Imam Ali (as) On The Personality of the People of Kufa

[Rationalist]

When Imam Zayd bin Ali (as) went to Kufa,  Imam Abdullah bin Hassan (as)  wrote to him and warned him.


‘After salutations and greetings, the people of Kufah are like a trumpet which blows loud in the open but their inner selves are weak. When they are at ease, they get confused and agitated and when they are in battle, they are terrified. Their tongues precede their minds and their hearts do not accompany them. I have received a chain of letters from them beseeching upon me to accept their invitation to visit but I have become deaf to their call. I have covered my heart with a covering which prevents me from thinking about them because I have become hopeless and now I wish to cast them away. Nothing can describe them better than what Ali bin Abu Talib said, ‘When you are let loose, you are agitated and when you are fought with, you become weak; and when people agree upon leadership, you criticize and if at all you respond to a calamity, you desert and run away. (Ibn al-Athir, vol 5, page 87)