Letter of Hazrat Ali (RA) to the Governor of Egypt
1. There were no sub-heading in the original letter
KOOFAH 37 A. H. / 658 A. D. PROM
ALI IBN ABU TALIB , a servant of Allah
To
MALIK IBN HARIS ASHTER Governor designate of Egypt
MALIK
I order you to fear Allah. Prefer Allah and His way to everything else in life. Give priority to His worship and remembrance. Obey Allah faithfully. Follow the Quranic commandments and traditions of our Prophet carefully. Allah's grace and bounties here and in the life after death depend on following these commandments. Those who violate shall be perpetually accursed. Failure to follow Divine commandments will end in total failure in this life and in the life hereafter. Therefore, you must stand by Divine principles, support Divine cause and honour the dictates, thus alone you will be entitled to Divine help, bliss and grace.
Self-Restraint
I order you Malik, to use your head and heart, band and tongue, your whole entity to help Allah, i.e. His cause and creatures. Allah commands you 10 keep your passions and desires under control, to hold yourself and 'Ego' under restraint particularly when extravagant yearning and cravings tend to drive you towards wickedness and sin. Your Self and its urges try to incite, coerce, and drag you towards infamy and disgrace.
Vigilant People
Malik, I am sending you as Governor to a country which, in the past, had seen Governments Just and unjust, benign and tyrannical, cruel and merciful, oppressive and kind.
People will judge your administration as critically as they judged previous administrations. You are criticizing earlier rulers. They will say the same things about you are telling about them unless you are on your guard.
A good and virtuous man is known by the good that is said about him and the praises Allah allows him to receive from others. Remember that success or failure of people in authority is judged by posterity by the reputation they leave behind.
Pious Deeds
Therefore, let your mind be a source and fountain head of noble thoughts, good intentions and pious deeds. Let aggregations of good actions be your greatest concern. This you can achieve by exercising control on your desires and yearning and abstaining from actions which jtc not permitted. You should remember that the best way to do justice to yourself and protect from harm is to restrain from vices and check improper desires.
Malik, you must be discreet in your likes and dislikes and nourish in your mind love, kindness and compassion for your subjects. Do not behave towards them as if you were a ravenous wolf and that your success lay in tearing and devouring them up.
Treatment of Non-Muslims
Remember Malik, among the people there are two types of men — those who are your brethren in faith and those who profess religions other than your's but they too are human beings like you. Both types of men suffer from weakness and disabilities common to all human beings. Knowingly or unknowingly they commit crimes and indulge in vices unaware of the gravity of their actions. Be merciful and compassionate to them as you wish Allah to be merciful and compassionate to you.
Your Caliph is appointed over them- You must not forget that your Caliph as appointed over you and Allah is over your Caliph. Allah has made you Governor, entrusted you with the care of the people and wants to test you through them. Do not think of raising yourself to a position so as to seek strife with Allah and thereby, destroy your own soul. You have no power to ward off His punishment and can never be strong enough to dispense with His forgiveness, mercy, grace and compassion.
Compassion and Humility
Do not feel unhappy or ashamed to forgive and forget. Do not rejoice and feel proud because you have the power to punish someone. Do not lose temper over the failures of subordinates. Do not get angry and impatient at the mistakes of those placed under you. Be patient and sympathetic with them. In administration anger and desire for vengeance will be of no help.
Do not go about reminding the people that you are the Governor, the supreme authority and everyone must humbly obey and pay submissive allegiance to you. Such bragging will disturb your balance of mind, turn you arrogant, sap your faith and make you seek support of power other than that or Allah.
Pride and Arrogance
Should pride of power ever sneak into your mind-, pause and ponder over the staggering greatness or Allah's might and power over you, the extent of His creations. His ability of doing things beyond your power and His control over in matters most intimate to yourself, matters over which your own power and authority are so feeble. Such reflections will prick the bubble of your ego, keep you away from vanity and rebellion, subdue your arrogance and restore your lost sanity.
Beware ! never think of emulating Allah in power or competing with Him in glory, greatness and grandeur, because
Almighty Allah always bumbles transgressors and tyrants and degrades those who pretend to be as mighty and powerful as He.
Equity and Justice
Take pains not to neglect duties placed upon you by Allah. Do not usurp the rights of men. Be cautious in matters concerning Allah and human beings on the one side and yourself, your our relatives, friends and favorites on the other.
Remember if you fail to act with equity and justice, you shall be adjudged as unjust and oppressor. He who is unjust and oppressive to Allah's creatures, turns Allah against himself and earns the hatred of the oppressed. He whom Allah opposes and is displeased with finds the ground removed from under his feet and until he gives up his ways and repents, Allah remains his opponent.
Remember Malik, there is nothing in this world like injustice-to deprive oneself of Allah's blessings and invite His anger.. Nothing brings down His wrath and vengeance quicker than oppression and tyranny over His creatures. He always listens to the prayer of the oppressed and sufferer and is ever on the look-out for oppressors to punish them.
Common Men and Big People
You must always adopt a policy, neither too harsh, nor too lenient, a policy based on equity and justice. Such a policy will always be widely appreciated. You should not forget the discontent and dissatisfaction of the common man, and the oppressed more than over balances the satisfaction and support of the privileged few. The dissatisfaction of the privileged few will not be taken into account by your Lord, if the general masses of your subjects are happy with you. In fact the very life of a Government depends on the contentment and happiness of the general mass of the people.
