three Khalîfas accepted caliphate unwillingly and only
because it was farz for them to do so since the Sahâba of the
Messenger of Allah elected them. They did not make a will to
advise that they be succeeded by their sons in caliphate. Doesn’t
this fact prove that our statement is right? When the Sahâba
unanimously appointed hadrat Alî Khalîfa, he accepted the duty
unwilling as he was. Yet upon hadrat Muâwiya’s (claiming to be
the rightly-guided Khalîfa as a result of his) erroneous ijtihâd, he
went to a great deal of trouble to subdue him to obedience because
it was Islam’s commandment. There is next to no one who does not
know this fact. Furthermore, there are so many âyats and hadîth-isherîfs
commanding to have mercy and compassion for Muslims
and for all the creatures on the earth, and hadrat Alî, who is a
source of beautiful moral qualities, is famous for his kindness and
mercy, a fact proven through many widely known events; so much
so that Allâhu ta’âlâ has given the good news that He will show his
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