To Muawiya

To Mu‘āwiyah, soon after Amīr al-mu’minīn was sworn in. (Muḥammad ibn ‘Umar) al-Wāqidī has mentioned this in his “Kitāb al-Jamal”

From the servant of Allāh, ‘Alī Amīr al-mu’minīn to Mu‘āwiyah son of Abū Sufyān :

Now, you are aware of my excuses before you people and my shunning you till that happened which was inevitable and which could not be prevented. The story is long and much is to be said. What was to pass has passed and…