لاتَلْقَيَنَّ طَلْحَةَ، فَإِنَّكَ إِنْ تَلْقَهُ تَجِدْهُ كَالثَّوْرِ عَاقِصاً قَرْنَهُ يَرْكَبُ الصَّعْبَئِ وَيَقُولُ: هُوَ الذَّلُولُ، وَلكِنِ القَ الزُّبَيْرَ، فَإِنَّهُ أَليَنُ عَرِيكَةً فَقُلْ لَهُ: يَقُولُ لَكَ ابْنُ خَالِكَ: عَرَفْتَني بَالحِجَازِ وَأَنْكَرْتَنِي بِالعِرَاقِ، فَمَا عَدَا مِمَّابَدَا
Do not meet Ṭalḥah (ibn ‘Ubaydillah). If you meet him you will find him like an unruly bull whose horns are turned towards its ears. He rides a ferocious riding beast and says it has been tamed. But you meet az-Zubayr because he is soft-tempered. Tell him that your maternal cousin says that, “(It looks as if) in the Hijāz you knew me (accepted me), but (on coming here to) Iraq you do not know me (do not accept me). So, what has dissuaded (you) from what was shown (by you previously)?!”