Remember Malik, that this group of this prominent few, constitute the scum of the human society. They are the people who (i) in times of prosperity prove to be greatest burden on the state, (ii) in time of need and distress they wilt be the least helpful, (iii) they hate equity and justice most, (iv) in their demands on the resources of the state they are most persistent, (v) they will never be satisfied with generosity bestowed, (vi) they will prove most ungrateful with all the favours, (vii) when their demands are justifiably refused they will be most unwilling and slowest to accept the reasons, ("iii) and when time and fortune changes, you will never find them patient and staunch in faith, (ix) they are the constant drain on the resources of the society.
In contrast with these persons the commoners, the poor and the less privileged section of the people are pillars of Islam. They arc real power of the Muslim society. They serve as ever vigilant soldiers against the enemies of Islam Therefore, open your mind for them, be friendlier with them and earn their sympathy and confidence.
Avoid Back-biters, Scandal-mongers and Sycophants
Be scrupulous about your contact and friendships; be they persons of importance or commoners.
Keep away from sycophants and flatterers. Consider them your enemies, who are engaged in scandal-mongering and finding faults with others. It is only too natural that people will have faults and short-comings. To err is human. But who can have a greater right than a ruler to overlook them? Remember that a back-biter has a debased, degenerate mind. He is mean and cunning, though he pretends to be your well-wisher and sincere counselor. Never be in a haste to believe the report and statements of a back-biter. Don't be in a hurry to accept the advice they offer, Overlook Mistakes Therefore, you must not go in search of the faults which are bidden from your eyes. Leave those to Allah- As regards such faults and failings as are apparent, remember, it is your duty to teach people bow to rectify and correct them- Never try to expose the faults of others. In return, Allah may overlook and screen your own faults which you would like to keep hidden from the public eyes.
Favorites and Touts
Always try to remove jealousy from the minds of your people. Do not be a cause of envy and animosity among the people. Overlook matters, not worthy of your notice. Let not access to you, your favor, your confidence create enmity and Jealousy among people. Be fair, impartial and just in your dealings, with all- Turn not your person, position and favors, into source of jealousy and malice. A person who does not deserve your nearness and favor should not be allowed access to you. You should never lower your dignity and prestige.
Advisers
Never accept advice from misers, who wilt hold you back from acts of kindness and generosity to people and in fears of poverty and destitution. Similarly, never allow coward and weaklings to act as your advisers as they will always discourage you in the discharge of your duties and make you timid in issuing and enforcing orders.
They will weaken your personality; make you hesitant and weak in handling issues requiring courage and boldness. Also admit not in your counsels the greedy and covetous. Because they will advise exploitation and make greedy preferable in your sight, turn avarice less offensive, motivate and influence you to oppress and tyrannies.
You must not forget that miserliness, cowardice and greed may appear different in nature though all of them spring from the same evil propensity of men generating from fade of - faith ill the Almighty Allah.
Choice of Ministers/Counselors
Your worst Counselors will be those who had been Minis ters/Advisers/ Counselors to tyrants and oppressors before you and were party in their cruelties and crimes atrocities.
Such persons should never be allowed to come to your company and hold your trust and confidence, because they were collaborators and supporters of repression, oppression and tyranny. You may comfortably find other persons equal to them jq wisdom, learning and in administrative and executive abilities. But unlike them they do not carry the burden of sin on their shoulders. They should be from among those who have never assisted or supported any tyrant. Such persons will prove least burdensome and yet most helpful and co-operative to you. If you lake them into your confidence they will cut off their connections, if there were any, with your opponents. Make such persons your companions in private as well as in public. Put your trust and confidence in those persons alone, who are most outspoken in criticism about you and who will speak out bitter truth to you without any reservation or fear of your position and power. They will refuse to assist you in matters which Allah does not like, even though such matters may be very much nearer to your own likings.
Avoid Company of Flatterers
Make it policy to collect men of truth, piety and honesty around you and train them not to praise you or please your heart by attributing to your acts which you have never done.
Shun those who seek favor with false praise. Flattery and false praise will tend to make you self-centered and self-conceited and bring you closer to arrogance and pride, making you blind of your own true self.
Difference between Good and Bad
You should not treat the good and the bad ones alike. If you do so, you will dissuade good man from good action and encourage the evil-doers in their evil and wicked ways. Therefore one should receive from you the treatment one deserves for one's deeds.
Create Confidence
You should remember that a ruler can create good will and loyalty among citizens, only where he is kind and considerate to them, constantly lightens their burdens, avoids imposing on them taxes beyond their capacity, does not oppress or tyrannize them, never ask them for things or duties beyond their ability. So you should act and behave in ways that will win their confidence- You should not give them cause to lose their faith in you. Their confidence in you will relieve you of many of your worries and anxieties-
Your trust and confidence should rest in persons whom you have tried, tested and befriended and favored. You should not take into confidence persons who proved themselves faithless and inefficient and undeserving and who unjustly believe that you had been harsh and unkind to them.
