Sulaym ibn Qays al-Hilali, from Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS): People are with the kings and with this world, except him whom God preserves. (al-Mustarshid, vol. 1, p. 231)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: People always follow the kings and go after this world, except one whom God has preserved.
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said to al-Hasan when Ibn Muljam struck him: By God, I have triumphed; and after this day your father will see no evil. (al-Mustarshid, vol. 1, p. 367)
When Ibn Muljam split open his head, the Commander of the Faithful (AS) said to his son al-Hasan (AS): My son, your father has found relief at last!
When al-Ash'ath ibn Qays asked him, saying: O Commander of the Faithful, I have heard you say, “I have never ceased to be wronged!” What kept you from seeking redress for your wrong and striking for it with your sword? He said: O Ash'ath, what kept me from that is what kept Aaron (AS) back, when he said to his brother Moses (AS): “I feared that you would say: You have caused division among the Children of Israel and did not heed my word.” The meaning of that is that Moses had said to him when he departed for the appointed meeting with his Lord: If you see my people gone astray and following someone other than me, then break with them and strive against them; but if you find no helpers, then preserve your blood and hold back your hand. (al-Mustarshid, vol. 1, p. 370)
Al-Ash'ath ibn Qays asked the Commander of the Faithful (AS): What do you mean by constantly saying that you have been wronged? Why did you not rise up and take your right with the sword?
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: The very thing that kept Aaron from drawing his sword when the Children of Israel took to worshipping the calf is what forbade me to stir up such a sedition. The Qur'an says on Aaron's tongue: I feared that I would cause division among the people. And Moses (AS) had told him: If you have no helpers and cannot defend the truth, then preserve your own life.
Al-Sunabihi, from Ali (AS), who said: If the people were to abandon the Hajj, it would not be that the House fell into disbelief by their abandoning it; rather it is they who would fall into disbelief by abandoning it, because God, Blessed and Exalted, set it up for them as a landmark. And in the same way He set me up as a landmark, as the Messenger of God (PBUH) said: O Ali, you are in the position of the Ka'ba: it is come to, and it does not come. (al-Mustarshid, vol. 1, p. 387)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: If people abandon the Ka'ba, the Ka'ba suffers no loss; it is they who suffer loss and fall into disbelief. Indeed, God established the Ka'ba for the people, yet they show ingratitude. My likeness too is the likeness of the Ka'ba: God set me up as a banner for the guidance of the people, yet they show ingratitude. This is the secret of what the Messenger of God (PBUH) said to me: O Ali, you are like the Ka'ba — people must thirst for you and come to you; you must not go to anyone.
A pregnant woman was brought whose pregnancy was not by her husband, and he ordered that she be stoned, and with her what was in her womb! Until the Commander of the Faithful (AS) said to him: This woman's crime is evident; but what is the crime of what is in her womb? So he said: Were it not for Ali, 'Umar would have perished. (al-Mustarshid, vol. 1, p. 583)
A pregnant woman was brought who had conceived through fornication, and 'Umar gave the order for her to be stoned. Ali (AS) said: The woman's crime is known; but what is the crime of the child in her womb? So 'Umar revoked his judgement and said: Were it not for Ali, 'Umar would have perished!
'Abd Allah ibn 'Abbas said: We came in to the Commander of the Faithful and said: O Abu al-Hasan, tell us what the Messenger of God enjoined upon you. He said: He (PBUH) said: Be patient, O Ali, with the decree of God, its sweetness and its bitterness. And as for the one to whom the affair will pass, O Ali, he will die and leave this world; he is not to abide in it forever. So do not contend with people over their world, and do not sell what abides for what perishes. Come to me wronged, and do not come to me as a wrongdoer. And know that what you are going toward is better than what you are now in. (al-Mustarshid, vol. 1, p. 608)
The narrator said: We came before the Commander of the Faithful (AS) and said: If the Messenger of God (PBUH) gave you any counsel, tell us, that we too may learn. He said: The Messenger of God (PBUH) said to me: O Ali, be patient with the decree of God, whether bitter or sweet. And he said: Whoever holds this world in his hand today will soon die and leave the world behind; so do not contend with people over their world, and never prefer the perishable to the everlasting. And he said: Come to me wronged, not as a wrongdoer. And he said: Know that the Hereafter toward which you are moving is in every respect better than the world you are now in.
