٤٤٣. وَقَالَ (عليه ‏السلام) وَقَدْ جَاءَهُ نَعْيُ الْأَشْتَرِ رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ:

443. When the news of the death of (Mālik) al-Ashtar (may Allāh have mercy on him), reached Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, he said:

مَالكٌ وَمَا مَالِكٌ! وَاللهِ لَوْ كَانَ جَبَلاً لَكَانَ فِنْداً، وَلَوْ كَانَ حَجَراً لَكَانَ صَلْداً، لَا يَرْتَقِيهِ الْحَافِرُ، وَلَا يُوفِي عَلَيْهِ الطَّائِرُ.

Mālik, what a man Mālik was! By Allāh, if he had been a mountain he would have been a big one (find), and if he had been a stone he would have been hard; no horseman could have reached it and no bird could have flown over it.

قال السيد الرضي: الفند: المنفرد من الجبال.

as-Sayyid ar-Raḍī says: “find” means a lonely mountain (rising in height above the range).

Nahj al-Balāgha

Chapter #443