١٩٠. وَقَالَ (عليه ‏السلام): وَاعَجَبَاهُ! أَتَكُونُ الْخِلاَفَةَ بِالصَّحَابَةِ وَلاَتَكُونُ بِالصَّحَابةِ وَالْقَرَابَةِ؟

190. Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, said: How strange? Could the caliphate be through the (Prophet’s) companionship but not through (his) companionship and (his) kinship?

قال السيد الرضى: و روي له شعر في هذا المعنى، وهو: فَإِنْ كُنْتَ بِالشُّورَى مَلَكْتَ أُمُورَهُمْ * فَكَيْفَ بِهذَا وَالْمُشِيرُونَ غُيَّبُ وَإِنْ كنْتَ بِالْقُرْبَى حَجَجْتَ خَصِيمَهُمْ * فَغَيْرُكَ أَوْلَى بِالنَّبِيِّ وَأَقْرَبُ

As-Sayyid ar-Raḍī says: Verses have also been related from Amīr al-mu’minīn on the same matter. They are:- If you claim to have secured authority by consultation, how did it happen when those to be consulted were absent! If you have scored over your opponents by kinship then someone else has greater right for being nearer to the Holy Prophet. [1]

190. O mon grand étonnement! Le califat est-il l’apanage strict des compagnons et des parents [du Prophète]?

Nahj al-Balāgha

Chapter #190