After the martyrdom of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) endured real and profound injustice. He nonetheless maintained a posture of restraint. That silence was not born of timidity; rather, it was rooted in a solemn pledge he had given to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family).
Imam Ali’s stance regarding the events that followed the Prophet’s passing—especially the assault on his household and the distortion of rightful succession—was deliberate and measured. He never acted impulsively. His positions were not formed out of immediate reaction, but out of principled deference to the divine order and to the guidance conveyed by the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family).
Throughout those fraught episodes Imam Ali (peace be upon him) refrained from taking action except when guided by the prophetic revelation that had been entrusted to him. This restraint was not passive acquiescence. It reflected the Imam’s conviction that certain momentous events—such as the violation of his household and the alteration of the divinely ordained line of leadership—were occurrences of cosmic consequence. Matters that threatened the very fabric of the faith call for responses grounded in a transcendent prerogative.
The following exchange, recorded in the work of Sulaim ibn Qays al-Hilali, encapsulates the rationale behind the Imam’s restraint:
A man named Ashath ibn Qays asked the Imam (peace be upon him): “When people from the tribes of Tamim, Amr, and the Umayyads came to you, what prevented you from fighting them? Since you came to Iraq you have frequently declared from the pulpit that you are more entitled than the people and that you have been oppressed since the martyrdom of the Messenger of God. Given your clear wrongs, what held you back from taking up arms?”
The Imam (peace be upon him) replied: “O son of Qays, you asked and now hear my answer. It was not fear of meeting God that restrained me. I know well that what lies with the Lord is better than the world and all its trappings. What restrained me was the command and covenant of the Messenger of God. The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) informed me of what the community would do to me after him. What I witnessed did not exceed what I had been told; indeed, my certainty in the Prophet’s words surpasses what I saw with my eyes.”
Ashath then asked: “When faced with such circumstances, what did the Prophet advise you to do?”
The Imam (peace be upon him) recounted the Prophet’s instruction: “If you find allies, then fight alongside them. If you do not find supporters, then refrain and preserve your life, so that you may live to reestablish my Book (The Holy Quran) and my Sunnah when companions for that cause appear.”
This testimony clarifies the moral and strategic calculus that guided Imam Ali (peace be upon him). His forbearance was a principled tactic aligned with prophetic counsel. It aimed at the long-term preservation of the community’s integrity and the eventual restoration of the Book (The Holy Quran) and the Sunnah in their authentic form.