 Imam Ali was truly the Khalifa and he was prevented this Haqq and he is the strongest and the most brave and courageous of the Sahaba. Why didn't Imam Ali fight back against them? Why didn't Imam Ali defend his rightful Haqq to Khalafa? Why did he stay silent? For 25 years Imam Ali stayed in his house. He did not get involved. Why? If he is truly the Khalifa appointed by Allah, that means he has to fight for it because he has to defend justice. Him being the Khalifa, if Allah appointed him that means it's justice. So why didn't Imam Ali fight for justice? Why did he stay quiet in front of all that oppression and injustice of the others that ruled? So this is an objection that some Muslims, some non-Shia Muslims, they pose against us and this is a question that some of us may have pondered about. So how do these two conform with each other? The fact that Imam Ali was the truthful Khalifa and that he was usurped, denied that Haqq and at the same time Imam Ali never fought back against them. So what is the answer to this question? What is the answer to this, let's say, misconception that many people have, that they conclude based on this objection that Imam Ali al-Salam approved the Khalafa of whoever came after Rasulullah because he did not revolt, because he did not object, because Imam Ali stayed quiet and that means he approved them. And if he approved them that means he was not the rightful Khalifa or else how could he approve them? So how do we answer this shubha, this misconception? Now there are many answers that our ulamas have given about this, but tonight I want to speak about one particular answer. There are many answers to this. Tonight I only want to speak about one particular and this answer was given by Imam Ali al-Salam himself. And obviously there is no better answer than the answer that the Imam himself gives. We can speculate, we can give many possible reasons, but obviously when the Imam himself mentions and comes to tackle this issue and gives the reason, this will be obviously the number one reason. And one hadith in the book of Shaykh al-Sadduq, he narrates a hadith by Ibn Mas'ud. He says that one day while Imam Ali was the Khalifa, so the last few years of his life after the first three that ruled, Imam Ali was finally the formal Khalifa, the official Khalifa. He says one day the people gathered in Masjid al-Kufa and they raised the same objection that I raised. They said, why is it that Imam Ali never fought the first three Khulafa? He never fought them. Imam Ali is strong, but when he came to power, he fought four individuals. Number one, he fought Muawiyah in the battle of what? In the battle of Safin. And number two and three and four, he fought Aisha, the wife of Rasulullah, he fought Al-Ha'an and Zubair, these three individuals in the battle of Al-Jaman. So why is it that when he was denied the right to Khilafa, he did not fight the first three, Abu Bakr, Omar and Uthman. He did not fight them. So they raised this objection. The hadith says word reached Imam Ali. That the people are saying such and such that why did you not fight the first three but you fought the next four. So Imam Ali, he called on the people to gather in Masjid al-Kufa and he ascended the member, the pulpit, so that he would answer this question. He came to Masjid al-Kufa, he ascended the pulpit and he began speaking. He said that word has reached me that you people have raised this question. Why did I not fight the first three and then I fought the next four? So why is there a difference between how I dealt with the first three and then the next four? And then the Imam, he gave a very beautiful answer and through the answer of the Imam, which is a very delicate point, we understand when a prophet or Imam fights against his enemies and when he stays quiet. The Imam clearly shows through his answer that there is no general rule that says you always have to fight your enemy. No. As a prophet or Imam, which you are a leader, there is no general rule that says I always have to fight my enemies. No. The Imam says at times you must fight your enemies and at times no. You have to stand back and stay silent. Now that doesn't mean you're happy with your enemies, that doesn't mean you're giving them approval. No, that just means it's not the right time to fight against the enemies. And the Imam gives verses from the Quran to prove this point. The Imam says the reason why I did not fight the first three is because I was following the sunnah of the prophets of Allah. Any prophet, if they were in my shoes, they would have done the same thing. And he brought verses from the Quran to show how many prophets of Allah, they did not fight against their enemies. And the general rule that the Imam gives is this, that any time one of the prophets of Allah had supporters to help him against the enemies, they would always fight. But any time the prophet of Allah would be left without supporters, without troops, without soldiers, without loyal troops that would fight for him, that would defend him, if they had no supporters or not enough supporters, the prophet would always stand back. The prophet would always not fight. This is the general rule outlined in the Quran. If I have supporters, I fight. If not, I don't fight. Even though Imam Ali can destroy anyone, but