The Peak of Eloquence · Hadith 525 (#Passage #3)

وَإِنَّمَا أَنَا قُطْبُ الرَّحَا، تَدُورُ عَلَيَّ وَأَنَا بِمَكَاني، فَإِذَا فَارَقْتُهُ اسْتَحَارَ مَدَارُهَا، وَاضْطَرَبَ ثِفَالُهَا. هذَا لَعَمْرُ اللهِ الرَّأْيُ السُّوءُ. وَاللهِ لَوْلاَ رَجَائِي الشَّهَادَةَ عِنْدَ لِقَائِي الْعَدُوَّ ـ وَلَوْ قَدْ حُمَّ لِي لِقَاؤُهُ ـ لَقَرَّبْتُ رِكَابِي ثُمَّ شَخَصْتُ عَنْكُمْ، فَلاَ أَطْلُبُكُمْ مَا اخْتَلَفَ جَنُوبٌ وَشَمَالٌ.

I am the axis of the mill. It rotates on me while I remain in my position. As soon as I leave it the centre of its rotation would be disturbed and its lower stone would also be disturbed. By Allāh, this is a very bad advice. By Allāh, if I had not been hoping for martyrdom by my meeting with the enemy—and my meeting with him has been ordained, I would have secured my carrier and went away from you and would not have sought you so long as North and South differed.

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