Islam Guidance

Document of instuction53 - Written for (Malik) al-Ashtar an-Nakha`i, when the status of Muhammad ibn Aba Bakr had become precarious and Imam Ali ibn Aba Talib, Peace be Upon Him had appointed al-Ashtar as the Governor of Egypt and the surrounding areas.

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

This is what Allah’s servant Ali ibn Aba 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 Qur’an) 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 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, wilfully 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.
Then, more preferable among them for you should be those who openly speak better truths before you and who support you the least in those of your actions which Allah does not approve in His friends, even though they may be according to your wishes. Associate yourself with God-fearing and truthful people; then educate them, so that they should not praise you or please you by reason of an action which you did not perform because an excess of praise produces pride and drives you nearer to haughtiness.
The virtuous and the vicious should not be in equal status before you because this means dissuasion of the virtuous from virtue and persuasion of the vicious to vice. Keep everyone in the status which is his. You should know that the most conducive thing for the good impression of the ruler on his subjects is that he should extend good behavior towards them, lighten their hardships and avoid putting them to unbearable troubles. You should, therefore, in this way follow a course by which you would leave a good impression with your subjects. This is so because such good ideas would relieve you of great worries. Certainly, the most appropriate for your good impression is he to whom your behavior has not been good.
Do not discontinue the good lives in which the earlier people of this community had been acting and by virtue of which there was general unity and through which the subjects prospered. Do not innovate any line of action which injures these earlier ways because (in that case) the reward for those who had established those ways would continue, but the burden for discontinuing them would be on you. Keep on increasing your conversations with the scholars and discussions with the wise in order to stabilize the prosperity of the areas under you and to continue with that in which the earlier people had remained steadfast.

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 Allah, 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 unbelievers and the common Muslims, then there are the traders and the men of industry, then the lowest class of the needy and the destitute. Allah has fixed the share of each one of them and laid down His precepts about the limits of each in His Book (Holy Qur’an) and in the Sunnah of His Prophet (p.b.u.h.) 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 two classes cannot exist without the third class, namely: the judges, the executives and the secretaries who pass Judgments 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 (p.b.u.h.) 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 (p.b.u.h.) 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 (p.b.u.h.) and those vested with authority from among you; then if you quarrel about anything, refer it to Allah and the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) if you believe in Allah and in the Last Day (of Judgment)” (Holy Qur’an, 4: 59).
Referring to Allah means acting according to what is clear in His Book, and referring to the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) 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 Judgment. 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 as sufficient 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 (p.b.u.h.) has prohibited it. The sale should be smooth, with correct weights and prices, not harmful to either party, the seller or the buyer; whoever commits hoarding after you prohibit it, give him exemplary but not excessive punishment.

7. The Lowest Class

(Fear) Allah and keep Him in view with regard to the lower class which consists of those who have few means: the poor, the destitute, the penniless and the disabled because in this class are both the discontented and those who beg. Take care for the sake of Allah of His obligations towards them for which He has made you responsible. Fix for them a share from the public funds and a share from the crops of lands taken over as booty for Islam in every area because in it the remote ones have the same shares as the near ones. All these people are those whose rights have been placed in your charge. Therefore, a luxurious life should not keep you away from them. You cannot be excused for ignoring small matters simply because you were deciding big ones. Consequently, do not be unmindful of them, nor should you turn your face away from them out of vanity.
Take care of the affairs of those of them who do not approach you because they are of unsightly appearance or those whom people regard as low. Appoint for them some trusted people who are God-fearing and humble. They should inform you of these people’s conditions. Then deal with them with a sense of responsibility to Allah on the Day you will meet Him because of all the subjects these people are the most worthy of an equitable treatment, while for others also you should fulfill their rights so as to render account to Allah.
Take care of the orphans and the aged who have no means (for livelihood) nor are they ready for begging. This is heavy on the officers; in fact, every obligation is heavy. Allah lightens it for those who seek the next world, so they endure (hardships) upon themselves and trust on the truthfulness of Allah’s promise to them. And fix a time for complainants wherein you make yourself free for them and sit with them in common audience and feel humble for the sake of Allah Who created you. (On that occasion) you should keep away your army and assistants such as the guards and the police so that anyone who likes to speak may speak to you without fear because I have heard the Messenger of Allah say in more than one place, “The people among whom the right of the weak is not secured from the strong without fear will never achieve purity.” Tolerate their awkwardness and inability to speak. Keep away from you narrowness and haughtiness; by the will of Allah, on this account spread over you the covers of His mercy and be optimistic of the reward of His obedience. Whatever you give, give it joyfully, but when you refuse, do it handsomely and with apologies.
Then there are certain matters which you cannot avoid performing yourself. For example, relying on your officers when your secretaries are unable to do so, or tending to the complaints of the people when your assistants refrain. Finish every day the work meant for it because every day has its own work. Keep for yourself the better and greater portion of these periods for the worship of Allah, although all these items are for Allah provided the intention is pure and the subjects prosper thereby.

