The Peak of Eloquence · Hadith 1568 (#Passage #377)

فَوَاللهِ مَا كَانَ يُلْقَى فِي رُوعِي، وَلَا يَخْطُرُ بِبَالِي، أَنَّ الْعَرَبَ تُزْعِجُ هَذَا الْأَمْرَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ (صلى الله عليه وآله) عَنْ أَهْلِ بَيْتِهِ، وَلَا أَنَّهُمْ مُنَحُّوهُ عَنِّي مِنْ بَعْدِهِ! فَمَا رَاعَنِي إِلَّا انْثِيَالُ النَّاسِ عَلَى فُلَانٍ يُبَايِعُونَهُ.

By Allāh, it never occurred to me, and I never imagined, that after the Prophet the Arabs would snatch away the caliphate from his Ahlu’l-bayt (the members of his house), nor that they would take it away from me after him, but I suddenly noticed people surrounding the man to swear him allegiance. [1]

Gradings are classical jarḥ-wa-taʿdīl, name-matched to a rijāl index (not individually re-verified).