STRAIGHTPATHMONTHLY December 2011
praise and glorify Allāh before you, besides Whom there
is no other Deity. Now then!
Praise be to Allāh that He has destroyed your
obstinate enemy. The one (referred to Mu'āwiyah) who
had leapt upon the Islāmic nation and snatched their
affairs into his own hands and grabbed their booty and
seized control of it without their consent. He killed the
virtuous and spared the wicked ones. And he scattered
the wealth of Allāh among the tyrants and the wealthy
people, thus he was annihilated as (the people of)
Samood were destroyed, and we have no Imām left with
us (except you).
We request you to come to us so that Allāh may unite
us upon the truth. No'mān bin Basheer is alone present
in the palace, but we do not gather with him on the
Friday (Prayers), nor do we go to him on the day of Eid.
If we learn that you have proceeded to come to us, we
shall drive him out from here until we pursue him to
Syriā, Allāh willing. Allāh's Peace and Blessings be upon
you."
They gave this letter to Ubaydullāh bin Musme' Hamadāni
and Abdullāh bin Wal Taymi and told them to hasten. They
rushed until they reached Makkāh on the tenth of the month of
Ramazān. Then the people of Kufā waited for two days and
again sent Qays bin Mus-hir Saydawi, Abdul Rahmān bin
Abdullāh bin Shaddād Arhabi, and Ammārah bin Abdullāh
Saluli with hundred and fifty letters written by one, two, three
or four people.
Then again after a lapse of two days they sent Hāni bin
Hāni Sabee'i and Sa'eed bin Abdullāh Hanafi with a letter
whose contents were as follows:
"In the name of Allāh the Beneficent, the Merciful. To
Husayn bin Ali (a.s.) from Sulaymān bin Surad,
Musayyab bin Najabah, Rufā'ah bin Shaddād, Habib bin
Mazāhir and other followers from the citizens of Kufā,
the believers and Muslims. Peace be upon you! We
62
[2.246] Have you not considered the chiefs of the
children of Israel after Musa, when they said to a
prophet of theirs (i.e Dawood): Raise up for us a king,
(that) we may fight in the way of Allah. He said: May it
not be that you would not fight if fighting is ordained for
you? They said: And what reason have we that we should
not fight in the way of Allah, and we have indeed been
compelled to abandon our homes and our children. But
when fighting was ordained for them, they turned back,
except a few of them, and Allah knows the unjust.
[2.247] And their prophet said to them: Surely Allah
has raised Talut to be a king over you. They said: How
can he hold kingship over us while we have a greater
right to kingship than he, and he has not been granted an
abundance of wealth? He said: Surely Allah has chosen
him in preference to you, and He has increased him
abundantly in knowledge and physique, and Allah grants
His kingdom to whom He pleases, and Allah is
Amplegiving, Knowing.
[2.248] And the prophet said to them: Surely the sign
of His kingdom is, that there shall come to you the chest
in which there is tranquillity from your Lord and residue
of the relics of what the children of Musa and the
children of Haroun have left, the angels bearing it; most
surely there is a sign in this for those who believe.
[2.249] So when Talut departed with the forces, he
said: Surely Allah will try you with a river; whoever then
drinks from it, he is not of me, and whoever does not
taste of it, he is surely of me, except he who takes with
his hand as much of it as fills the hand; but with the
exception of a few of them they drank from it. So when
he had crossed it, he and those who believed with him,
they said: We have today no power against Jalut and his
forces. Those who were sure that they would meet their
Lord said: How often has a small party vanquished a
numerous host by Allah's permission, and Allah is with
the patient.
First the people must have been divided into those who
accepted the Prophet Dawood (a.s) as the Prophet of that time.
Then when this Prophet who they had accepted said that Talut
was their King, the people became divided into those who
disputed and those who accepted. Then there were those who
disobeyed Talut's orders and drank from the river, and those
who obeyed him and refrained. Then there were those who
expressed their despair. But "those who were sure" (a small
group of the believers) were those who d Y