the earth with gold, and as much again, I would use it to ransom myself from the terror of what awaits after death.’ This is like His words (1):
‘If those who did wrong possessed all that is on earth and as much again, they would offer it as ransom from the dreadful punishment.’
[Surah al-Zumar: 47]
Let the rational and fair-minded person compare what the two men said as death approached them with Ali’s (2) words:
‘When shall I meet the beloved ones—
Muhammad and his company? (3)
When shall I meet it?
When will its most wretched one arise? (4)’
and his words when [Ibn Muljam] killed him: ‘I have triumphed (5), by the Lord of the Kaaba.’”
The response is that this statement contains such ignorance as demonstrates its author’s profound ignorance. What he cited from Ali has likewise been reported from persons of lesser standing than Abū Bakr, Umar, Uthmān [and Ali] (6)—indeed, similar words have even been reported from Khārijites who declare Ali [ibn Abī Tālib] (7) an unbeliever—as in the words of Bilāl, Abū Bakr’s freedman, when death approached him. His wife was exclaiming, “Oh, what sorrow!” while he was saying, “Oh, what joy! Tomorrow I shall meet the beloved ones—Muhammad and his company.”
When they opposed Umar over the apportionment of the land, he had supplicated: “O Allah, spare me from Bilāl and his associates.” Before a year had passed, not an eye among them was left blinking (8).
(1) (K): “the words of the Exalted.”
(2) (K): “Alī—peace and blessings be upon him.”
(3) In (K), this verse is second in order, preceded by the following verse.
(4) (R) and (Y): “will rise up”; (K): “will be sent forth.”
(5) (K): “and his words—peace and blessings be upon him—when he was killed: ‘I have triumphed.’” (H) and (B): “and his words when Ibn Muljam struck him: ‘I have triumphed.’” (N) and (M): “and his words when he killed him: ‘I have triumphed.’”
(6) “And Alī”: omitted from (N) and (M).
(7) (N) and (M): “declares Alī an unbeliever.”
(8) Abū Ubayd al-Qāsim ibn Sallām cited this report in Kitāb al-Amwāl, p. 81, ed. Shaykh Muhammad Khalīl Harrās, al-Kulliyyāt al-Azhariyya, 1389/1969. He wrote: “Saīd ibn Abī Sulaymān related to me from Abd al-Azīz ibn Abd Allāh ibn Abī Salama; al-Mājishūn related to us, saying: Bilāl said to Umar ibn al-Khattāb concerning the villages taken by force, ‘Divide them among us and take their one-fifth.’ Umar replied, ‘No. This is the property itself; rather, I shall retain it to provide continuing revenue for them and for the Muslims.’ Bilāl and his companions said, ‘Divide it among us.’ Umar then said, ‘O Allah, spare me from Bilāl and his associates.’ Before the year had passed, not one eye among them was left blinking.”
In his annotation, the shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—states: “Do not suppose that Umar—may Allah be pleased with him—prayed for Bilāl and his companions to die. How could he, when he was the one who said concerning Bilāl, ‘Abū Bakr, our master, emancipated our master,’ meaning Bilāl? Rather, he meant that Allah should spare him from their disputing with him.” See also the account of the division of the Sawād lands of Iraq and the position taken by Bilāl—may Allah be pleased with him—in Akhbār Umar by Alī and Nājī al-Tantāwī, p. 113, Damascus ed., 1379/1959.