Preserving Good Traditions
Do not forsake the good traditions, conventions and practices and do not violate rules, regulations, precedents which were evolved and introduced by earlier administration and through which unity and amity and relations of love subsisted among various sections of the society. Remember that on these noble traditions and practices peace and goodwill among die subjects will depend. Do not introduce novelties which are likely to injure any of the good old traditions. Those who bad evolved and introduced these novelties will get the reward thereof while for violating old and good traditions and blame and punishment will be your lot.
Interdependence of Various Sections and Professions
You must know Malik, that the people over whom you have been appointed a Governor are divided into various classes. Prosperity of each class is so much dependent, individually and collectively, on the welfare of the other classes that the whole set-up resembles the closely woven net. One group cannot live happily and peacefully without the active support and goodwill of the other group.
Among them are the soldiers who constitute the army of Allah to defend His cause. The next class is the Secretaries of the state. To the 3rd group belong the judges and magistrates who administer justice. The fourth group comprises of officers' who maintain law and order and protects peace and prosperity of the country. Then come the common man, i.e., the Muslim who pays Government taxes and non-Muslims who pay tribute in lieu of taxes. Then there is the class of Merchants, artists and artisans and at the base of the society you will find the poor and the oppressed.
The Merciful Allah has embodied in His Book or explained through the traditions of the Prophets the rights and duties of each of these classes, a complete code of this is preserved with us.
Police and Amy
Under the orders of Allah the Army and the Police served as a fortress and strong-hold for protection of the people and defense of the state. They are a decoration to the ruler; they are a source of power, honor and peace for the faithful. They secure and maintain peace among mankind; they are guardians of peace through whom efficient internal administration can be ensured. The economic and social status of the people cannot be maintained without them.
Maintenance of an Army depends on taxes fixed for them by Allah . With these taxes they maintain themselves, meet their other requirements and keep their arms in ready preparedness to resist the enemy and fight for the faith and justice.
Judiciary, Executive and Secretariat
Though the people and the Army are two important classes, their well-being cannot be guaranteed without the existence, help and support and activities of the other classes, i.e, the judiciary, the Executive and the Secretariat. The first administers Justice, the second collects revenues, maintains law and order and the third group acts as the trustee of their general welfare and special affairs, including peace and amity among diverse classes and rights, privileges and obligations of individuals and classes.
Merchants and Artisans
Prosperity and well-being of the above set-up depends again on the traders, artists and artisans. They act as middlemen between the consumers and suppliers. They congregate for their profit and establish shops, markets and trading centers. The artisans with their handicrafts help the society in a manner which is impo ssible through unskilled labor.
The Poor and the Disabled
The best of the class of people are the disabled, poor and the destitute ones. They deserve help, care and support of the rest of the people.
The Merciful Allah has amply laid down for maintenance and provision for each of these classes. Each class has a right to be provided for by the state with at least their basic minimum requirements for a contented life.Remember that Allah will not absolve any ruler of his obligations and responsibilities unless he has done his utmost to discharge his duties and sought his help in their discharge, peruses, steadily the path of truth and justice and bears all these with composure whether their performance is congenial or repugnant.
Select as Army Chief or as Commander a person who is in your opinion most sincerely disposed towards Allah, the Prophet and your Imam, who possesses a clear conscience, is known for piety, gentleness and wisdom ; is slow in anger, treats excuses with sympathy and accepts explanations ; is considerate and compassionate to the weak and harsh and strict with the strong ; is free from vindictive attitude that leads to violence, and from inferiority complex that renders one helpless through inherent weakness.
To find out and select good Generals and to select and appoint able officers you should keep company and maintain relations with persons of good descent and lineage, persons belonging to pious and noble families with ideals and exalted traditions whose records of services are commendable, who are known for their courage, generosity and chivalry. These people generally are the sources of magnificence, sublimity of character, fountain of piety and good deeds.
After making selections of such persons, look to their affairs as a parent does, so that you may detect any deterioration in them. Treat them with kindness and sympathy. Such treatment with produce in them reciprocity. They will trust you in return.
Do not exaggerate the efforts through which you have made them strong, for they deserved higher consideration; nor do close your eyes to their small needs for small favors often bear better fruits, though attention to their major needs is more important.
Do not belittle their small affairs simply because you have already attended to their larger affairs.
Military Officers
Of the military officers only those deserve your highest respect and consideration who give utmost attention to the needs of St4-diers under their commands and relieve them of every worry ) except that of the enemy whom they have to fight.
Such of fi cer s help their soldiers with t heir personal means a n d property, so t h at the soldi e rs may lead a contented life, having full confidence about the security of their families and children.
Such consideration from you will win their hearts and make them free from cares and anxiety, to fight battles with bravery and la wholeheartedness. Your constant care for your officers and soldiers will endear you in their hearts.
Equity, Justice and Fairplay
What should gladden the heart of an administrator is that the state in run on the principles of justice, equity and equality and that love and trust emanate from the citizens towards him. a Your people will not love you if they are unhappy and their sentiments are hurt.
Unless they are prepared to support and defend your Government and cease to consider your rule burdensome and undesirable, you must not think that they what your government. Your Government would not be deemed an unbearable burden if they do not want it to come to an end.
