Iraq [and others besides them] shrank from standing with him, while the power of the Syrians swelled; they swept [through the lands] to the right and to the left, claiming that authority belonged to Muʿāwiyah in accordance with the verdict of the two arbiters, who had deposed ʿAli and, through ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, invested Muʿāwiyah with the office once it was vacant. After the arbitration (1) the people of Syria used to call Muʿāwiyah “the Emir.” The stronger the Syrians grew, the more the people of Iraq lost heart [and weakened]—even though their commander was ʿAli ibn Abī Ṭālib, the best man on earth in that age, the most devout, the most ascetic, the most knowledgeable and the most God-fearing of them all—exalted is He. Yet, for all of this, they abandoned and deserted him [despite the generous stipends and abundant wealth he gave them]; they continued to fall away from him until he came to loathe life itself and longed for death, owing to the multitude of seditions, the outbreak of ordeals [and the spread of injustice and corruption]. He would often say, “What is delaying its most wretched man? What is he waiting for? Why does he not strike?” Then he would add, “By Allah, this”—and he would point to his beard—“will be soaked with blood from this”—and he would point to his head.
[This was related from him on the authority of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, through several chains. The first chain was narrated] (2) by al-Bayhaqī (3): from al-Ḥākim, from al-Aṣamm, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq al-Ṣaghānī, who said: Abū al-Jawwāb al-Aḥwaṣ ibn al-Jawwāb (4) narrated to us; he said: ʿAmmār ibn Zurayq narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, from Thaʿlabah ibn Yazīd, who said: ʿAli declared, “By Him who split the seed and created life, this—his beard—shall be drenched with blood from this—his head. So what is detaining its most wretched man?” ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sabuʿ (5) said, “By Allah, Commander of the Believers, if any man were to do that, we would wipe out his clan!” ʿAli replied, “I adjure you by Allah: let no one be killed on my account except my killer.”
They then said, “Commander of the Believers, will you not appoint a successor?” He said, “No; rather, I shall leave you as the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, left you.” They asked, “What will you say to your Lord when you meet Him, having left us without guidance?” He answered, “I shall say: O Allah, You appointed me over them for as long as You willed, then You took me back and left them to Your care; if You will, You will set them aright, and if You will, You will let them go astray.” [Some of the wording of this report is weak.]
[Another chain] Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī said in his Musnad (6): Shurayk related to us, from ʿUthmān ibn al-Mughīrah, from Zayd ibn Wahb, who said: The Kharijites came to ʿAli and said, “Fear Allah, O ʿAli, for you are going to die.” He replied, “No, by Him who split the seed and created life! Rather, I shall be killed by a single blow on this—his head—and this—his beard—will be stained with it. It is a covenant already decreed, and doomed is the one who fabricates lies.”