[A part of the same sermon About the Consultative Committee after the death of ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb :] Someone [1] said to me, “O ’ son of Abī Ṭālib, you are eager for the caliphate.” Then I told him: “Rather, you are, by Allāh, more greedy, although more remote, while I am more suited as well as nearer. I have demanded it as my right, while you are intervening between me and it, and you are turning my face from it.” When I knocked at his ears with arguments among the crowd of those present he was startled as if he was stunned not knowing what reply to give me about it.