Abu Sufyan came to the house of the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) while Imam Ali (a.s.) and Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib were present therein. They looked at him as to what he said, he recited the following verses, “O Bani Hashim ! Do not let others have greed for it (the caliphate), particularly the people of the clans of Taym bin Murrah (Abu Bakr) and Adi (Umar), for the affair is your right only and will return to you, particularly to Abul Hasan Ali, O Abal Hasan ! Clench your claws and prepare yourself, for you are more worthy for the affair and that what you desire”. Then he said, “O Bani Hashim ! O children of Abd Manaf ! Do you agree that Abu Fusayl (referring to Abu Bakr), the lowly and son of the lowly, may rule over you ? By Allah ! If you desire, I shall gather such a large army of horsemen and foot soldiers that they shall put them in a fix”.
Hearing this Imam Ali (a.s.) (who was aware of the evil intentions of Abu Sufyan) replied, “Return back, I swear by Allah (s.w.t.) that whatever you say is not for the sake of Allah (s.w.t.). You are always in the state of deceit and playing tricks against Islam and the Muslims. We are attending to the funeral of the Prophet (s.a.w.s.), and everyone shall reach the reward of their good deeds, and Allah (s.w.t.) is the Guardian and Helper of the oppressed”.[96]
When Abu Sufyan (who had intended evil and desired to spread discord among Muslims) heard this, he was disappointed and left Imam Ali (a.s.) and went towards the Masjid. He saw the Bani Umayyah gathered in the Masjid and incited them to take the affairs of the
[96] On one side Abu Sufyan desired that he should take up arms, while on the other hand he was noticing that those Arabs who had accepted Islam dubiously were leaving it and Musailimah the Liar and Talhah bin Khuwailid were misguiding tribe after tribe. In these circumstances, if there was a civil war and Muslims fought against one another, the forces of heresy and hypocrisy would have joinedtogether and destroyed Islam from the surface of the globe. Imam Ali (a.s.) preferred to keep silent with the purpose of maintaining solidarity of Islam and confined himself to protesting peacefully rather than taking up arms. This was because formal power was not so dear to him as the good and prosperity of the community. There was no other course for stopping the machinations of hypocrites and defeating the aims of the mischief-mongers, except that he should not fan the flames of war and thus give up his own claim. This was such a big act for the preservation of Islam. Here ImamAli (a.s.), in harsh words, reveals the evil intentions of Abu Sufyan that he was neither a well-wisher of Islam nor were his intentions fair, rather he desired conflict, bloodshed and extinction of Islam.
caliphate into their hands but they did not respond to his proposal. And thus mischief was manifested such, that everyone would have been entangled in it. And there were evil pretexts that had come forth, shaitan had gained authority while the mischief-mongers were hand in hand to one another, while the believers were afflicted & abjected in this way, and this is the concealed meaning of the words of Allah (s.w.t.), “And guard ye (yourselves) against an affliction which may smite not (only) those who committed injuctice among you in particular (but all of you)”. [97]
[97] Holy Qur’an, Surah al Anfal : 25