A flash of lightning gleamed from the banner, illuminating the army and the fortress. Then he shook it a second and third time; with each movement, a flash of lightning increased in brilliance over the last, such that eyes could not remain steady due to the greatness of its light.

Then Amir Almuminin—exalted be his glory—stepped toward the fortress. Hassan ibn Thabit al-Ansari clung to him and recited:

Ali was suffering in the eye, seeking A cure, finding no healer.

The Messenger of God greeted him with a touch of spit; Blessed is the one treated, and blessed the healer.

He said: "Today I shall give the banner to a master, Ardent, a guardian of the Messenger, a brother.

He loves the Prophet and the Deity loves him; Through him God shall open the protected fortresses."

So he reached out with it, beyond all of creation, To Ali, whom the Purifying Warner named.

When Amir Almuminin—exalted be his glory—marched with the banner toward the fortress, a judge of theirs asked: "And who shall open it?" They said: "Iliya." The judge asked them: "From where in your books is it written that this fortress is opened?" They said: "Through this man, the master of the banner." The judge said to them: "Then this Ali is Iliya; let me go out to him and take safety for you, for he is the father of magnanimity."

He related: They cast him down upon his head while he cried at the top of his voice: "O Ali, my religion is upon your religion!" He descended to him safely without injury. Our Master Amir Almuminin—exalted be his glory—fixed the banner beside the trench. The people who were upon it fled toward the fortress, and he followed them. He turned and saw the gate and went toward it. The Jews cried out: "The gate! The gate!" He placed his foot inside the gate while the Jews fought him from the outside, the inside, and from atop the fortress; a group attempted to close the gate.