Communion with Allah

The particular thing by which you should purify your religion for Allah should be the fulfillment of those obligations which are especially for Him. Therefore, devote to Allah some of your physical activity during the night and the day and whatever (worship) you perform for seeking nearness to Allah should be complete, without defect or deficiency, no matter what physical exertion it may involve. When you lead the prayers for the people, it should be neither (too long as to be) boring nor (too short as to be) wasteful because among the people there are the sick as well as those who have needs of their own. When the Messenger of Allah (p.b.u.h.) sent me to Yemen, I inquired how I should pray with them and he replied, “Say the prayers as the weakest of them will say, and be considerate of the believers.

On the Behavior and Action of a Ruler

Do not stay secluded from the public for a long time because the seclusion of those in authority from the subjects is a norm of narrow-sightedness, and it causes ignorance of their affairs. Seclusion from them also prevents them from the knowledge of those things which they need to know. As a result, they begin to regard big matters as small and small matters as big, good matters as bad and bad matters as good, while the truth is confused with falsehood. After all, a governor is a human being and cannot have knowledge of things which people keep hidden from him.
No writ is big on the face of truth to differentiate its various expressions from falsehood. You can be one of two kinds of men: If you are generous in granting rights, why this hiding in spite of (your) discharging the obligations and good deeds which you perform? Or you may be a victim of miserliness. In that case, people will soon give up asking you since they will lose hope of a generous treatment from you. In spite of that, there are many needs of the people towards you which do not involve any hardship on you, such as the complaint against oppression or the request for justice in a case.
Furthermore, a governor has favorites and people of easy access to him. They misappropriate things. They are high-handed and do not observe justice in matters. You should destroy the root of evil in the people by cutting away the causes of these defects. Do not make any land grants to your hangers-on or supporters. They should not expect from you the possession of land which may cause harm to adjoining people over the question of irrigation or public services whose burden the grantees place on others. In this way, the benefit will be rather theirs than yours and the blame will lie on you in this world as well as in the next.
Effect equity to whomsoever it is due, whether near you or far from you. In this matter, you should be enduring and watchful even though it may involve your relatives and favorites. Keep in view the reward of that which appears burdensome on you because its reward is surely handsome.
If the subjects suspect you of high-handedness, explain to them your status publicly and remove their suspicion with such an explanation because this will mean an exercise for your soul and a consideration for the subjects while this explanation will secure your aim of keeping them firm in the truth.
Do not reject peace to which your enemy may invite you and wherein there is the pleasure of Allah because peace brings rest to your army, relief from your worries and safety for your country. But after peace there is a great apprehension from the enemy because often the enemy offers peace in order to benefit from your negligence and relaxation. Therefore, be cautious and do not act according to your wishful thinking in this regard.
If you conclude an agreement between yourself and your enemy or enter into a pledge, fulfill your agreement and carry out your pledge faithfully. Place yourself as a shield against whatever you have pledged because among the obligations of Allah there is nothing on which people are more strongly united, despite the difference of their ideas and variation of their views, than respect for fulfilling pledges. Besides Muslims, even unbelievers have abided by agreements because they realized the dangers which will come in the wake of the violation thereof. Therefore, do not deceive your enemy because no one can offend Allah save the ignorant and the wicked. Allah made His agreement and pledged the sign of security which He has spread over His creatures through His mercy and an asylum in which they stay in His protection and seek the benefit of nearness to Him. Hence, there should be no deception, cunning or duplicity in it.