So you should allow them to have all their reasonable expectations in you and hasten to fulfill them.
Appreciate Good Deeds
Be generous in praise for those who deserve it appreciate their good deeds and give the great deeds of brave men adequate publicity. A generous projection of good deeds will stimulate more zeal in the brave and make the diffident and cowards bold and enthusiastic. Again you roust keep yourself well-informed as to who have done what so that credit and appreciation due to one is not attributed to another. Do not under-appreciate the good work or be miserly in giving reward which a person rightly deserves by dint of his good deeds
Similarly you must not over-value a work simply because it has been done by a man of importance. The position and status of the person must not influence you to magnify his acts. At the same time do not under-value or ignore a great deed done by an ordinary person. Make equity, justice and fair play your motto.
Seeking Divine Guidance
If you are faced with difficulties defying solutions and situation difficult to control, when uncertainty confuses and perplexes your mind leaving you in doubts, you should turn towards Allah and His Prophet.
Allah has thus ordered those whom He wants to show the right path: 0 man of faith, obey Allah, His Prophet and those amongst you who are in authority; and if there is a dispute anion^ you over any matter leave it in the hands of Allah and His Prophet.
To leave a matter in the hands of Allah means to seek guidance and orders from His Book and to leave a matter in the hands of the Prophet means to follow such of his traditions which are free from doubts and are universally accepted and not those which are disputed,
Judiciary
You must be very judicious in selection in officers for dispensation of justice among your people. For this purpose you should select persons of excellent character, superior caliber and meritorious record, i.e., from among the best available in merits and morals. They must possess the following qualities;
(i) They should not lose their temper either at the complexity of the problem nor at the pressure of abundant number;
(ii) When they are convinced that they have given a wrong judgment they must not consider it beneath their dignity to correct it or undo the wrong done;
(iii) They must not be greedy, corrupt and covetous;
(iv) They should not be satisfied with superficial enquiry or simple scrutiny of a case till everything for and against it has been thoroughly examined ; when confronted with doubts and ambiguities they must pause, go for further details, clear the points and then give the decision ;
(v) They must attach highest importance to evidences and reasoning and should never get tired at litigant's lengthy arguments; they must exhibit patience, perseverance in scanning the details, in examining point and sifting facts from fictions, and in this way when the truth is discovered they must be able to deliver the judgment without fear or favor and thus put an end to the dispute.
(vi) They should not be amongst those who develop vanity and conceit when complements and praises is offered or who are puffed up by flattery and who are misled by persuasion and cajolery.
But unfortunately, you will have few persons with these virtues and qualities. When you have found and selected such men make it a point to go through some of their judgments critically and check the proceedings. You should at the same time fix for them handsome emoluments so that all their legitimate needs are satisfied and they are not compelled to beg or borrow from others, nor required to resort to corruption.
Ensure for them such a prestige and status in your Government and give them such nearness to yourself that none of your officers and courtiers dare lord over them or overawe them.
Judiciary must be free from all kinds of executive pressure and influence, must be above intrigue and corruption; it must act without fear or favor.
Ponder well and take particular note of this aspect of the matter, for before your appointment this state was under the domination of corrupt lustful opportunists. These greedy and mischievous people had exploited the state for personal gain and used it as the means for attaining wealth and other worldly objects.
State Executives
Now as regards the officers or executives of tie state, you are to supervise their performances and activities. Their appointment should be made after careful examination of their conduct, character and abilities. They should be appointed on probation without any kind of favoritism and free from influence of others.
If you appoint officers simply to help and support them, it will lead to injustice, tyranny, misuse and misappropriation of funds. Select as your officers persons of experience and noble birth, from members of respectable houses and Muslims who served Islam in its early period. Noble of character and very well behaved and respectable as they are, they will not easily fall prey to greed and corruption, as they do not lose sight of the consequences of their actions.
Keep them well paid so that they are not tempted to lower their moral standard. This will enable them to have due control over themselves and over the funds which they bold in trust. If they prove dishonest and misappropriate funds in spite of handsome emoluments you will have a good case against them to bring them to book. Therefore, have a cautious eye over their method of work and performances and do not leave them to themselves after their appointment.
You should appoint honest and trustworthy persons to inspect, watch and guard over the activities of these officers. If they know that their activities are being secretly watched they will desist from dishonesty and malpractices.
Be kindly disposed towards the citizens and protect your Government from entry of dishonest officers. If after this you find any of your officers dishonest and corrupt and your secret intelligence report also corroborates dishonesty you must inflict exemplary punishment.
The punishment may be corporal, dismissal from service and recovery of the misappropriated funds. He must be humiliated and made to realize the infamy of the crimes committed. His humiliation and punishment should be given wide publicity, so that his life be covered with shame and misery and may serve as a lesson and a deterrent to-others.
Taxation: Department of Revenue
As regards taxes and revenues, you must always look to the welfare of the tax-payers which is of greater importance than the taxes themselves. With the welfare of the tax-payer is bound up the good of the rest of the population. On them basically rests the welfare of your people and state. Remember that the whole nation is dependent upon revenues through taxation.