that's not how the system of Allah works. It's not a system in which one man defeats thousands of people. Even though Imam Ali has the power from Allah to defeat anyone, to defeat all his enemies. But Allah doesn't want his imams and his prophets to deal with other people through miracles or else there's no point of the test. Allah SWT wants everything normal. Yes, miracles have their goal. In order for the Imam or the prophet to prove that he is a prophet, that he is Imam, he shows his people the miracle. Now if they decided to disbelieve, he's not going to force them, he's not going to turn into a superhero and destroy them. No. So the Imam clearly shows us through the Quran that anytime the prophets of Allah had no supporters, they would not fight their enemies. This is the law of Allah SWT. You only fight once you have supporters. And Imam Ali, he mentions this in one of his sermons, one of his most beautiful and powerful sermons by the name of Shik Shikia. You've all heard of it. He says, I saw when they usurped my right of Khilafa, I saw there are two ways in front of me. I have two options. Number one, he says that I fight but without an arm, meaning without supporters. That I fight all by myself, me and two or three companions. That was the first option. The second option, or I be patient and I don't fight and I sit in my house. He says I was balancing. Which one is more important? He says, when I saw I have no supporters, he says, he says, he says, I have to be patient because I have no supporters. And then he says, he says, he says, do you think it was easy for me to sit in my house and see those hypocrites and those oppressors? They play with the religion of Allah and claim to be the Khulafa of Rasulullah. You think it was easy for me? He says, those 25 years when I was patient, silent in my house, it's as if I had something in my eyes, a thorn in my eyes. Imagine if you get something in your eyes, a thorn in your eyes. How much does that hurt? He says, that's how I felt for 25 years. And it says, if I had something stuck in my throat, like a bone. So can you imagine the agony, the pain for 25 years? If you have a thorn in your eyes and a bone stuck in your throat, you can't even breathe. This is how I felt. But I did it for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because I know this is what Allah wants because if I have no supporters, I have to be patient. So Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, alayhi salam, he saw that he has no supporters. The hadith says that after they gathered in the Saqifa and they decided to reject the will of Rasulullah of Imam Ali ibn Khalifa, the Imam he took, he sees the opportunity those first few days to go and speak with the Sahaba. To what? To make sure that their loyalty is to Imam Ali. The hadith says he would leave at night. He would take Fatima alayhi salam with him, riding on a mule. And he would take Imam Hassan and Imam Hussein with him. And he would go door by door of the Sahaba. And he would tell them, don't you remember you all witness Rasulullah saying, I am the Khalifa. And you all gave bayat to me. Will you come tomorrow to fight with me against them? He would go door to door. He would bring Fatima so that they would at least be embarrassed from the daughter of Rasulullah. He would bring Imam Hassan, Imam Hussein so that they would see that this man is sincere. He's brought his family with him. So he would go door after door. The hadith says out of the thousands of Sahaba, how many accepted? Do you know how many? Only 44. Only 44 of the Sahaba accepted to come and fight with Imam Ali. The Imam told these 44. 44 was enough for Imam Ali. He didn't want thousands. If he had 44 he would have fought. But what happened? The Imam says, okay, you're 44. You 44 individuals tomorrow at this time meet me at this specific place and the hadith says that come while they have shaved your head or you're wearing something on your head. The Imam comes the next day at that place. He waits. How many people show up of the 44? 40 of them. They abandoned the Imam. Who are those four? Salman, Abu Dhar, Meqdad and Zubair. Only these four. Unfortunately, Zubair at the end of his life, he turned against Imam Ali. But in the beginning, he was loyal to Imam Ali. Only four people showed up. Imam Ali says, what am I going to do with four people? So the second night he does the same thing. He goes to those 44 again. You promised. Oh, sorry, we were busy. They keep on making excuses. Okay, fine. Tomorrow will you come? They say yes. The second day he goes. Nobody shows up except those four. The third night he goes once again. You see how patient Imam Ali is with them? The third night Imam Ali goes door after door. The 44 they promise once again for the third time. Only four shows up. Imam Ali says, sees there's no use. Other than these four people, no one is willing to fight for Imam Ali. This is when he sees, this is when he realizes the bitter truth that people, the Sahaba of Rasulullah, are not willing to defend the truth. They are not willing to defend Imam Ali. This is when Imam Ali sees that there's no hope. There's nothing he can do. He decides to go and sit in his house while those enemies, they did what they did and they stole and you serve the Khilafah of Imam Ali, alaihi salam.