105 – Al-Ḥusayn narrated to us; ʿAbd Allah narrated to us. Muḥammad ibn Abī Yaḥyā told me that an elder of the tribe of Ḍabba, known by the kunya Abū al-Walīd, related to them. He said: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Abī ʿAbd Allah al-Asadī told me that Muʿāwiya once said to a man of Kināna, “Describe ʿAlī to me.” The man replied, “Excuse me.” Muʿāwiya said, “I will not excuse you.” So the man said:

“Since I must, then—by Allah—he was far-sighted and immensely strong. His speech was decisive and his judgments just. Knowledge gushed from every side of him, and wisdom issued from all around him. He shunned the world and its glitter, and found companionship in the night and its darkness. By Allah, his tears were abundant and his reflection prolonged; he would turn his hands over ⦗90⦘ and speak to his own soul. In clothing he liked only what was modest, and in food only what was coarse.

“By Allah, he was just like one of us: he answered us when we asked, initiated conversation when we came to him, and responded whenever we called him. Yet, by Allah, despite how he brought us close and sat among us, we never addressed him out of awe, nor began before him because of his majesty. When he smiled it was like strings of pearls. He honored people of religion and loved the poor. The strong could not hope to gain his favor for falsehood, and the weak never despaired of his justice.

“I swear by Allah, I once saw him in one of his stations when night had spread its cloak and the stars had vanished. He was standing in his prayer-niche, holding his beard, writhing like one in pain and weeping like the bereaved. It is as though I can still hear him saying:

‘O world, O world! Do you turn toward me? Have you set your desire upon me? Far, far—tempt someone else! Your time has not yet come. I have divorced you thrice; I shall never return. Your span is short, your worth trivial, and your danger great. Alas for the scant provision, the long journey, and the loneliness of the road!’

“Then Muʿāwiya wept, and those present wept with him. He said, ‘May Allah have mercy on Abū al-Ḥasan; by Allah, he was exactly as you have described. And how deep is your grief for him?’

“He replied, ‘By Allah, it is the grief of a mother whose only child has been slaughtered in her lap—her tears never dry and her sorrow never subsides.’”