فأهل أبا بكر لها خير قائم وإن عليا كان أجدر بالأمر فكان هوانا في علي وإنه لأهل لها يا عمرو من حيث لا تدري قال : لما استوثق الأمر لأبي بكر ونزل من السقيفة على الصفة التي نزلها ، تكلم عمرو بن العاص في الأنصار ، قادحا فيهم ، وواضعا منهم ، ومصغرا لأمرهم ، وأظهر ما كان يكتمه في نفسه ويستره من بعضهم في حياة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله : فبلغ ذلك أمير المؤمنين عليه السلام ، فدخل المسجد وصعد المنبر ، وذكر فضل الأنصار وما أنزله الله تعالى فيهم من القرآن ، وما يجب على المسلمين من إكرامهم ، ومعرفة حقوقهم ، فقالوا لحسان بن ثابت : يجب أن تذكر فضل علي عليه السلام وسبقته وندموا على ما كان منهم يوم السقيفة ، فقال حسان : جزى الله خيرا والجزاء بكفه أبا حسن عنا ، ومن كأبي حسن سبقت قريشا بالذي أنت أهله فصدرك مشروح ، وقلبك ممتحن تمنت رجال من قريش أعزة مكانك ، هيهات الهزال من السمن وأنت من الإسلام في كل موطن بمنزلة الدلو البطين من الرسن غضبت لنا إذ قام عمرو بخصلة أمات بها التقوى ، وأحيى بها الإحن وكنت المرجى من لؤي بن غالب لما كان فيه ، والذي بعد لم يكن

— So Abu Bakr was made fit for it, the best of those who stood; yet 'Ali was the worthier of the affair. — Our desire was in 'Ali, and he is fit for it, O 'Amr, from where you do not know. — He said: When the affair was made firm for Abu Bakr and he came down from the portico in the manner in which he came down, 'Amr b. al-'As spoke concerning the Ansar, disparaging them, belittling them and making little of their affair; and he showed what he had been concealing in himself and hiding from some of them during the life of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and his Family. That reached the Commander of the Faithful, peace be upon him, so he entered the mosque and mounted the pulpit and mentioned the merit of the Ansar, and what God Most High had sent down concerning them in the Qur'an, and what the Muslims owe of honouring them and of knowing their rights. So they said to Hassan b. Thabit: You must mention the merit of 'Ali, peace be upon him, and his precedence — and they regretted what had come from them on the day of the Saqifa. So Hassan said: — May God reward with good — and the reward is in His hand — Abu Hasan on our behalf; and who is like Abu Hasan? — You outstripped Quraysh in that of which you are worthy; your breast is expanded and your heart is proved. — Men of Quraysh, mighty men, coveted your place — far from it! The lean is not as the fat. — And you are, in Islam, in every station, in the place of the full bucket upon the rope. — You were angry for us when 'Amr rose with a trait by which he killed piety and gave life to rancours. — And you were the one hoped for, of Lu'ayy b. Ghalib, for what was in him, and for what has not yet been.