482. Rijāl al-Kashshi – narrating from Abu Jārud: “I said to Asbagh ibn Nubāta: ‘What is the status of this man [Ali] (a.s.) among you?”
He said: “I do not know what you say; but our swords were on our shoulders, whomever he beckoned we would strike by sword. Ali (a.s.) would say to us: Swear [your] allegiance! I swear by Allah that your allegiance is not for gold and silver rather it is for death. In the past a group of people from Bani Isrā’il
swore allegiance among themselves and none of them departed from the world except that he was a Prophet to his folk or his village or himself and you are like them, except that you are not Prophets.”¹

482. رجال الكشّي عن أبي الجارود: قُلتُ لِلأَصبَغِ بنِ نُباتَةَ: ما كانَ مَنزِلَةُ هذَا الرَّجُلِ ]عَلِيٍّ علیه السلام [فيكُم؟ قالَ: ما أدري ما تَقولُ! إلّا أنَّ سُيوفَنا كانَت عَلى عَواتِقِنا، فَمَن أومى إلَيهِ ضَرَبناهُ بِها. وكانَ يَقولُ لَنا: تَشَرَّطوا، فَوَاللهِ مَا اشتِراطُكُم لِذَهَب ولا لِفِضَّة، ومَا اشتِراطُكُم إلّا لِلمَوتِ، إنَّ قَوماً مِن قَبلِكُم مِن ] بَني إسرائيلَ [¹تَشارَطوا بَينَهُم، فَما ماتَ أحَدٌ مِنهُم حَتّى كانَ نَبِيَّ قَومِهِ، أو نَبِيَّ قَريَتِهِ، أو نَبِيَّ نَفسِهِ، وإنَّكُم لَبِمَنزِلَتِهِم، غَيرَ أنَّكُم لَستُم بِأَنبِياءَ.²