44 – Al-Ḥusayn narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us; Muhammad ibn ʿAbbād ibn Mūsā told me; Yazīd ibn Hārūn transmitted, from Muhammad ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, from Abū Jaʿfar:

When ʿAlī was on his death-bed he gathered his sons and said:

“My sons, stay close to one another, each of you keeping the others united. Let your elder treat your younger with compassion, and do not become like the gleaming ostrich eggs left in the barren wilderness. Alas for the fledglings—the fledglings of the Household of Muhammad—at the hands of a pampered tyrant who will kill after me and after the one who comes after. By Allah, I have witnessed the supplications and heard the revelations, and Allah will surely complete His favor upon you, People of the Household.”

Ibn ʿAbbād explained his words, “Do not be like the gleaming ostrich eggs in the wilderness”: the ostrich lays its eggs in a desolate place and broods over them, but once the eggs hatch its chicks scatter. He meant: do not scatter after my death.