[1] Amīr al-mu’minīn delivered this sermon when he camped at the Valley of an-Nukhaylah on Wednesday the 5th Shawwal 37 A.H. on his way to Ṣiffīn. The Vanguard mentioned herein means the twelve thousand persons whom he had sent towards Ṣiffīn under the command of Ziyād ibn an-Naḍr and Shurayh ibn Hāni, while the small force of al-Madā‘in mentioned by him was a contingent of twelve hundred men who had come up in response to Amīr al-mu’minīn’s call.