Therefore, you should give greater importance to fertility of the land than to collection of taxes because ability to pay taxes rests upon productivity of land, the mother of all resources. A ruler who concentrates on collection of taxes, careless of the productivity of land and prosperity of the people inevitably lays waste the land, ruins the state and the people. His rule cannot last long.
If your people complain of heavy taxation or have become victims to unforeseen natural disasters such as vagaries of seasonal rain, stoppage of irrigation facilities, locust attack insect pests, flood, drought or diseased seed, you must consider their plight with utmost sympathy and reduce their taxes, to the extent that will help them to improve their condition. That will provide them opportunities and ease their circumstances.
Fall in state revenues due to such reduction should not perturb you because the best investment for an administrator is to help the people at the time of their difficulties.
In fact, the tax-payers are the real wealth of a country and they wilt return any investment on them in the shape of enriching your cities and the country at large and by giving satisfaction to the entire people. Along with their revenues you will receive their love, respect and praises. By introducing justice and fair play among them you will have the pleasure of real satisfaction. Will that not be lasting happiness?
By providing comfort to them, you can get back your investment out of their surpluses in times of affluence and plenty and use it in times of need. Your sympathetic treatment, clemency, kindness and just dealings will be a kind of moral training and will accustom them to justice and honesty. A prosperous and contented populace will be grateful to you and lend you ready support and protection.
In fact such a people will be your greatest treasure, so that when you are forced with unforeseen calamities and are in need of their help, support and trust they will gladly share your burden. A prosperous people can bear any load, while a penurious peasantry is the root cause of a country's ruin and destruction.
Cause of poverty may be in the cravings of the Governor and the officials for accumulations of wealth, by means fair or foul. If they are constantly in the fear of losing their posts, position and power they would try to get rich quick, to make most of the shortest time at their disposal. They never learn lessons from the history of the rise and fall of nations and ponder over the words of Allah.
Secretariat
You should devote keen attention to your scribes, i.e. secretaries who pass orders. Only the best among them should be selected and entrusted for your confidential work regarding security and safety of the state and most secret matters.
When you have selected such persons, entrust to them your correspondence, secret papers and confidential plans. They must be honest, men of character and good morals, so that power, position and patronage do not turn their heads and embolden them to carry adverse propaganda, to speak against the Government
in public, ignore you or your orders in financial matters or delay in submitting before you necessary cases.
They must not keep important matters and letters pending and delay in disposal.
When officers make contracts on behalf of the state you should see that the contracts are free from defects and are not against the interest of the state.
They should not enter into poor bargains or agreements harmful to the state. If due to the forms of the agreement or because of any intrigue the state is found to be in a weak and disadvantageous position, they should be able to find sensible ways out of them and be strong enough to revoke such agreement and bargains.
Your officers must be able to understand their own place, rank, and know their utility in the administration, because one who does not realize his own place, responsibility and position will never realize those of others.
While making selections of officers for most important posts yon should not depend only on your own judgment, personal regard and your good opinion about them because you yourself on a few cases only have found them honest, diligent, trustworthy and intelligent and formed a good opinion about them.
You must not forget that there are persons who through pretended honesty, sincerity feigned and skillful flattery put on the garb of piety and virtue and find their way into the hearts of the rulers and high officials, enjoy their appreciation and recognition although there is not an iota of sincerity and faithfulness in them, nor are they wise and sagacious.
Selection should be based on the record of services which they might have rendered during previous regimes. You should attach greater importance to their reputation of ability and integrity.
You should appoint as head of an important branch of your Government one who has sufficient knowledge and wisdom for handling efficiently all intricate problems and capacity to bear heavy pressure of work. He must be noted for honesty among the people.
Such action will be a proof of your own loyalty to Allah and to him who has appointed you as Governor. You should appoint at the head of every department of your main office, i.e. Secretariat, men who are not over-powerful and bent down by their own heavy responsibilities.
Remember if your executives have faults and you neglect to remove them, all their faults and misdeeds will be attributed to you, making you responsible for alt their actions.
Merchants, Artisans and industrialists
I ask you to be considerate to the merchants, artisans and industrialists, to treat them well and also to instruct your officers to do likewise. There may be traders carrying on business at specific places within the country while others may be engaged in export and import of goods and move from country to country.
Similarly there are artisans, manufacturers and industrialists as well. All of them should be treated well and necessary protections should be ensured to them.
They all deserve your sympathy, protection, good treatment. They are the sources of a country's wealth. They supply the goods which people consume to satisfy their wants.
These people bring goods from far off lands, over oceans and deserts and mountains and inaccessible lands where ordinary men do not care or dare to venture.
As a rule, they are a peace-loving, law-abiding community. They do not indulge in mischievous and seditious activities.
Therefore, you must look after their interests, whether they are trading in your own territory or traveling over your country and carrying goods from place to place.
One more thing I must tell you about the businessmen and industrialists. While treating them with utmost sympathy, you must keep a keen watch over their activities as generally they are intensely selfish and stingy misers, obsessed with the desire for hoarding and accumulating money,
There are hoarders among them. By creating artificial scarcity of goods, black marketing these hoarders bring in hardship for the people and disrupt and discredit administrators and officials.
Therefore, you must put a stop to practices like hoarding and black-marketing which were denounced and prohibited by the Holy Prophet and his successors.
