Imam was delivering a lecture on the pulpit when Ash`ath ibn Qays objected and said, "O' Ameerul Mumineen this thing is not in your favour but against you." Imam looked at him with anger and said:
How do you know what is for me and what is against me? ! Curse of Allah and others be on you. You are a weaver and son of a weaver. You are the son of an unbeliever and yourself a hypocrite. You were arrested once by the Unbelievers and once by the Muslims, but your wealth and birth could not save you from either. The man who contrives for his own people to be put to sword and invites death and destruction for them does deserve that the near ones should hate him and the remote ones should not trust him.
