When Allâh sent the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم, his four uncles were
living. He revealed the verse.
(وَأَنْذِرْ عَشِيرَتَكَ الْأَقْرَبِينَ)
And warn
your tribe (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) of near kindred. (Q. 26:214)
So, he made them fear Allâh's
punishment and invited them to the true religion. Two of the four accepted the
true religion and my father was one of them. The other two refused to accept
the true religion and one of them was your father (Abu Talib). So, Allâh severed
their chain of authority and the Prophet صلى الله عليه
وآله وسلم did not allow any relation and inheritance between the two
parties of believers and non-believers. You have written about Hasan (رضي الله عنه) that he bears a double relation with
Abdul Muttalib and then that you have the same double relation with the Prophet
(صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم). My reply is this
that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم
is Khairul Awwaleen-wal-Akhreen the best of the first and the last. He had
paternal relations with Banu Hashim and Abdul Muttalib. You think that you are
the best among the Banu Hashim and your parents enjoyed a better reputation and
you have no mixture of non-Arab blood nor a trace of a slave-girl in your line.
I see that you have made yourself as a matter of pride better than the entire
tribe of Banu Hashim. Think a little. How can we not disapprove of your words?
How will you answer Allâh tomorrow? You have crossed the limits and declared
yourself better than those who are far superior to you in person and traits,
that is, Ibrahim the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم).
No one from amongst the descendants of your father is better and none of them
became great except the sons of slave-girls. After the Prophet's (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) death none among you
was born better and greater than Ali bin Husain (Imam Zainul Abdeen) and he is
superior to the slave-girl's sons and they were undoubtedly better than your
grandfather Hasan bin Hasan. After him no one among you was born like Mohammad
bin Ali. His grandmother was a slave-girl and she is better than your father.
His son Jafar is better than you and his grandmother was a slave-girl. Your
statement that you are the sons of the Prophet (صلى
الله عليه وآله وسلم) is wrong. Allâh says in his Book,
(مَا كَانَ مُحَمَّدٌ أَبَا أَحَدٍ مِنْ رِجَالِكُمْ)
Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) is not the father of
any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allâh and the last (end) of the
Prophets. And Allâh is Ever All-Aware of everything. (Q. 33:40)
Yes, you are the son of the
Prophet's daughter and undoubtedly this relation is close but it is not
entitled to inheritance nor can it be a heir to authority nor is leadership
legally theirs. So how can you be an heir by yirtue of this relationship? Your
father wanted it most. He made Fatima (رضي الله عنها)
come out in the light of day, concealing her illness and buried her at night
but the people did not recognize anyone but the sheikhain (two sheiks, Abu Bakr
(رضي الله عنه) and Umar (رضي الله عنه).)
[Editor's Note: He is insinuating
unjustly that Ali (رضي الله عنه) brought his wife out
to be seen by people because it would influence them to choose him as the
Caliph because of his close connection to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) through his daughter and he buried her
secretly so that the loss of this connection would not be established in the
peoples mind. He goes on to insinuate that in spite of these efforts the people
chose Abu Bakr and Umar over him.]
All the Muslims are unanimous on the
point that the maternal grandfather, maternal uncle and mother's sister cannot
be heirs. Next, you are proud of Ali's conversion to Islam before others. The
answer to that is that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله
وسلم) at the time of his death, ordered somebody else to lead the
Salât (prayer) and afterwards the people continued to make others the leader
and Caliph one after the other and did not pick or choose him although he was
also one of the six persons from among those who the Caliph was chosen.
The people took him to be a misfit
for this job and spared him and did not consider him to be entitled to it.
Abdur Rahman preferred Uthman (رضي الله عنه)
to him and he is an accused in the matter. (Editor: Insinuating unjustly that
he was involved in the murder of Uthman (رضي الله عنه).)
Talha (رضي الله عنه) and Zuhair (رضي الله عنه) fought him and Sa'd (رضي الله عنه) refused to take oath for him. Afterwards
he took the oath for Muawiya's (رضي الله عنه).