Measures should be taken to facilitate sale and purchase with unnecessary hindrance. You should have standard weights and measure for the whole country. There must not be any such terms and conditions due to which consumers or the suppliers are likely to suffer losses.
If in spite of your sympathetic treatment and the facilities provided for them, the traders, artisans and manufacturers, resort to black-marketing, and hoarding in defiance of your orders, they must be tried and punished. But there too, punishment should be awarded according to the gravity of the crime and in no way, should go beyond the limits of moderation and justice.
Rights of the Poor
I want to caution you about the poor.
Fear Almighty Allah and be mindful about the condition of the poor and your own attitude towards them. These people have no riches, no opportunities; they have no support either.
This class is composed of destitute, poor beggars, the sick, the crippled and the helpless who are either resigned to their fate or compelled to live on beggary. Some of them do not resort to begging due to self-respect, but their distress, destitution and sufferings are worse.
Malik, for the sake of Allah, you must protect them and secure their rights, this being your responsibility as administrator and fixed by Allah.
You are to fix a share for them from the State Treasury, i.e., the Common Fund. Besides this reservation in cash, you must also set apart for them a share in kind, from State Food Stores in which grains produced in State-owned lands are collected.
Remember that in these surplus stores, share of persons living far away from a particular city is equal to the share of those living nearby.
Public Welfare and State Responsibility
I must remind you again that you are responsible to protect the rights of the poor and look after their welfare. Take care that pride in position and custodianship of wealth does not make you blind to your grave and solemn responsibilities.
Such is the importance of your post that you will not be for- given even for minor errors or omissions and commissions even though you might be busy with major State problems and had dealt with them successfully.
Therefore, you are to be very careful about the welfare of the poor and never turn your face away from them out of arrogance and vanity.
You must take special care to look into the affairs of those who have no easy access to you or cannot reach you. They are persons whom society treats with contempt and disgust, whose poverty and sickness may make them detestable in your eyes. To these unfortunate people you should be a source of love, comfort and respect.
Appoint your trusted men who are pious. God-fearing and kindly disposed, to devote them to the cause of the exploited and keep you properly informed about them.
You must treat these unfortunate beings well so that when you have the honor of being called to the presence of Allah you may be able to give a satisfactory explanation of your conduct.
Remember that this section of the humanity deserves the maximum sympathy and compassion among your citizens. Therefore, by discharging your responsibilities to them fully and faithfully you will have a good case before your Creator.
Special attention should be paid to those orphans and the crippled who are unable to earn their livelihood and yet do not beg. As they cannot reach you, it is your duty to reach them.
Fulfillment of these obligations is considered tedious and burdensome by most of the Governors. Allah will make their work easy and light for those who seek His favors and long to enter into His realm.
They bear their responsibilities with a sense of duty and happiness. They enjoy their work and have complete trust in the promises made by Allah.
Public Audience
Set apart some of your time for the needy and oppressed so that you may free yourself from other occupations and sit regularly in public audience to receive their complaints and hear their grievances against your Government.
During this audience, for the sake of God, treat them with kindness, courtesy and respect. Do not allow your employees, the Army and sentry to be present during such audience , so that those who have complaints against your officers and Government may approach you freely and talk to you freely and without any embarrassment or fear of harassment.
This is essential for your administration. I have heard the Holy Prophet saying, “Those peoples and Governments cannot achieve salvation among whom the rights of the depressed, destitute and suppressed are not protected and cannot be recovered from the strong without fear and opposition.”
In these audiences, mostly the commoners and the destitute will assemble. Even if they lack in manners and etiquettes, do not use hot words and annoying expressions. You must not be rude with them, thereby making a demonstration of your arrogance and narrow-mindedness.
If you are considerate to them Allah will be kind and merciful to you and reward you amply for your obedience. Treat them courteously, hear their grievances attentively. Don't remain grave and stiff but smile and be sympathetic.
Should you be compelled to say ‘no' to their demands, you should express your inability in an unoffending way and with apologies, so that your ‘no' be as pleasant to them as your ‘yes'. All your gifts and helps to them should be in a graceful manner.
You will find certain affairs which none of your officers will be able to handle, these will have to be attended to by you personally.
Replies to your agents and Governors which are beyond the jurisdiction of your Secretaries, are some such affairs.
When you realize that your officers are less sensitive and responsive to the complaints and grievances of the public, you should give your personal attention to them.
You will have obligatory duties for every day; therefore, finish the day's work the same day.
Each day will bring in its special task for you. Spend the best part of your time on matters relating to your Creator and your own self.
Remember that every work of the state is a work done for the pleasure of Allah, if your conscience is clear in your work and your subjects enjoy peaceful life through it.
Regular Prayers
Your daily prayers must be among those duties which you must perform most earnestly. You must have fixed time for the prayers during day and night.
You must tax your body through prayer though it may tire you. Sincere and earnest prayers will help you in achieving communion with Allah.
You should not allow your duties to remain incomplete and confused, irrespective of the great physical efforts they may cost you.
When you stand to lead in prayer you should see that it is neither too long to tire out those who follow you in the prayer, nor too short to be faulty or defective.
