Nahj al-Balagha (Peak of Eloquence)

Delivered during one of the days of Ṣiffīn I have seen your flight and your dispersal from the lines. You were surrounded by rude and low people and Bedouins of Syria (ash-Shām), although you are the chiefs of Arabs and summit of distinction, and possess dignity as that of high nose and big hump of camel. The sigh of my bosom can subside only when I eventually see you surrounding them as they surrounded you, and see you dislodging them from their position as they dislodged you, killing them with arrows and striking them with spears so that their forward rows might fall on the rear ones just like the thirsty camels who have been turned away from their places of drink and removed from their water-points.