'Abd Allah ibn al-'Abbas said: When he (AS) encamped at Dhu Qar, he sent me with his son al-Hasan and with 'Ammar to the people of Kufa. We set out and reached it, and we summoned the people and they answered us. We hurried back to Ali (AS) before the people could gather, muster, and set out. Then on the morning of one of those days he said to us: Today there will come to you from Kufa eight thousand and some thirty men. So I stood upon the valley of Dhu Qar counting their ranks and the helmets on their heads, and not one horseman was more or less than what he had said. (al-Mustarshid, vol. 1, p. 669)
The narrator said: When the Commander of the Faithful (AS) encamped at Dhu Qar (in southern Iraq), he sent me together with al-Hasan (AS) and 'Ammar to Kufa to summon the people. We did so, and we returned ahead of the people who were answering the call from Kufa, and reached Ali's camp. The next morning the Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Today eight thousand nine hundred and thirty men will arrive from Kufa. I rose and counted the ranks that had come and the helmets of each rank; there was not one warrior more, nor one less!
Hudhayfa ibn al-Yaman said to him (AS) when he had turned away from 'Uthman: By God, I did not understand your saying, nor did I know its interpretation, until this night of mine, when I recalled what you said to me at al-Harra as you were coming toward me: “How will you be, O Hudhayfa, when the 'ayns wrong the 'ayn?” The Prophet (PBUH) was in our midst that day, but I did not understand the interpretation of your words, and I forgot to mention it to the Prophet (PBUH) on that day. Then, when there befell me of my affair what God willed for me, God reminded me of your words on this night of mine. I saw that Ibn Abi Quhafa had taken the place of the Messenger of God, and his name was 'Abd Allah, the first letter of his name being 'ayn; then the one who came after him was 'Umar, and the first letter of his name is 'ayn; then the one who came after him was 'Uthman, and the first letter of his name is 'ayn; and you are Ali the wronged, and the first letter of your name is 'ayn. So I knew that this was the interpretation of your words. He said to him: O Hudhayfa, where do you place 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf, when he turned it away toward... (al-Mustarshid, vol. 1, p. 671)
When Hudhayfa al-Yamani had despaired of 'Uthman and his conduct, he said to the Commander of the Faithful (AS): Now I have understood the meaning of what you said to me one night in the desert in the time of the Messenger of God (PBUH). You said: Hudhayfa, what will you do on the day when the 'ayns wrong the 'ayn? That night I did not understand, and I meant to ask the Messenger of God (PBUH), who was close by the two of us, but I forgot. Years passed, and last night I remembered those words and saw that Abu Bakr's name was 'Abd Allah; 'Umar likewise begins with an 'ayn; 'Uthman too begins with an 'ayn — and all three 'ayns did wrong to Ali, who is the fourth 'ayn!
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: You have forgotten 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf!
The Murji'a and the Nasiba relate from Sakhr ibn Abi al-Jahm al-'Adawi — who was a partisan of 'Uthman and an enemy of Ali (AS) — who said: I set out with 'Uthman's letter to Mu'awiya while the Muslims had encamped at Dhu Khushub. I had folded it up small in the sheath of my sword, and I left the main road and travelled in the blackness of the night, until, when I was beside al-Juruf, there suddenly before me was a man on a mule coming toward me, with two men walking in front of him — and behold, it was Ali ibn Abi Talib, coming from the direction of Badr. He recognized me, and I did not recognize him until I heard his speech. He said to me: Where are you bound, O Sakhr? I said: To Iraq — so let me have your company. He said to me: And what is this that is in the sheath of your sword? I said to him: You never give up your jesting. Then I passed him by, and he let me go. (al-Mustarshid, vol. 1, p. 672)
The opponents relate from Sakhr al-'Adawi, who was among the lovers of 'Uthman and the enemies of Ali (AS), that he said: I was carrying 'Uthman's letter secretly out of Medina; I had rolled it up carefully and hidden it in the sheath of my sword, and I travelled by night and off the road so as to be safe from 'Uthman's opponents. In a dry watercourse I suddenly saw someone riding a mule coming toward me, with two men on foot accompanying him. I saw that it was Ali ibn Abi Talib, coming from the direction of Badr toward Medina. I was afraid, but I saw that he was not. He came up to me and said: O Sakhr, where are you going? I said: To Iraq, and I am looking for a travelling companion for myself! He said: What have you hidden in the sheath of your sword? I said: O Ali, will you never give up jesting? Then I passed by him, and he let me go.