Letter Letter : 36

Letter (36): What Amirul Momineen (peace be upon him) wrote in response to the letter of his brother Aqeel Ibn Abi Talib, in which an army sent to an enemy is mentioned.

I had sent a heavy army of Muslims in that direction. When he found out, he turned around and fled and regretfully was forced to retreat. The sun was about to set and we drove him into a path and there must have been a few skirmishes and it must have been for an hour that he ran away for his life while he was caught by the throat and nothing was left of him except his last breaths like this. Escaped with great difficulty. Leave the words of the Quraysh running astray, disobeying in rebellion, and showing your face in misguidance, they have united in fighting me in the same way as they had united in fighting the Messenger of Allah before me. If my opinion has been inquired about, then my final opinion will be that we should fight against those people who have justified the war. Look! No matter how much you feel about your brother, leave him alone. Do not think that he will become discouraged and weak. Or show weakness and bow down to humiliation. Or easily give up his dowry in the hands of the dowry puller. Or turn his back to the one who rides. If you ask me how I am, then listen that I am very tough in bearing the hardships of the times and I am not sure that I have shown signs of sadness that my enemies seemed to be happy and my friends were sad.