Al-Ashtar's exceptional strength and stature

443. When the news of the death of (Mālik) al-Ashtar (may Allāh have mercy on him), reached Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, he said:

Mālik, what a man Mālik was! By Allāh, if he had been a mountain he would have been a big one (find), and if he had been a stone he would have been hard; no horseman could have reached it and no bird could have flown…

as-Sayyid ar-Raḍī says: “find” means a lonely mountain (rising in height above the range).