Allah sent him (the Prophet) as a caller towards Truth and a witness over the creatures. The Prophet conveyed the messages of Allah tirelessly and without any negligence, and he fought His enemies in the cause of Allah unflaggingly and without pleading excuses. He is the foremost of all who practise piety and the power of perception of all those who achieve guidance.
If you know what I know of the unknown that is kept wrapped up from you certainly you would have gone out into the open weeping over your deeds and beating yourselves in grief and you would have abandoned your properties without any guard for it or any substitute over it. Everyone would then have cared for his own self without paying attention to anyone else. But you have forgotten what was recalled to you and felt safe from what you had been warned. Consequently, your ideas went astray and your affairs were dispersed.
I do long that Allah may cause separation between me and you and give me those who have a better right to be with me than you. By Allah, they are people of blissful ideas, enduring wisdom and true speech. They keep aloof from revolt. They trod forward on the path (of Allah) and ran on the high road. Consequently, they achieved the everlasting next life and easeful honours.
Beware! by Allah, a tall lad of swinging gait from Banu Thaqif would be placed over you. He would eat away your vegetation and melt your fat. So, O Aba Wadhahah, is that all?
as-Sayyid ar-Radi says: "al-Wadhahah" means "al-khunfusa' (dung-beetle)." In this sentence Amir al-mu'minin has referred to al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf ath-Thaqafi and he had an incident with "al-Khunfusa '", which need not be related here.1
(3) al-'Azhari, Tahdhib, VII, 101 (kh.d.r);
(4) Ibn Faqih, al-Buldan, 181;
(6) al-Muttaqi, Kanz, VI, 87;
(7) al-Daylami, al-'Irshad, I, 33.