This is because there may be persons in the congregation who are sick and infirm or who are required to attend to some important business. When the Holy Prophet sent me to Yemen I enquired of him as to how to lead prayers there. He said, “Say prayer like an old and infirm person and have consideration for the believers.”
Contact with the Public
You must not keep yourself aloof from the people. Never should you draw a curtain of prestige between yourself and citizens.
Such pride and pretensions are in fact manifestations of vanity, weakness and inferiority complex which will keep you ignorant of the conditions of your citizens and also make you blind to the background and causes of incidents taking place in your territory.
As a result, you may fail to realize relative importance of issues and happenings and may lose sense of proportion and regard small issues big and big issues small. You may also put greater reliance to the mediocre ones and ignore persons of consequence.
Worst of all, you may lose the sense of distinction between virtue and vice, may consider good things bad and bad things good or mix up the two ; thus truth may get confused and one may easily be substituted for the other.
After all, a ruler is a human being like any other individuals and as such he may continue to be unaware of things which his officers try to keep hidden from him whereas the general public is eager to throw light on them.
Thus truth may get mixed up with falsehood and may not at all be distinguished as there is no birth mark on the face of truth to differentiate it from untruth.
To reach truth one has to search for facts and unearth realities from beneath the heap of fictions. Thus alone truth can be attained,
Ponder over your own self. You can belong to only one of the two categories of administrators. You may be a sincere, hardworking, God-fearing administrator, firm on the principles of equity and justice, doing the right thing at the right moment, protecting rights of others and fulfilling all your obligations and bounteous in your good deeds.
If so, why should you keep aloof from the public and hide yourself from them and draw a curtain around you. It is because you belong to the other category of administrators—category of misers, unwilling to give back the rights due to others. Are you a victim of stinginess?
If that be so, you should remember that people will come to know your conduct and attitude. They will come to you only for a few days and will give up making any appeal or any request to you.
Do not forget that most of the demands that they will place before you for your considerations will have nothing to do with your private and personal interest. These will be about people's rights and privileges, obligations of the State, complaints against oppressions and prayers for fairness, justice and equity. Then why should you try to avoid listening to their representations?
Influence of Relations and Friends
You should never forget that sometimes administrators also have their own relatives, friends and favorites who surround them and try to take advantage of their relationship and positions. To serve their interest and satisfy their lust they may resort to intrigue, fraud, corruption and oppression.
If you find some such people around you, do away with them immediately, however, closely connected they may be to you. You should remove the causes of the mischief and also the roof over it. Such moral and spiritual filth and dirt in your surroundings should be cleaned in no time.
You must not give right of permanent lease or ownership in land to your supporters and relatives. Never settle with them sources of water and lands having special utility for toe society.
If they are in possession of such properties they are likely to interfere with the irrigation facilities of their neighbors or their joint undertakings in order to derive undue benefits and enjoy all the fruits themselves leaving for you blame and disgrace in this world and punishment in the life to come.
Render justice to whom it is due. Punish those who deserve punishment, be they relations of yours or close friends. You must always remain firm and watchful. Do not care if in conceding rights of others the interests of even your own relations and friends suffer. Such actions may be painful to you. Bear such grief and pain with patience and contemplate the bliss that awaits you in the next world. This may seem hard but in the end it will be good for you.
Public Confidence
If due to your measures, your citizens wrongly attribute to you some acts of high-handedness, you should lose no time to appear before them and give them an explanation to dispel their doubts. They may see facts and realize the truth.
This will be an adequate excuse for your soul and prove an act of kindness and generosity to your people. The confidence-thus generated in them will inspire them to stand boldly for truth and justice; and thereby you will achieve your end of getting their support in the cause of truth and have the satisfaction of leading them along the path of righteousness.
Peace and Treaties
Never should you reject any call 10 peace, coming from your enemy and consistent with the will and pleasure of Allah.
Such a peace or treaty will result in rest and comfort for your army, it will relieve you from worries and anxieties and bring property to the country and affluence to the people.
But at the same time after such treaties, you should always be on your guard and must not place too much faith in the promises of your enemy, who may have the motive to deceive you and catch you unawares and take full advantage of your trust and resultant negligence.
Therefore, you should be cautious and careful and avoid over-confidence.
Nevertheless, you should never go back upon your words and withdraw the protection and support offered by you. You should not violate the terms of the treaty.
Do honor your words and defend your promises faithfully, even if it should mean risking your life.
Remember that of all the obligations laid down by Allah nothing is more important or more readily acceptable to Him than keeping our promises.
People may differ in their ideologies, may have divergence of views and conflict of ideals, but they all agree that promises most be fulfilled, whatever the price.
Not to speak of Muslims alone, even the infidels regarded it binding on them to honor their mutual pacts as they understood the evil consequences or breach of promises.
Therefore, you must take particular care of your pacts and treaties and never dishonor your word of honor.
You should never attack or make any offensive without throwing prior challenge or ultimatum to your adversaries.
You should remember that deception and fraud even against your enemy is deception committed against Allah, for it amounts to putting up a light against Allah and none but a wretched and ignorant person will dare engage in such a losing fight.
The Almighty Allah has sanctified promises, pacts and treaties as they lead to peace among mankind. These are common ideas and common requirements, with all human beings.
