حدثنا محمد بن إبراهيم بن إسحاق، قال: حدثنا أحمد بن محمد الهمدان يقال: حدثنا الحسن بن القاسم قراءة قال: حدثنا علي بن إبراهيم المعلى، قال: حدثنا أبو عبد الله محمد بن خالد، قال: حدثنا عبد الله بن بكر المرادي، عن موسى بن جعفر، عن أبيه، عن جده [عن] علي بن الحسين، عن أبيه عليهم السلام قال: بينا أمير المؤمنين صلوات الله عليه ذات يوم جالس مع أصحابه يعبئهم للحرب إذ أتاه شيخ عليه شجبة للسفر ، فقال: أين أمير المؤمنين؟ فقيل: هو ذا. فسلم عليه، ثم قال: يا أمير المؤمنين إني أتيتك من ناحية الشام وأنا شيخ كبير قد سمعت فيك من الفضل ما لا أحصي وإني أظنك ستغتال فعلمني مما علمك الله. قال: نعم يا شيخ، من اعتدل يوماه فهو مغبون، ومن كانت الدنيا همته اشتدت حسرته عند فراقها، ومن كان غده شر يوميه فمحروم، ومن لم يبال ما رزئ من آخرته إذا سلمت له دنياه فهو هالك، ومن لم يتعاهد النقص من نفسه غلب عليه الهوى ومن كان في نقص فالموت خير له، يا شيخ ارض للناس ما ترضى لنفسك و إيت إلى الناس ما تحب أن يؤتي إليك. ثم أقبل على أصحابه فقال: أيها الناس أما ترون إلى أهل الدنيا يمسون ويصبحون على أحوال شتى فبين صريع يتلوى وبين عائد ومعود وآخر بنفسه يجود، وآخر لا يرجى وآخر مسجى ، وطالب الدنيا والموت يطلبه، وغافل ليس بمغفول عنه، وعلى أثر الماضي يصير الباقي. فقال له زيد بن صوحان العبدي: يا أمير المؤمنين أي سلطان أغلب وأقوى؟ قال: الهوى، قال: فأي ذل أذل؟ قال: الحرص على الدنيا، قال: فأي فقر أشد؟ قال: الكفر بعد الايمان، قال: فأي دعوة أضل؟ قال: الداعي بما لا يكون، قال: فأي عمل أفضل؟ قال: التقوى، قال: فأي عمل أنجح؟ قال: طلب ما عند الله، قال: فأي صاحب شر؟ قال: المزين لك معصية الله، قال: فأي الخلق أشقى؟ قال: من باع دينه بدنيا غيره، قال: فأي الخلق أقوى؟ قال: الحليم، قال: فأي الخلق أشح؟ قال: من أخذ المال من غير حله فجعله في غير حقه قال: فأي الناس أكيس؟ قال: من أبصر رشده من غيه فمال إلى رشده، قال: فمن أحلم الناس؟ قال: الذي لا يغضب، قال: فأي الناس أثبت رأيا. قال: من لم تغره الناس من نفسه ولم تغره الدنيا بتشوفها ، قال: فأي الناس أحمق؟ قال: المغتر بالدنيا وهو يرى ما فيها من تقلب أحوالها، قال: فأي الناس أشد حسرة؟ قال: الذي حرم الدنيا و الآخرة ذلك هو الخسران المبين، قال: فأي الخلق أعمى؟ قال: الذي عمل لغير الله يطلب بعمله الثواب من عند الله عز وجل، قال: فأي القنوع أفضل؟ قال: القانع بما أعطاه الله، قال: فأي المصائب أشد؟ قال: المصيبة بالدين، قال: فأي الأعمال أحب إلى الله عز و جل؟ قال: انتظار الفرج. قال: فأي الناس خير عند الله عز وجل؟ قال: أخوفهم الله وأعملهم بالتقوى وأزهدهم في الدنيا، قال: فأي الكلام أفضل عند الله عز وجل؟ قال كثرة ذكره والتضرع إليه والدعاء، قال: فأي القول أصدق. قال: شهادة أن لا إله إلا الله، قال: فأي الأعمال أعظم عند الله عز وجل؟ قال: التسليم والورع. قال: فأي الناس أصدق؟ قال: من صدق في المواطن، ثم أقبل عليه السلام على الشيخ فقال: يا شيخ إن الله عز وجل خلق خلقا ضيق الدنيا عليهم نظرا لهم فزهدهم فيها وفي حطامها فرغبوا في دار السلام التي دعاهم إليها وصبروا على ضيق المعيشة وصبروا على المكروه و اشتاقوا إلى ما عند الله من الكرامة وبذلوا أنفسهم ابتغاء رضوان الله وكانت خاتمة أعمالهم الشهادة فلقوا الله وهو عنهم راض، واعملوا أن الموت سبيل من مضى ومن بقي، فتزودوا لآخرتهم غير الذهب والفضة، ولبسوا الخشن، وصبروا على الذل، وقدموا الفضل، وأحبوا في الله، وأبغضوا في الله عز وجل، أولئك المصابيح في الدنيا وأهل النعيم في الآخرة والسلام. فقال الشيخ: فأين أذهب وأدع الجنة - وأنا أراها وأرى أهلها معك يا أمير المؤمنين -؟ جهزني بقوة أتقوى بها على عدوك فأعطاه أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام سلاحا وحمله وكان في الحرب بين يدي أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام يضرب قدما قدما وأمير المؤمنين عليه السلام يعجب مما يصنع فلما اشتدت الحرب أقدم فرسه حتى قتل - رحمة الله عليه - وأتبعه رجل من أصحاب أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام فوجده صريعا ووجد دابته ووجد سيفه في ذراعه، فلما انقضت الحرب أتى أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام بدابته وسلاحه وصلى عليه أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام فقال: هذا والله السعيد حقا فترحموا على أخيكم.
