To Ziyad ibn Abeen, when Ali learned that Muawiya had approached him

To Ziyād ibn Abīh when Amīr al-mu’minīn had come to know that Mu‘āwiyah had written to Ziyād to deceive him and to attach him to himself in kinship.

I have learnt that Mu‘āwiyah has written to you to deceive your wit and blunt your sharpness. You should be on guard against him because he is the Satan who approaches a believer from the front and from the back, from the right and from the left, to catch him suddenly in the hour of his carelessness and overcome his intelligence.

In the days of ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, Abū Sufyān [1] happened to utter a thoughtless point which was an evil suggestion of Satan, from which neither kinship is established nor entitlement to succession occurs. He who relies on it is like the uninvited guest to a drink-party or like the dangling cup (tied to a saddle).

(as-Sayyid ar-Raḍī says:) When Ziyād read this letter he said, “By Allāh he has testified to it.” This point remained in his mind till Mu‘āwiyah claimed him (as his brother by his father).

as-Sayyid ar-Raḍī says: Amīr al-mu’minīn’s word “al-wāghil” means the man who joins the drinking group so as to drink with them, but he is not one of them. He is therefore constantly turned out and pushed off. As for the words “an-nawṭu ’l-mudhabdhab”, it is a wooden cup or a bowl or the like attached to the saddle of the rider so that it dangles when the rider drives the beast or quickens its pace.