وفي حديثه عليه السلام :
A tradition of Amir al-mu'minin, peace be upon him, runs:
كُنَّا إِذَا احْمَرَّ الْبَأْسُ اتَّقَيْنَا بِرَسُولِ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وآله ، فَلَمْ يَكُنْ أَحَدٌ مِنَّا أَقْرَبَ إِلَى الْعَدُوِّ مِنْهُ.
When the crisis became red-hot we sought refuge with the Messenger of Allah (peace-be upon him and his descendants), arid none of us was closer to the enemy than he himself.
ومعنى ذلك: أنه إذا عَظُم الخوفُ من العدو واشتد عِضَاضُ الحربِ فَزِعَ المسلمون إلى قتال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله بنفسه، فيُنزِلُ الله تعالى النصر عليهم، ويأمنون ما كانوا يخافونه بمكانه.
as-Sayyid ar-Radi says: This means that when fear of the enemy increased and fighting became serious, the Muslims would begin to think that since the Messenger of Allah had taken up fighting himself, Allah must give them victory through him and that therefore they would be safe from all the dangers because of his existence.
وقوله: (إذا احمر البأس): كناية عن اشتداد الامر، وقد قيل في ذلك أقوال، أحسنها أنه شبه حمى الحرب بالنار التي تجمع الحرارة والحمرة بفعلها ولونها، ومما يقوى ذلك قول الرسول صلى الله عليه وآله وقد رأى مجتلد الناس يوم حنين وهي حرب هوازن: (الان حمى الوطيس)، والوطيس: مستوقد النار، فشبه رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله ما استحر من جلاد القوم باحتدام النار وشدة التهابها.
And the words "idha'hmarra'l-ba'su" (when the crisis became red-hot) refers to the seriousness of the matter. For this purpose several expressions have been used out of which this is the best one, since Amir al-mu'minin has likened war with fire which combines heat and redness both in action as well as colour. This is confirmed by the words of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his descendants) when on the day of Hunayn he noticed people of Hawazin (tribe) fighting he said, "Now ‘watis’ has heated up" and ‘watis’ is the place where fire is lighted. In this way, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his descendants) likened the seriousness of fighting by men to the seriousness of the fire and its flames.
انقضى هذا الفصل، ثم رجعنا إلى سنن الغرض الأول في هذا الباب.
This section ends and we return to the original theme of the chapter.
