أما والذي فلقَ الحبّةَ، وبرأَ النسمةَ، لولا حضورُ الحاضرِ، وقيامُ الحجّةِ بوجودِ الناصرِ، وما أخذَ اللهُ على العلماءِ ألّا يُقارّوا على كظّةِ ظالمٍ، ولا سغبِ مظلومٍ، لألقيتُ حبلَها على غاربِها، ولسقيتُ آخرَها بكأسِ أوّلِها، ولألفيتُم دنياكم هذهِ أزهدَ عندي من عفطةِ عنز.
By the One who split the seed and breathed life into the soul, were it not for the people standing before me, and the proof made binding by their support for me, and the covenant God has laid upon the learned that they must not sit silent while the oppressor gorges himself and the oppressed goes hungry, I would have thrown off the reins of this office and walked away … and you would have found that this world of yours means less to me than the sneeze of a goat.