Allah has made peace a shelter, protection and asylums for every one. Therefore, while making a promise or concluding a treaty, do not resort to any mental reservation, deceit, cunning or duplicity and do not try to find out fresh meanings in between the lines.
Breach of Pacts
Do not use in your treaties words and phrases liable to be equivocal, may have double interpretations and explanations. The treaty should be clear, precise, to the point and free from ambiguity.
Once you have made a pact and confirmed it, do not try to find refuge in any words or phrases used in the pact.
If you are confronted with a difficult situation due to the treaty made in the cause of Allah, try to face it manfully and never violate the terms of the treaty.
For it is betted to be patient and put up with troubles and difficulties, which may ultimately be rewarded by Allah than to dishonor pacts which will cause you greater worries, and bring down His anger and punishment upon you in both the worlds.
Bloodshed
Beware of the crime of shedding blood without sanction or justification. Remember nothing is quicker than shedding an innocent blood to deprive you the blessings and mercy of Allah, make you an object of His punishment, reduce the span of your life and thus bring down His wrath upon you.
On the Day of Judgment Allah will take up first the question of bloodshed of man by man.
Do not, therefore, try to strengthen your power and position and fortify your Government through shedding blood of the innocent, as it interferes with order and weakness and destroys the government and may even let the power pass out of your hands.
If you commit murders willfully, you will not be allowed to put forward any excuse before Allah or me or to anyone, because punishment of such a crime is necessary and it involves death penalty.
If you kill a man by mistake having no intention of killing, or your whip, sword or hand unintentionally deals a fatal blow, while executing the sentences of legal punishment, because even a slap or box in the ear powerfully, delivered, may cause death, take care to pay blood-money as compensation to the heirs of this victim. Your powers and positions should not prevent you from paying such compensation immediately.
Self-Admiration and Glorification
You must avoid self-admiration and glorification.
Do not feel proud and puffed up by your merits and extraordinary virtues that you find in your nature and for the good deeds that you have done.
Do not permit flattery, adoration and lavish praises to make you vain and egoistic.
Remember that too much reliance on matters which appear good to your eyes and the love for exaggerated praises of your own self provides surest opportunity to the Satan to enter into minds of man and totally destroy the good of the pious people.
Avoid reminding your citizens of your kindness and favor shown to them and do not try to make them feel it.
Do not think too much of your services and extol your good deeds yourself and never dishonor your promises. These are the ugliest traits of human nature. If you mention of kindness done to others it will nullify the good fruits of the favors and-kindness done. Extolling of one's own good works take away the light of truth, deprive man the guidance of Allah.
Breach of promises turns one a fit object of condemnations of the public and punishment of Allah. Almighty Allah says, “Before Allah it is highly displeasing to utter words which you do not put into practice.”
Taking Decisions
Do not make haste to arrive at decisions before the time is ripe. Similarly do not delay decisions and actions when the time is ripe and opportune.
Never insist in doing a thing when you find a flaw in it. Similarly you must not lose time when you are convinced in the propriety of your action.
In short, you should do everything at the proper time, right manner and do not ignore the need of doing a thing in the appropriate place.
Self-Control
Never should you reserve for yourself a thing in which all have equal rights.
Do not shut your eyes to glaring malpractices, rape of justice and trampling of peoples' eights by your officers as you will be held personally responsible for depriving others of their due rights.
Your malpractices and maladministration will soon be exposed to the public eye and you will be required to explain and be punished for the wrong committed against the helpless and oppressed.
Exercise complete control over your weakness for pride, your anger and your tendency of arrogance.
Take care of your hand when you are out to inflict punishment and beware of the sharpness of your tongue when you are uttering harsh and bitter words.
The best way to achieve this is to be slow and cautious in passing remarks and delay in awarding punishment, so that you may control your impulsive action and your anger may cool down.
And this is difficult to achieve unless you constantly keep before your eyes your inevitable return to your Sustainer and His fear dominates your all other considerations. Your ever increasing eagerness for shouldering responsibilities will be of great help to you in your efforts to achieve this end.
Lessons from Past Traditions
You must always remember the good work done in the past, deeds and actions of the earlier Government based on justice, fair play, their laws and commendable practice for the welfare of the society. Always keep in mind the traditions of the Holy Prophet and the commandments of Allah embodied in the Holy Quran. You should follow them as you have seen me doing and heard me saying.
Similarly you are to carry and work out the advices contained in this instrument of instructions, through which I have tried to teach you all that could be taught.
Remember I have discharged my duties, so that you may not go astray, may be able to resist temptation and work steadfastly on the path of truth. If you go astray, you will lose your own case and have no excuse before your Lord.
In the name of His boundless mercy and His supreme power to grant us our prayers I beseech Allah to grant you and me to remain firm on His guidance, keeping always before us. His will and satisfaction of His people for our deeds so that by one just and benevolent rule and ever increasing prosperity and welfare of the state we may leave behind precedence which may serve in time to come as examples all over the world.
May His blessings descend on us, may your life and mine end in happy martyrdom, as verily our return is towards Him alone.
May peace of Allah be upon the Holy Prophet and his des cendants and followers.
Was-salam— Peace be on you.
The letter is collected from the local publication. This can be included to the syllabus of the department of politics and social science which may bring a great deal of bless to them.
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