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Alternative sources for this sermon
(see Bibliography for details of these texts)
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(1) Ibn Qutaybah, al-'Imamah, I, 34;
(2) al-Mubarrad, al-Kamil, I, 11; (3) Ibn `Abd Rabbih, al-`Iqd, IV, 309. |
When `Uthman ibn `Affan was surrounded, `Abdullah ibn al-`Abbas brought a letter to Amir al-mu'minin from `Uthman in which he expressed the desire that Amir al-mu'minin should leave for his estate Yanbu` so that the proposal that was being mooted out for him to become caliph should subside. `Uthman had this request earlier also. Upon this Amir al-mu'minin said to Ibn al-`Abbas:
O' Ibn al-`Abbas! `Uthman just wants to treat me like the water-drawing camel so that I may go forward and backward with the bucket. Once he sent me word that I should go out then sent me word that I should come back. Now, again he sends me word that I should go out. By Allah, I continued protecting him till I feared lest I become a sinner.
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