Then your father again wished to be caliph and fought. His friends parted with
him. His supporters became suspicious as to his right to be ruler and judge and
then they unanimously fixed two persons to decide the matter. Both of those
chosen agreed on his dismissal (Editor: He is selectively applying the facts,
please refer back to the Vol. I concerning Amr bin Aas and Musa Ashari's
judgment concerning Muawiya (رضي الله عنه)
and Ali (رضي الله عنه).)
Then Hasan (رضي الله عنه) became caliph and he sold out the
caliphate to Muawiya (رضي الله عنه)
for clothes and money and presented his supporters to Muawiya (رضي الله عنه) and entrusted the leadership to the
incapable (Editor: He means your family sold the caliphate to Banu Umayyah).
So, even if you were entitled to it, you have already sold it and received its
price. Then your uncle Husain (رضي الله عنه)
rebelled against Ibn Marjanah (Ibn Zeyad).
The people joined Ibn Zeyad against
your uncle to such an extent that they killed your uncle, cut off his head and
presented it to Ibn Zeyad. Then you rebelled against Banu Umayyah. They put you
to death, hung one of you on the branches of a date palm, burnt him in the
fire, in that way they killed Yahya bin Zaid in Khorasan. Your men were killed
and your children and women were imprisoned and made to sit on camels without
veils, sent them to Syria like slave girls on sale until we stood up in revolt
and we demanded compensation for your blood.
Then we took revenge for the
killings and we made you the masters of their lands and property. We venerated
your elders. Do you want to declare us guilty on this account? Perhaps you have
been deceived because they used to mention your father having a priority over
Hamza (رضي الله عنه), Abbas (رضي الله عنه) and Jafar (رضي
الله عنه).
The fact is that whatever you have
thought is not the reality. They all left the world in the highest state of
cleanliness and everyone recognized their virtue and greatness without dispute.
However, your father was involved in internal fighting and killing. Banu
Umayyah used to curse him as the unbelievers are cursed in the obligatory
prayers. So, we quarreled with them, we narrated the virtues of those who were
cursed, we adopted strict measures against Banu Umayyah and punished them. Our
greatness during the days of ignorance was by virtue of our supplying water to
the pilgrims, and this privilege was available to Abbas (رضي الله عنه) only. Your father quarreled with us over
it.
Umar bin Al-Khattab (رضي الله عنه) gave his judgement in our favor. So, we
have been the owner of this honor both during the days of ignorance and the
time of Islam. During the famine in Madinah Umar bin Al-Khattab (رضي الله عنه) prayed to Allâh for rain by means of our
father and he sent down rain. Though your father was alive, he did not ask for
rain through him. Do you know that when the Prophet (صلى
الله عليه وآله وسلم) breathed his last, none except Abbas (رضي الله عنه) from among Banu Abdul Muttalib was left?
Therefore, the legacy was transferred to the paternal uncle. Then several
persons from Banu Hashim wanted to be caliph but none except the descendants of
Abbas (رضي الله عنه) were successful. The
authority of cup bearing already belonged to him, the Prophet's legacy from
Abdul Muttalib and the caliphate came to his descendants.
In short no distinction between this
world and hereafter between the days of ignorance and Islam remained which Abbas
(رضي الله عنه) was not the
inheritor of. When Islam spread, Abbas (رضي الله عنه)
had stood surety for Abu Talib and his descendants and cared for them during
the famine. Had Abbas (رضي الله عنه)
not been spared in the expedition of Badr, Abu Talib and Aqeel would have
starved to death and would have continued to lick the utensils of Utbah and
Shaibah, but Abbas (رضي الله عنه) kept providing them
with food. He saved your honor, protected you from slavery and continued to
supply food and clothing. Then in the battle of Badr, he had released Aqeel by
paying the ransom. So, why do you brag before us? We cared for your family
during unbelief, paid your ransom, saved the honor of your elders, became the
heirs to the last Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم),
took revenge for you and achieved what you failed to achieve. Peace be upon
you.
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