4. We were told by Muhammed bin Ibrahim bin Ishaq, that he said: We were told by Ahmad bin Muhammed al-Hamdani, that he said: We were told by Hasan bin Qasem, while he was reading, that he said: We were told by Ali bin Ibrahim al-Mu’alla, that he said: We were told by Abu Abdillah, Muhammed bin Khalid, that he said: We were told by Abdullah bin BIkr al-Muradi, from Musa bin Ja’far, from his father, from his grandfather, from Ali bin Hussain, from his father, peace be upon them, that he said: The Commander of the Believers was, one day, sitting with his companions, preparing them for war, as an old man, in whom was the fatigue of travel, approached him and said: Where is the Commander of the Believers? Then it was said: It is him. So he sent peace upon him, and then he said: O Commander of the Believers, indeed, I have come to you from the side of the Levant, and I am an old man who have heard about you of virtue what I cannot count, and indeed, I assume that you will be assassinated. Hence, teach me from what Allah has taught you. He said: Yes, O old man, the one whose two days are equal, is defrauded; the one to whom this world is his concern, his heartbrokenness will intensify when it is separated (from him); the one whose tomorrow is the worst of his two days, is prevented; the one who does not care about what will afflict him in his Hereafter once his worldly affairs are safe, is to perish; the one who does not promise to give himself less will be defeated by desire; and the one who is in (a state of) decline, death is best for him. O old man, be pleased for people what you are pleased with for yourself, and give to people what you would like to be given to you. Then he turned towards his companions and said: O people, do you not see the people of this world, that they sleep at night and wake up at morning on various conditions; between one who has collapsed and bends, between one who visits (an ill person) and one who is visited (due to illness), and another who struggles with himself (due to decline), and another who is not sought, and another who is covered (by a cloth after having died), and who demands from this world while death seeks him, and one who is unaware, but is not neglected. In accordance to the past (In this manner) the rest become. Then Zaid bin Sawhan al-‘Abdi said to him: O Commander of the Believers, which (element of) authority is more defeating and strong? He said: Desire. He said: Then what type of debasement is the most debased? He said: Craving for this world. He said: Then what type of poverty is the most intense? He said: Disbelief after faith. He said: Then what type of call is the most misleading? He said: The one who calls for what will not be. He said: Then what act is the best? He said: Godfearness. He said: Then what act is the most successful? He said: Seeking what is with Allah. He said: Then what type of companion is the worst? He said: The one who beautifies for you the disobedience to Allah. He said: Then whom of the creation is the most wretched? He said: The one who sells his afterlife with the worldly affairs of someone else. Then whom of the creation is the strongest? He said: The forbearing. He said: Then whom of the creation is the most avaricious? He said: The one who takes a property from other than what is allowable and places it in other than its right. He said: Then whom among the people is the smartest? He said: The one who is insightful of his guidance from enticement and inclines to his guidance. He said: Then who is the most forbearing among the people? He said: The one who does not become angry. Then who among the people has the most stable opinion? He said: The one whom people do not seduce from himself, and whom this world