He asked the questioner, “Did they disagree during the life of the Messenger of God?” “How could they disagree,” the questioner replied, “when the Messenger of God was with them, explaining to them the matter over which they disagreed, so that they might adopt his ruling?” The Imam responded, “You have spoken the truth. In like fashion, if the one who assumed authority after the Messenger had been apprised of the matters regarding which he was consulted, he would have answered them whenever they posed questions regarding their disagreement. However, the one who assumed authority did not know the answers to all the questions that were referred to him, so he asked the people about many things that he did not know, and they gave him conflicting answers on those topics. Disagreement occurred as a consequence. If they had submitted to the true authority and accepted his word, then no two of them would have disagreed over the religion of God, just as they did not disagree during the life of the Messenger of God.”
٩
فهذا ممّا رُوي في الاختلاف في بدء الأمر. فأمّا ما كان بعد ذلك فإنّه ولي أمور الناس من بني أميّة وبني العبّاس من لا علم له بحلال الله ولا بحرامه ولا همّة له ولا بغية في إقامة ذلك، وإنّما كان إبتغاؤهم١ وهمّتهم طلب حطام الدنيا، فلمّا ظفروا به أقبلوا عليه وأعرضوا عمّا سواه وسلّموا أمر الدين للمتفقّهين من العوامّ بزعمهم، فكان ذلك ممّا أرضوهم به واستمالوهم٢ بسببه إلى بغيتهم على ما لا يعلمونه، فهم خلوا٣ بأنفسهم٤ وتنافسوا في رياستهم، وكثروا وتشعّبت بهم الأهواء وخالفت بينهم الآراء لمّا أعرض عنهم الأمراء خلافًا لأصل الشريعة وما تعبّد الله القائمين بها من إقامة الدين والذبّ عن حريمه وجهاد من خالفه .
١ ز: اتباعهم. ٢ ل: استمالوا هم. ٣ ز، ل: فيهم وخلو. ٤ ز: بنفسهم.
This is just part of what has been related about early disagreements. Later, control over people’s affairs was assumed by the Umayyads and the Abbasids, who had no knowledge of God’s permitted and forbidden things and no ambition or desire to uphold the sacred law, but whose only desire and ambition, instead, was to seek the trappings of this world. When they obtained power, they became engrossed in the mundane and turned away from all else. They handed over control of the religion to commoners who claimed to be learned in the law. The rulers did this in order to appease the jurists and to attract thereby their support in attaining their own desires, despite their ignorance. The jurists took free rein and vied unhampered for leadership among themselves. They multiplied, and with increased numbers, their various inclinations caused them to split into factions, and their distinct views on legal questions led them to oppose one another. This occurred because the rulers had left them to their own devices, violating the fundamental principle of the Sacred Law and the obligations that God imposed on those who would uphold it, including the duty to maintain the religion, protect its sanctity, and combat those who go against it.
١٠
فكان١ أوّل من ظاهر بذلك وقام به خطيبًا من بني أميّة، بعد الذي أخذه الناس على عثمان ممّا أحدثه معاوية بن أبي سفيان . قام خطيبًا في أوّل ما بويع فحمد الله وأثنى عليه وذكر رسول الله صلوات الله عليه وآله بما أكرمه الله به وذكر أبا بكر وعمر وعثمان ثمّ قال ألا وإنّي قد وليت الأمر من بعدهم على ما رأيتم٢ من الاختلاف ، ولم آلُ أن أصبت من الدنيا ولم تألُ أن أصابت منّي وأمكنتني من نفسها فبركت بكلكلي عليها، فأنا ابنها وهي أمّي، وستجدوني خيرًا ممّن يأتي من بعدي كما أنّي٣ شرّ٤ ممّن كان قبلي، أحلم عن جهلكم وأصفح عن زللكم وأترككم وما تختارونه من أمور دينكم لأنفسكم، فرحم الله امرأً كفيته نفسي وكفاني نفسه وطلب الأمر منّي من وجهه فإنّي ممكّنه ومنصفه. ثمّ شكا وجعًا يجده برجله، واستأذنهم في الجلوس فأذنوا له فجلس فخطبهم ، وكان أوّل من ابتدع الخطبة جالسًا . فكان كما قال وشهد على نفسه أنّه من شرّ٥ الناس وكان كما ذكر من أتى من بعده من بني أميّة شرًّا منه .
١ ل: وكان. ٢ ز: تراءت. ٣ ز: أنا. ٤ ز، خ، ل: أشرّ. ٥ ز، خ، ل: أشرّ.
The first of the Umayyads who championed this approach and rose up to preach it, after the people had denounced ʿUthmān for his heretical innovations, was Muʿāwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān.22 He stood up to preach when he was first sworn in as Caliph. He thanked God and praised Him, extolled the Prophet and His family with the dignities that God had bestowed on them, and praised Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUthmān. Then he said: “Hear me! I have assumed this position after them, following the dissension which you have seen. I have leaned toward the world and it has leaned toward me, putting me in possession of itself, and I have knelt upon it with my full weight like a camel stallion kneeling down. I am her son, and she is my mother. You will find me better than those who come after me, just as I am worse than those who have gone before me. I will show clemency for your ignorance, forgive you for your slips, and leave you to choose matters of your faith as you please. May God have mercy on the man for whom I alone am sufficient and who is sufficient for me. If he asks me for some matter directly and without subterfuge, then I will help him to get it and treat him justly.” Then he complained of a pain in his leg, and asked them for permission to sit, so they granted him permission. He sat and preached to them, and he was the first to innovate giving a sermon while sitting. As he testifed against himself, he was among the worst of people, and, as he also mentioned, those of the Umayyads who came after him were yet worse than he.
١١
ثمّ صار الأمر إلى بني العبّاس فسلكوا في الإعراض عن المختلفين في الدين في أيّامهم وإقبالهم على الدنيا بأجمعهم سبيل ما سلك١ بنو أميّة من قبلهم، وخوطب٢ في ذلك أوّلهم وأمثلهم فيهم فقال بما أشار إليه خاصّته منهم٣: