Letter of Imam Ali to Malik e Ashtar

Written for Malik-e Ashtar Nakha’i, when the status of Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr had become precarious and Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib (peace be with him) had appointed Malik-e Ashtar as the governor of Egypt and the surrounding areas. This document contains the worlds highest and greatest number of eminent and outstanding statements:

In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

💠This is what God’s servant Ali ibn Abi Talib has ordered Malik ibn al-Harith al-Ashtar in his instrument (of appointment) for him when he made him Governor of Egypt for the collection of its revenues, fighting its enemies, seeking the good of its people and making its cities prosperous.💠

💠He has ordered him to fear Allah, to prefer obedience to Him and to follow what He has commanded in His Book (Holy Quran) out of His obligatory and elective commands, without following which one cannot achieve virtue, nor (can one) be evil save by opposing them and ignoring them and to support the cause of Allah the Glorified One, with his heart, hand and tongue because Allah Whose name is Sublime takes the responsibility for helping him who helps Him and for protecting him who gives Him support.💠

💠He also orders him to break his heart off from passions and to restrain it at the time of their increase because the heart leads towards evil unless Allah has mercy. 💠

Qualifications of a Governor and his Responsibilities:

💠Then, know O Malik, that I have sent you to an area where there have been governments before you, both just as well as oppressive.💠

💠People would now watch your dealings as you used to watch the dealings of the rulers before you and they (people) would criticize you as you criticized them (rulers).💠

Surely, the virtuous are known by the reputation that Allah circulates for them through the tongues of His creatures. Therefore, the best collection with you should be the collection of good deeds.💠

💠So, control your passions and check your heart from doing what is not lawful for you because checking the heart means detaining it just half way between what it likes and dislikes.💠

💠Habituate your heart to mercy for the subjects and to affection and kindness for them. Do not stand over them like greedy beasts who feel it is enough to devour them since they (people) are of two kinds: either your brethren in religion or your likes in creation.💠

💠They would commit slips and encounter mistakes. They may act wrongly, willfully or out of negligence. So, extend to them your forgiveness and pardon them in the same way as you would like Allah to extend His forgiveness and to pardon you because you are over them and your responsible Commander (Imam) is over you, while Allah is over the one who appointed you. 💠

He (Allah) has sought you to manage their affairs and tried you through them.💠

💠Do not set yourself to fight Allah because you have no power to meet His power and you cannot do without His pardon and mercy. Do not regret forgiving or being merciful in punishing. Do not act hastily during your anger if you can find a way out of it. Do not say: “I have been given authority, I enjoy it when I order,” because it engenders confusion in the heart, weakens the religion and takes one to his ruin.💠

💠If the authority in which you are placed produces pride or vanity in you, look at the greatness of the realm of Allah over you and His might the like of which you do not even possess over yourselves. This will curb your haughtiness, cure you of your high temper and bring back to you your wisdom which had gone away from you.💠

💠Beware of comparing yourself to Allah in His greatness or likening yourself to Him in His power, for Allah humiliates every claimant of power and disgraces everyone who is haughty.💠

💠Do justice for Allah, and do justice towards the people, as against your own selves, your near ones and those of your subjects for whom you have a liking because if you do not do so, you will be oppressive, and when a person oppresses the servants of Allah, instead of His creatures, Allah becomes his opponent.💠

💠And when Allah is the opponent of a person He tramples his plea, and we would remain in the status of being at war with Allah till he gives it up and repents.💠

💠Nothing is more inducive to the reversal of Allah’s bounty or for the hastening of His retribution than continuance in oppression because Allah hears the prayer of the oppressed and is on the look out for the oppressors.💠

Ruling should be in favor of the people as a whole.

💠The way most coveted by you should be that which is the most equitable for what is right, the most universal by way of justice and the

💠most comprehensive with regard to the agreement with those under you because the disagreement among the common people sweeps away the arguments of the chiefs and can be disregarded when compared with the agreement of the common people.💠

💠No one among those under you is more burdensome to the ruler in the comfort of life, less helpful in distress, more disliking of equitable treatment, more tricky in asking favors, less thankful at the time of giving, less appreciative of reasons at the time of refusal and weaker in endurance at the time of the discomforts of life than the chiefs.💠

💠It is the common people of the community who are the pillars of the religion, the power of the Muslims and the defense against the enemies. Your learning should, therefore, be towards them and your inclination with them.💠

💠The one among the people under you who is furthest from you and the worst of them in your view should be whoever is the most

💠inquisitive of the shortcomings of the people because people do have shortcomings and the ruler is the most appropriate person to cover them.💠

💠Do not disclose whatever of it is hidden from you because your obligation is to correct what is manifest to you, while Allah will deal with whatever is hidden from you.💠

💠Therefore, cover shortcomings as far as you can; Allah will cover those of your shortcomings which you will like to remain under cover from your subjects. Unfasten every knot of hatred in the people and cut away from yourself the cause of every enmity.💠

💠Feign ignorance from what is not clear to you. Do not hasten to second a backbiter because a backbiter is a cheat although he looks like those who wish well.💠

About Counselors

🔰Do not include among those whom you consult a miser who would keep you back from being generous and caution you against destitution

🔰nor a coward who would make you feel too weak for your affairs,

🔰nor a greedy person who would beautify for you the collection of wealth by evil means.

🔥This is so because although miserliness, cowardice and greed are different qualities, yet they are common in having a wrong idea about Allah.

🔰The worst minister for you is one who has been a minister for mischievous persons before you and who joined them in committing sins.

🔰Therefore, he should not be your chief man because they are abettors of sinners and brothers of the oppressors. You can find good substitutes for them who would be like them in their views and influence while not being like them in committing sins and vices.

🔰They have never assisted an oppressor in his oppression or a sinner in his sins. They would give you the least trouble and the best support. They would be most considerate towards you and the least inclined towards others.

🔰Therefore, make them your chief companions in privacy as well as in public.

The different classes of people

🔔Be informed that people consist of classes who prosper only with the help of one another and they are not independent of one another.

🔔Among them are

☯the army of God, then

☯the secretarial workers of the common people and

☯the chiefs, then

☯the dispensers of justice,

☯then those engaged in enforcing law and order, then

☯the payers of head tax (jizya) and land tax (khiraj) from the protected non-muslims and the common Muslims

☯then there are the traders and the men of industry then

☯the lowest class of the needy and the destitute.

God has fixed the share of each one of them and laid down His precepts about the limits of each in His Book Qor’an and in the tradition (Sunnah) of His last Prophet (peace be with him and his progeny) by way of a settlement which is preserved with us.

🔔The army is, by the will of Allah, the fortress of the subjects, the ornament of the ruler, the strength of the religion

“and the means of achieving peace”.

The subjects cannot exist without them while the army can be maintained only by the funds fixed by Allah in the revenues through which they acquire the strength to fight the enemies, on which they depend for their prosperity and with which they meet their needs.

🔔These classes cannot exist without the third class, namely: the judges, the executives and the secretaries who pass judgements about contracts, collect revenues and are depended upon in special and general matters.

🔔And these classes cannot exist except with the traders and men of industry who provide necessities for them, establish markets and make it possible for others not to do all this with their own hands.

🔔Then comes the lowest class of the needy and the destitute. Support and help for them is an obligation, and everyone of them has (a share in) livelihood in the Name of Allah. Everyone of them has a right on the ruler according to what is needed for his prosperity.

The ruler cannot acquit himself of the obligations laid on him by Allah in this matter except by striving and seeking help from Allah, by training himself to adhere to righteousness and by enduring on that account all that is light or hard.

1. The Army

🍁Put in command of your forces the man who in your view is the best well-wisher of Allah, His Prophet and your Imam. The most chaste of them in heart and the highest of them in endurance is one who is slow in getting angry, who accepts excuses, who is kind to the weak and is strict with the strong; violence should not raise his temper and weakness should not keep him sitting.

🍁Also associate with considerate people from high families, virtuous houses and decent traditions, then people of courage, valor, generosity and benevolence because they are repositories of honor and springs of virtues. Strive for their matters as the parents strive for their child.

🍁Do not regard anything that you do to strengthen them as big nor anything that you have agreed to do for them as little, even though it may be small because this would make them your well-wishers and create a good impression about you.

🍁Do not neglect to attend to their small matters. Confine yourself to their important matters because your small favors will also be of benefit to them while the important ones are such that they cannot ignore.

🍁That commander of the army should have such a status before you that he renders help to them equitably and spends from his money on them and on those of their families who remain behind so that all their worries converge on the one worry to fight the enemy.

🍁Your kindness to them would turn their hearts to you. The most pleasant thing for the rulers is the establishment of justice in their areas and the manifestation of the love of their subjects, but the subjects’ love manifests itself only when their hearts are clean. Their good wishes prove correct only when they surround their commanders (to protect them).

🍁Do not regard their positions to be a burden over them and do not keep watching for the end of their tenure.

🍁Therefore, be broad-minded with regard to their desires, continue to praise them and recount the good deeds of those who have shown such deeds because the mention of good deeds shakes the brave and rouses the weak, if Allah so wills.

🍁Appreciate the performance of each and every one of them. Do not attribute the performance of one to the other and do not minimize the reward below the level of the performance.

🍁The high status of a man should not lead you to regard his small deeds as big, nor should the low status of a man make you regard his big deeds as small.

🍁Refer to Allah and His Prophet the affairs which worry you and the matters which seem to confuse you because, addressing the people whom Allah the Sublime wishes to guide, He said the following:

“O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Prophet and those vested with authority from among you; then if you quarrel about anything, refer it to Allah and the Prophet if you believe in Allah and in the Last Day (of Judgement)”

📗(Book of God: Qor’an, 4: 59).

🍁Referring to Allah means acting according to what is clear in His Book, and referring to the Prophet (peace be with him) means following his unanimously agreed upon Sunnah with regard to which there are no differences.

2. The Chief Judge [Supreme Court Justice]

🔰🔰For the settlement of disputes among people, select one who is the most distinguished among your subjects in your view. The cases (coming before him) should not vex him, disputation should not enrage him. He should not insist on any wrong point and should not hesitate to accept the truth when he perceives it; he should not lean towards greed and should not content himself with a cursory understanding (of a matter) without going thoroughly into it.

🔰🔰He should be most ready to stop (to ponder) on doubtful points, most considerate of arguments, least disgusted at the quarrel of litigants, most patient at probing into matters and most fearless at the time of passing a judgement.

🔰🔰Praise should not make him vain and elation should not make him lean (toward any side). Such people are very few.

🔰🔰Then, very often check his decisions and allow him so much money (as remuneration) that he has no excuse worth hearing (for not being honest) and there remains no occasion for him to go to others for his needs. Give him that rank in your audience for which no one else among your chiefs aspires so that he may remain safe from the harm of those around you.

🔰🔰You should have a piercing eye in this matter because this religion has formerly been a prisoner in the hands of vicious persons when action was taken according to passion and worldly wealth was sought.

3. Executive Officers

🔰🔰Look into the affairs of your executives. Give them appointment after testing them and do not appoint them according to partiality or favoritism because these two things make up the sources of injustice and unfairness.

🔰🔰Select from among them those who are people of experience and modesty, hailing from virtuous houses, having been previously in Islam because such persons possess high manners and untarnished honor.

🔰🔰They are the least inclined towards greed and always have their eyes on the ends of matters.

🔰🔰Give them an abundant livelihood (by way of salary) because this gives them the strength to maintain themselves in order and not to have an eye upon the funds in their custody and it will be an argument against them if they disobeyed your orders or misappropriated your trust.

🔰🔰You should also check their activities and assign people to report on them who should be truthful and faithful because your watching their actions secretly would urge them to preserve trust with and to be kind to the people.

