64. Imām Ali (a.s.) – from what he said when he was sworn allegiance to in Madina: “I take the responsibility for what I say and I am answerable for it. He who takes lessons from (God’s) punishments that afflicted the people in the past is prevented by piety from falling into doubts.”
“Be aware that the same test and trouble which existed when the Prophet (s.a.w.) was first sent has returned. By Him who sent the Prophet with truth you will be severely tested, bitterly sieved as a thing that is sieved, and fully mixed as by spooning in a cooking pot until your low persons become high and high ones become low and those who were ahead shall remain behind.”
“By God, I have neither concealed a single word nor spoken any lie, and I had been informed of this event and of this time. Beware that sins are like unruly horses on which their riders have been placed and their reins have been let loose so that they would jump with them into Hell. Indeed, piety is like trained horses on which the riders have been placed with the reins in their hands to take them to the Heaven.”“There is right and there is wrong and there are followers for each. If wrong dominates, it has always been so in the past and if truth goes down, that too has often occurred. It seldom happens that a thing that is gone should return.”1
1.. Nahj al-Balāghah, Sermon ۱۶, al-Kāfi, vol. ۸, p. ۶۷, h. ۲۳. It is quoted in al-Kāfi narrating from Ali ibn Ri'āb and Ya`qub al-Sarrāj who have quoted this sermon from Imām al-Sādiq on the authority of Ali (a.s.), however, this book contains the additional statement as follows: “Doors of paradise were opened up to them and they scented its fragrance. It was said to them, ‘Enter you here in peace and security! Let it be known that he has preceded me in this affair whom I have not shared therein, to whom I have not given it (caliphat), and for whom there is no way to gain save through a prophet to be sent forth. However, there will be no Prophet after Muhammad (s.a.w.) (He got the position by usurpation) – [for that reason] he was placed on the brink of a collapsing bank, which collapses with him into the fire of hell. Sayyid al-Sharif al-Radi says: “In this small speech there is more beauty than can be appreciated, and excellence aroused by it is more than the appreciation accorded to it. Despite what we have stated it has so many aspects of eloquence that cannot be expressed nor can anyone reach its depth and no one can understand what I am saying unless one has attained this art and known its details.” “…but no one grasps them except those who have knowledge.” Qur'ān, ۲۹:۴۳.
