97 – Ahmad ibn Jamil narrated to us; ʿAbdullah ibn al-Mubarak narrated to us; ʿIsa ibn ʿUmar informed me; Hawt ibn Yazid told me; Tamim ibn Salamah told me; Sulayman ibn Surad told me ⦗62⦘:
“I entered upon ʿAli (may Allah be pleased with him), and he reproached me for being slow to join him in battle. I said, ‘The course is arduous.’ I kept assuring him that the campaign would be protracted, and that only displeased him.
“Later I met al-Hasan ibn ʿAli (may Allah be pleased with them both) and related the incident to him. He said, ‘Do not let that mislead you about him. I have seen him when the swords were taking their full toll of men, as the fighters pressed the rebels who had risen against us, and he was saying, “O Hasan, would that I had died twenty years before this day!”’”