does not seduce with its beautification. He said: Then whom among the people is the most stupid? He said: The one who is seduced by this world while he sees what is in it of its change of conditions. He said: Then who among the people is the most intensively heartbroken? He said: The one who was prevented from this world and the Hereafter; that is the clear loss. He said: Then who among the creation is the most blind? He said: The one who acts for other than Allah and seeks with his act reward from Allah, Exalted and Glorious is He. He said: Then what type of the content is the best? He said: The one who is content with what Allah has given him. He said: Then what type of calamity is the most difficult? He said: The calamity with regards to Religion. He said: Then which act is the most beloved to Allah, Exalted and Glorious is He? He said: Awaiting relief. He said: Then who among the people is the best to Allah, Exalted and Glorious is He? He said: The one among them who is most fearful of Allah, the one among them who acts the most with godfearness and the one among them who is the most abstaining in this world. He said: Then what type of speech is the best to Allah, Exalted and Glorious is He? He said: Mentioning him in abundance, invoking to Him and supplicating. He said: Then what saying is the most truthful? He said: The testimony that there is no god but Allah. He said: Then which act is the greatest to Allah, Exalted and Glorious is He? He said: Submission and piety. He said: Then who among the people is the most truthful? He said: The one who is truthful in places of trial. Then he, peace be upon him, approached the old man and said: O old man, indeed, Allah, Exalted and Glorious is He, created a creation which He tightened this world upon in favor to them, and so He made them abstinent in it and with regards to its waste material. Hence, they became desiring for the Home of Peace which He called them to, and they became patient for the tight livelihood and became patient for adversity, and they longed for what is with Allah of dignity and spent their lives for the sake of achieving the satisfaction of Allah, and the seal of their acts has become martyrdom. Thus, they met Allah while He was pleased with them, and they knew that death is the path of those who went and who remain, and so, they increased for their Hereafter with other than gold and silver, wore coarse clothing, were patient for humiliation, preferred virtue, loved for the sake of Allah and hated for the sake of Allah, Exalted and Glorious is He. Those are the lamps in this world and the people of bliss in the Hereafter. Peace. Then the old man said: Then to where shall I go and leave Paradise, while I see it and see its people with you, O Commander of the Believers? Prepare me with strength by which I can become strong against your enemy. Then the Commander of the Believers, peace be upon him, gave him a weapon and incited him, and he was in the war between the hands of the Commander of the Believers, peace be upon him, hitting foot by foot, and the Commander of the Believers, peace be upon him, was amazed by what he was doing. When the war intensified, he moved his horse forward until he was killed, may Allah grant him mercy. He was followed by a man from the companions of the Commander of the Believers, peace be upon him, and he found him collapsed, and he found his riding animal, and he found his sword in his arm. When the war ended, the Commander of the Believers, peace be upon him, was brought his riding animal and weapon, and the Commander of the Believers, peace be upon him, prayed upon him, and he said: This is, by Allah, the truly ejoicing, so ask Allah to grant mercy to your brother.