John Shaqi

إِنَّ الاَعَاجِمَ إِنْ يَنْظُرُوا إِلَيْكَ غَداً يَقُولُوا: هذا أَصْلُ الْعَرَبِ، فَإِذَا اقْتَطَعْتُمُوهُ اسْتَرَحْتُمْ، فَيْكُونُ ذلِكَ أَشَدَّ لِكَلَبِهِمْ عَلَيْكَ، وَطَمَعِهِمْ فِيكَ. فَأَمَّا مَا ذَكَرْتَ مِنْ مَسِيرِ الْقَوْمِ إِلَى قِتَالِ المُسْلِمِينَ، فَإِنَّ اللهَ سُبْحَانَهُ هُوَ أَكْرَهُ لِمَسِيرِهِمْ مِنْكَ، وَهُوَ أَقْدَرُ عَلَى تَغْيِيرِ مَا يَكْرَهُ . وَأَمَّا مَا ذَكَرْتَ مِنْ عَدَدِهِمْ، فَإِنَّا لَمْ نَكُنْ نُقَاتِلُ فِيَما مَضَى بِالْكَثْرَةِ، وَإِنَّمَا كُنَّا نُقَاتِلُ بِالنَّصْرِ وَالْمَعُونَةِ!


Translation

If the Persians see you tomorrow they will say, “He is the root (chief) of Arabia. If we do away with him we will be in peace.” In this way this will heighten their eagerness against you and their keenness to aim at you. You say that they have set out to fight against the Muslims. Well, Allāh detests their setting out more than you do, and He is more capable of preventing what He detests. As regards your idea about their (large) number, in the past we did not fight on the strength of large numbers but we fought on the basis of Allāh’s support and assistance.


Chapter (Bab)When Omar consulted him about taking part in the Battle of Persia
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.