🔰🔰Be careful of assistants. If any one of them extends his hands towards misappropriation and the reports of your reporters reaching you confirm it, that should be regarded assufficient testimony.

🔰🔰You should then inflict corporal punishment on him and recover what he has misappropriated. You should put him in a place of disgrace, blacklist him with (the charge of) misappropriation and make him wear the necklace of shame for his offence.

4. The Administration of Revenues

☀️☀️Look after the revenue (khiraj, land tax) affairs in such a way that those engaged in it remain prosperous because in their prosperity lies the prosperity of all others. The others cannot prosper without them because all people are dependent on the revenue and on its payers.

☀️☀️You should also keep an eye on the cultivation of the land more than on the collection of revenue because revenue cannot be obtained without cultivation and whoever asks for revenue without cultivation ruins the area and brings death to the people. His rule will not last but only for a moment.

☀️☀️If they complain of the heaviness (of the revenue) or of diseases, or of scarcity of water, or of an excess of water, or of a change in the condition of the land either due to flood or to drought…, you should remit the revenue to the extent that you hope would improve their status.

☀️☀️The remission granted by you for the removal of distress from them should not be grudged by you because it is an investment which they will return to you in the shape of the prosperity of your country and the progress of your domain in addition to earning their praise and happiness for meting out justice to them.

☀️☀️You can depend upon their strength because of the investment made by you in them through catering to their convenience and can have confidence in them because of the justice extended to them by being kind to them. After that, circumstances may so turn that you may have a need for their assistance. It is then that they will bear it happily, for prosperity is capable of bearing whatever you load on it. The ruin of the land is caused by the poverty of the cultivators, while the cultivators become poor when the officers concentrate on the collection (of money), having little hope for continuance (in their posts) and deriving no benefit from warnings.

5. The Clerical Establishment

🍁🍁Then you should take care of your secretarial workers. Put the best of them in charge of your affairs. Entrust those of your writings which contain your policies and secrets to him who possesses the best character, who is not elated by honors lest he should dare speak against you in public. He should also not be negligent in presenting the communications of your officers before you and issuing correct replies to them on your behalf and in matters of your receipts and payments.

🍁🍁He should not make any damaging agreement on your behalf and should not fail in repudiating an agreement against you.

🍁🍁He should not be ignorant of the extent of his own status in matters because whoever is ignorant of his own status is (even) more ignorant of the status of others.

🍁🍁Your selection of these people should not be on the basis of your understanding (of them), confidence and good impression because people catch the ideas of the officers through affectation and personal service, and there is nothing in it which is like well-wishing or trustfulness.

🍁🍁You should rather test them by what they did under the virtuous people before you. Take a decision in favor of one who has a good name among the common people and is the most renowned in trustworthiness because this will be a proof of your regard for Allah and for him on whose behalf you have been appointed to this status (namely your Imam).

🍁🍁Establish one chief for every department of work. He should not be incapable of big matters and a rush of work should not perplex him. Whenever there is a defect in your secretaries which you overlook, then you will be held responsible for it.

6. Traders and Industrialists

✅️✅️  Take some advice about traders and industrialists. Give them good counsel whether they are settled (shop-keepers) or traders or physical laborers because they are the sources of profit and the means of the provision of useful items. They bring them from distant and far-flung areas throughout the land and the sea, the plains or the mountains, from where people cannot come and to where they do not dare to go, for they are peaceful and there is no fear of rebellion from them and they are quite without fear of treason.

✅️✅️  Look after their affairs before those of your own wherever they may be in your land. Be informed, along with this, that most of them are very narrow-minded and awfully avaricious. They hoard goods for profiteering and fixing high prices for goods. This is a source of harm to the people and a blot on the officers in charge. Stop people from hoarding because the Messenger of Allah has prohibited it.

✅️✅️  The sale should be smooth, with correct weights and prices, not harm fill to either party, the seller or the buyer; whoever commits hoarding after you prohibit it, give him exemplary but not excessive punishment.

SAYED ABAZAR WAHEDI ( MAHDI )