Ibn ʿUmar and said, “You are beloved by the people; set out, therefore, for Syria.”
He answered, “I beseech you by our kinship, our companionship, and the family tie that joins us.” So ʿAlī did not pursue the matter again (1).

Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, from ʿUmar ibn Nāfiʿ, from his father, from Ibn ʿUmar, related:
“ʿAlī sent for me and said, ‘Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, you are a man obeyed by the people of Syria. Travel, for I have appointed you over them.’
I replied, ‘I remind you by Allah, by my kinship with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and by my companionship with him—spare me from this task.’
When ʿAlī refused, I sought Hafṣah’s intercession; he still refused. I therefore slipped away by night toward Mecca, and word reached him that I had gone to Syria.
He dispatched riders after me; whenever a man reached the camel yard he would bridle his mount with his turban in hopes of overtaking me.
Hafṣah then sent word: ‘He has not gone to Syria; he has only gone to Mecca,’ and ʿAlī’s anger subsided (2).

Al-Aswad ibn Shaybān, from Khālid ibn Sumayr, said:
“Mūsā ibn Ṭalḥah fled from al-Mukhtār, whereupon he exclaimed, ‘May Allah have mercy on Ibn ʿUmar! I believe he has remained upon his first pledge, unchanged; by Allah, Quraysh never succeeded in rousing him.’
I said to myself, ‘This casts reproach on his father regarding the manner of his death.’

On another occasion ʿAlī came to Ibn ʿUmar in the morning and said, ‘Here are our letters; ride with them to Syria.’
Ibn ʿUmar said, ‘I adjure you by Allah and by Islam…’
ʿAlī replied, ‘By Allah, you will ride.’
Ibn ʿUmar repeated, ‘I remind you of Allah and the Last Day.’
ʿAlī said, ‘You will ride, by Allah—willingly or unwillingly!’ So Ibn ʿUmar fled to Mecca.

Al-ʿAwwām ibn Ḥawshab, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, from Ibn ʿUmar, reported that on the day of Dūmat Jandal he said:
“Muʿāwiyah arrived on a tall, massive bukhtī camel and declared, ‘And who dares covet this authority and stretch his neck toward it?’
Never before that day had I entertained any worldly ambition, but I nearly retorted, ‘He who covets it is the one who struck you and your father for its sake.’
Then I remembered Paradise and its bliss, so I turned away from him (3).”