If Allah has given respite to the oppressor, he can never escape from His grasp, and he is waiting for the opportunity at the place of his passage and where a bone gets stuck in the throat. By that Being in whose grasp is my soul, this nation (the people of Syria) will prevail over you. Not because their right is superior to yours, but because they rush quickly toward their companion (Mu'awiyah) despite being on falsehood, while you are lazy despite being on my truth. Subjects used to fear the oppression and tyranny of their rulers, and I fear the oppression of my subjects. I urged you to jihad, but you did not come out (from your homes). I wanted to make you hear (useful things), but you did not hear any. And I called and summoned you to jihad both secretly and openly. But you did not accept any, and I explained and counseled, but you did not accept my advice. Do you remain absent even when present, and as if you are the master even when you are in the circle? I present words of wisdom and knowledge before you, and you flare up. I give you high-level advice, and you become scattered in mind. I prepare you to fight these rebels, but before my words even finish, I see that you have scattered like the children of Saba. You return to your seats, and forgetting these advices, you fall into each other's traps. In the morning I straighten you, and in the evening when you come, you are (as before) crooked like the back of a bow. The one who straightens has become helpless, and the one being straightened has proven incurable. O you people! Whose bodies are present but intellects are absent, and desires are separate. Those who govern them are being tested by their hands. Your ruler obeys Allah, and you disobey him, while the ruler of the people of Syria disobeys Allah, but they obey him. By Allah! I wish that Mu'awiyah would take ten from among you and give me one of his men in exchange, just as dinars are exchanged for dirhams. O people of Kufa! I am afflicted with three things about you, and two others besides them. First, that you are deaf despite having ears, and mute despite speaking and moving, and blind despite having eyes. And second, that you are neither true brave men at the time of war, nor trustworthy brothers. O you who are like the gait of camels whose shepherds are lost, and when they are gathered from one side, they scatter from the other. By Allah! As I think about you, it is as if this scene is before me: if war intensifies and the battlefield becomes heated, you will separate from Ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) in such a shameful way as if a woman has become completely naked. I am on clear proof from my Lord and the way of my Prophet and the highway of truth (which I find by searching through the paths of falsehood). Look at the Ahl al-Bayt of your Prophet, follow their conduct, and follow in their footsteps. They will not let you go outside guidance, nor will they turn you toward misguidance and destruction. If they stop, you also stop, and if they rise, you also rise. Do not go ahead of them, or you will go astray, and do not (leave them and) stay behind, or you will be destroyed. I have seen the special companions of Muhammad (peace be upon him). I do not see anyone among you who is like them. They used to wake up in such a state that their hair was disheveled and their faces were covered with dust, while at night they had spent in prostration and standing. In such a state that sometimes they placed their foreheads in prostration and sometimes their cheeks. And they remained restless from the remembrance of the Hereafter as if they were standing on embers. And due to long prostrations, calluses like a goat's knees had formed between their eyes (on their foreheads). Whenever the remembrance of Allah came before them, their eyes would pour forth tears until they soaked their collars. They used to tremble as trees tremble on days of strong storms, in fear of punishment and hope of reward.