مَا هِيَ إِلاَّ الكُوفَةُ، أقْبِضُهَا وَأَبْسُطُهَا،
Nothing (is left to me) but Kufah which I can hold and extend (which is in my hand to play with).
إنْ لَمْ تَكُوني إِلاَّ أَنْتِ،
(O Kufah) if this is your condition
تَهُبُّ أَعَاصِيرُك،
that whirlwinds continue blowing through you,
فَقَبَّحَكِ اللهُ!
then Allah may destroy you.
وتمثّل بقول الشاعر:
Then he illustrated with the verse of a poet:
لَعَمْرُ أَبِيكَ الخَيْرِ يَا عَمْرُوإِنَّني عَلَى وَضَرٍ - مِنْ ذَا الاْنَاءِ ـ قَلِيلِ
O ‘Amr! By your good father's life. I have received only a small bit of fat from this pot (fat that remains sticking to it after it has been emptied).
ثم قال (عليه السلام):
Then he continued:
أُنْبِئْتُ بُسْراً قَدِ اطَّلَعَ الَيمنَ،
I have been informed that Busr has overpowered Yemen.
وَإِنِّي وَاللهِ لاَظُنُّ هؤُلاءِ القَوْمَ سَيُدَالُونَ مِنْكُمْ بِاجْتِماعِهمْ عَلَى بَاطِلِهمْ،
By Allah, I have begun thinking about these people that they would shortly snatch away the whole country through their unity on their wrong
وَتَفَرُّقِكُمْ عَنْ حَقِّكُمْ،
and your disunity (from your own right), and separation,
وَبِمَعْصِيَتِكُمْ إِمَامَكُمْ في الحَقِّ،
your disobedience of your Imam in matters of right
وَطَاعَتِهِمْ إِمَامَهُمْ في البَاطِلِ،
and their obedience to their leader in matters of wrong,
وَبِأَدَائِهِمُ الاْمَانَةَ إِلَى صَاحِبِهِمْ وَخِيَانَتِكُمْ،
their fulfilment of the trust in favour of their master and your betrayal,
وَبِصَلاَحِهمْ في بِلاَدِهِمْ وَفَسَادِكُمْ،
their good work in their cities and your mischief.
فَلَو ائْتَمَنْتُ أَحَدَكُمْ عَلَى قَعْب لَخَشِيتُ أَنْ يَذْهَبَ بِعِلاَقَتِهِ.
Even if I give you charge of a wooden bowl I fear you would run away with its handle.
اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي قَدْ مَلِلْتُهُمْ وَمَلُّوني،
O My God they are disgusted of me and I am disgusted of them.
وَسَئِمْتُهُمْ وَسَئِمُوني،
They are weary of me and I am weary of them.
فَأَبْدِلنِي بِهِمْ خَيْراً مِنْهُمْ، وأَبْدِلُهمْ بِي شَرَّاً مِنِّى،
Change them for me with better ones and change me for them with worse one.
اللَّهُمَّ مِثْ قُلُوبَهُمْ كَمَا يُمَاثُ الْمِلْحُ فِي الْمَاءِ،
O My God, melt their hearts as salt melts in water.
أَمَاوَاللهِ لَوَدِدْتُ أَنَّ لِي بِكُمْ أَلفَ فَارِس مِنْ بَنِي فِرَاسِ بْنِ غَنْم.:
By Allah, I wish I had only a thousand horsemen of Banu Firas ibn Ghanm (as the poet says):
هُنَالِكَ، لَوْ دَعَوْتَ، أَتَاكَ مِنْهُمْ فَوَارِسُ مِثْلُ أَرْمِيَةِ الحَمِيم
If you call them the horsemen would come to you like the summer cloud.
ثم نزل(عليه السلام) من المنبر.
(Thereafter Amir al-mu'minin alighted from the pulpit).
قال السيد الشريف:
as-Sayyid ar-Radi says:
قلتُ أنا: والارمية جمع رَميٍّ وهو: السحاب، والحميم في هذا الموضع: وقت الصيف،
In this verse the word "armiyah" is plural of "ramiyy" which means cloud and "hamim" here means summer.
وإنما خصّ الشاعر سحاب الصيف بالذكر لانه أشد جفولاً، وَأسرع خُفوفاً،
The poet has particularised the cloud of summer because it moves swiftly.
لانه لا ماء فيه،
This is because it is devoid of water
وإنما يكون السحاب ثقيل السير لامتلائه بالماء،
while a cloud moves slowly when it is laden with rain.
وذلك لا يكون في الاكثر إلا زمان الشتاء،
Such clouds generally appear (in Arabia) in winter.
وإنما أراد الشاعر وصفهم بالسرعة إذا دُعوا،
By this verse the poet intends to convey that when they are called
والاغاثة إذا استغيثوا،
and referred to for help they approach with rapidity
والدليل على ذلك قوله: «هنالك، لو دعوت، أتاك منهم...».
and this is borne by the first line "if you call them they will reach you."
Alternative Sources for Sermon 25: Al-Mas’udi, Muruj, III, 149; Ibn ‘Abd Rabbih, al-’Iqd, III, 337; Ibn ‘Asakir, Ta'rikh, I, 305, X, 225; al-Baladhuri, Ansab, II, 383; al-Mufid, al-'Irshad,* 163; al-Thaqafi, al-Gharat II, 636.
1. When after arbitration Mu`awiyah's position was stabilised he began thinking of taking possession of Amir al-mu'minin's cities and extend his domain. He sent his armies to different areas in order that they might secure allegiance for Mu`awiyah by force. In this connection he sent Busr ibn Abi Artat to Hijaz and he shed blood of thousands of innocent persons from Hijaz upto Yemen, burnt alive tribes after tribes in fire and killed even children, so much so that he butchered two young boys of `Ubaydullah ibn `Abbas the Governor of Yemen before their mother Juwayriyah bint Khalid ibn Qaraz al-Kinaniyyah. When Amir al-mu'minin came to know of his slaughtering and bloodshed he thought of sending a contingent to crush him but due to continuous fighting people had become weary and showed heartlessness instead of zeal. When Amir al-mu'minin observed their shirking from war he delivered this sermon wherein he roused them to enthusiasm and self respect, and prompted them to jihad by describing before them the enemy's wrongfulness and their own short-comings. At last Jariyah ibn Qudamah as-Sa`di responded to his call and taking an army of two thousand set off in pursuit of Busr and chased him out of Amir al-mu'minin's domain.
