John Shaqi

وَإِنَّمَا أَنَا قُطْبُ الرَّحَا، تَدُورُ عَلَيَّ وَأَنَا بِمَكَاني، فَإِذَا فَارَقْتُهُ اسْتَحَارَ مَدَارُهَا، وَاضْطَرَبَ ثِفَالُهَا. هذَا لَعَمْرُ اللهِ الرَّأْيُ السُّوءُ. وَاللهِ لَوْلاَ رَجَائِي الشَّهَادَةَ عِنْدَ لِقَائِي الْعَدُوَّ ـ وَلَوْ قَدْ حُمَّ لِي لِقَاؤُهُ ـ لَقَرَّبْتُ رِكَابِي ثُمَّ شَخَصْتُ عَنْكُمْ، فَلاَ أَطْلُبُكُمْ مَا اخْتَلَفَ جَنُوبٌ وَشَمَالٌ.


Translation

I am the axis of the mill. It rotates on me while I remain in my position. As soon as I leave it the centre of its rotation would be disturbed and its lower stone would also be disturbed. By Allāh, this is a very bad advice. By Allāh, if I had not been hoping for martyrdom by my meeting with the enemy—and my meeting with him has been ordained, I would have secured my carrier and went away from you and would not have sought you so long as North and South differed.


Chapter (Bab)When he exhorted people to jihad but was met with silence
CollectionNahj al-Balagha

Compiled by al-Sharif al-Radi

Source

License: Free for educational and research use (Thaqalayn Data API)

Provided for research and educational purposes. Original source: Thaqalayn Project. Open License.