لاتَلْقَيَنَّ طَلْحَةَ،
Do not meet Talhah (ibn ‘Ubaydillah).
فَإِنَّكَ إِنْ تَلْقَهُ تَجِدْهُ كَالثَّوْرِ عَاقِصاً قَرْنَهُ
If you meet him you will find him like an unruly bull whose horns are turned towards its ears.
يَرْكَبُ الصَّعْبَئِ وَيَقُولُ: هُوَ الذَّلُولُ،
He rides a ferocious riding beast and says it has been tamed.
وَلكِنِ القَ الزُّبَيْرَ، فَإِنَّهُ أَليَنُ عَرِيكَةً
But you meet az-Zubayr because he is soft-tempered.
فَقُلْ لَهُ: يَقُولُ لَكَ ابْنُ خَالِكَ:
Tell him that your maternal cousin says that,
عَرَفْتَني بَالحِجَازِ
“(It looks as if) in the Hijaz you knew me (accepted me),
وَأَنْكَرْتَنِي بِالعِرَاقِ،
but (on coming here to) Iraq you do not know me (do not accept me).
فَمَا عَدَا مِمَّابَدَا
So, what has dissuaded (you) from what was shown (by you previously)?!”
قال السيد الشريف: وهو (عليه السلام) أوّل من سمعت منه هذه الكلمة، أعني: «فَمَا عَدَا مِمَّا بَدَا«.
As-Sayyid ar-Radi says: The last sentence of this sermon “fama ‘ada mimma bada” has been heard only from Amir al-mu’minin.
Alternative Sources for Sermon 31: Al-Jahiz, al-Bayan, II, 115; Ibn Qutaybah, ‘Uyun, I, 115; Ibn ‘Abd Rabbih, al-’Iqd, IV, 314; al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar, al-Muwaffaqiyyat, see Ibn Abi al-Hadid, I, 171; Ibn Khallikan, Wafayat al-'a’yan, biographical account of Ibn al-Mu’allim, see ‘Abd al-Zahra', I, 412.