Do not enter into an agreement which may admit different interpretations and do not change the interpretation of vague words after the conclusion and confirmation (of the agreement). If an agreement of Allah involves you in hardship, do not seek its repudiation without justification because the bearing of hardships through which you expect relief and a handsome result is better than a violation the consequence of which you fear, and that you fear you will be called upon by Allah to account for it and you will not be able to seek forgiveness for it in this world or in the next.
You should avoid shedding blood without justification because nothing invites the Divine retribution or is greater in (evil) consequences and more effective in the decline of prosperity and cutting short of life more than the shedding of blood without a justification. On the Day of Judgment, Allah, the Glorified One, will commence giving His Judgment among the people with regard to the cases of bloodshed committed by them. Do not, therefore, strengthen your authority by shedding prohibited blood because this will weaken and lower authority. It moreover destroys it and shifts it elsewhere. You cannot offer any excuse before Allah or before me for any willful killing because there must be the question of revenge in it. If you are involved in it be error and you exceed in the use of your whip or sword or are harsh in inflicting punishment, as sometimes even a blow by the fist or a smaller stroke causes death, then the pride in your authority should not prevent you from paying the blood money to the survivors of the killed person.
You should avoid self-admiration. Rely in what appears to be good on yourself. Do not have any affinity for any exaggerated praise; it is one of the most reliable opportunities for Satan to obliterate the good deeds of the virtuous.
Avoid demonstrating (the weight of) your obligation to your subjects for having done good to them or praising your own actions or making promises then breaking them. Demonstrating such an obligation destroys goodness. Self-praise takes away the light of truth. Breaking promises earns the hatred of Allah and of the people. Allah, the Glorified One, says the following: “Most hateful to Allah is that you say what you do not do” (Holy Qur’an, 61: 3).
Avoid haste in matters before their time. Slowness till their proper time, insistence on them when the propriety of action is not known or weakens when it becomes clear is preferable. Assign to every matter its proper place and do every job at its appropriate time.
Do not appropriate to yourself that in which the people have an equal share, nor should you be indifferent of matters which have come to light with the excuse that you are accountable for others. Shortly, the curtains of all matters will be raised from your vision and you will be required to render redress to the oppressed. Have control over (your) sense of prestige. Beware of any outburst of anger, the might of your arm and the sharpness of your tongue. Guard yourself against all these by avoiding haste and by delaying severe measures till your anger subsides and till you gain your self-control. You cannot withhold yourself from this unless you bear in mind that you have to return to Allah.
It is necessary for you to recall how matters went with those who preceded you, be it those of a government, or a great tradition, or a precedent of our Prophet (p.b.u.h.), or the obligatory commands contained in the Book of Allah. You should follow them as you have seen us acting upon them and should exert yourself in following what I have enjoined you to follow in this document wherein I have exhausted my pleas to you. If your heart advances towards its passions, you may have no plea in its support.
I ask Allah through the extent of His mercy and the greatness of His power of giving to grant me a good inclination, that He may prompt me and you own selves to present a clear plea before Him and before His creatures in a manner that may attract His pleasure along with handsome praise among the people, good effect in the country, an increase in prosperity and a heightening of honor, and that He may allow me and you own selves to die a death of virtue and martyrdom. Surely, we have to return to Him. Peace be on the Messenger of Allah (p.b.u.h.), and that is the end of the matter.

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