Pearls of Wisdom: Advice of Hazrat Ali (RA) for Model Governance
By Dr A. Khan
Chicago, IL
The following excerpts are from the letter Hazrat/Imam Ali (RA) [599-661 AD] the fourth Caliph (656-661 AD) wrote to Maalik al-Ashtar after appointing him the Governor of Egypt in 658 AD (38 AH). The letter is contained in Nahjul Balagha: Peak of Eloquence, which is a compilation of the sermons, letters, and sayings of the fourth Caliph Hazrat/Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (RA).
In this letter Hazrat/Imam Ali (RA) renders advice about the principles of administration and justice in light of Islamic principles. Hazrat/Imam Ali’s (RA) advice for model governance covers a wide spectrum of issues which include duties and obligations of rulers and their responsibilities, dispensation of justice, revenue and tax collection, promotion of business and trade, dealing with different classes of society, equitable distribution of wealth, taking care of the poor, orphans and the disabled, transparency of government policies, character and accountability of the rulers.
The letter was written almost fourteen centuries ago, yet its message is so poignant, and advice is so relevant to the contemporary times. The letter, in summary, offers a model for good governance, and an ethical and moral code of conduct for the rulers. The complete text of the letter is available at http://www.al-islam.org . The section titles within brackets have been added to the original text to improve readability and organization.
In July 2006, Pakistan’s prominent Urdu poet Fahmida Riaz, read this letter at a workshop held at the South Asia Institute of University of Heidelberg, Germany. Afterwards she showed the letter to Patricia Lee Sharpe, a US based poet, journalist, teacher and foreign service officer. Patricia was so impressed by the letter that she posted it on her blog Whirled View under the title Good Governance Early Muslim Style. In the introductory note of the post, Patricia Sharpe observes: “ This piece, which I posted to counter anti-Muslim hysteria during the Bush administration, is probably even more relevant today, when political convenience and ignorance are combining to create a toxic environment for Muslims in America.”
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
I order you to use your head, heart, hands and tongue to help the creatures of Allah because the Almighty Allah holds Himself responsible to help those who sincerely try their best to help Him… Let it be known to you, Maalik, that I am sending you as a governor to a country which has seen many regimes before this. Some of them were benign, sympathetic and good, while others were tyrannical, oppressive and cruel. People will judge your regime as critically as you have studied the activities of other regimes and they will criticize you in the same way as you have censured or approved other rulers…
[Kindness, Compassion and Love]
Maalik! You must create in your mind kindness, compassion and love for your subjects. Do not behave towards them as if you are a voracious and ravenous beast and as if your success lies in devouring them.
[Two Kinds of People]
Remember, Maalik, that amongst your subjects there are two kinds of people: those who have the same religion as you have; they are brothers to you, and those who have religions other than that of yours, they are human beings like you. Men of either category suffer from the same weaknesses and disabilities that human beings are inclined to, they commit sins, indulge in vices either intentionally or foolishly and unintentionally without realizing the enormity of their deeds. Let your mercy and compassion come to their rescue and help in the same way and to the same extent that you expect Allah to show mercy and forgiveness to you…
[Forgive and Forget]
Do not feel ashamed to forgive and forget. Do not hurry over punishments and do not be pleased and do not be proud of your power to punish. Do not get angry and lose your temper quickly over the mistakes and failures of those over whom you rule. On the contrary, be patient and sympathetic with them. Anger and desire of vengeance are not going to be of much help to you in your administration…
[Avoid Arrogance]
Take care never to think of bringing yourself at par with Allah, never to think of matching your power with Him and contesting His Glory and ever to pretend that you possess might and power like Him because the Mighty Lord will always humble pitiless tyrants and will degrade all pretenders of His Power and Might…Every tyrant and oppressor is an enemy of Allah unless he repents and gives up oppression.
[Policy Based on Equity]
You must always appreciate and adopt a policy which is neither too severe nor too lenient, a policy which is based upon equity will be largely appreciated. Remember that the displeasure of common men, the have-nots and the depressed persons more overbalances than the approval of important persons, while the displeasure of a few big people will be excused by the Lord if the general public and the masses of your subjects are happy with you.
[The Demands of the Rich]
Remember, Maalik! that usually these big personages are mentally the scum of the human society, they are the people who will be the worst drag upon you during your moments of peace and happiness, and the least useful to you during your hours of need and adversity, they hate justice the most, they will keep on demanding more and more out of the State resources and will seldom be satisfied with what they receive and will never be obliged for the favor shown to them if their demands are justifiable refused, they will never accept any reasonable excuse or any rational argument and when the time changes, you will never find them staunch, faithful and loyal…
[Do Not Create Divisions]
Do not give cause to the people to envy each other (man against man, tribe against tribe or one section of the society against the other). Try to alleviate and root out mutual distrust and enmity from amongst your subjects.
[Be Fair and Keep Your Dignity]
Be fair, impartial and just in your dealings with all, individually and collectively and be careful not to make your person, position and favors act as sources of malice. Do not let any such thing or such person come near to you who does not deserve your nearness and your favor. Never lower your dignity and prestige.
[Type of Advice to Accept]
Remember that backbiters and scandal-mongers belong to a mean and cunning group, though they pretend to be sincere advisers. Do not make haste to believe the news they bring and do not heed to their advice. Do not accept the advice of misers, they will try their best to keep you away from acts of kindness and from doing good to others. They will make you frightened of poverty…Your worst ministers will be the men who had been ministers to the despotic rulers before you and who had been a party of atrocities committed by them…Select honest, truthful and pious people as your companions. Train them not to flatter you and not to seek your favor by false praises because flattery and false praises create vanity and conceit and they make a man lose sight of his real self and ignore his duties…
[Create Goodwill]
Try carefully to realize that a ruler can create goodwill in the minds of his subjects and can make them faithful and sincere to him only when he is kind and considerate to them, when he reduces their troubles, when he does not oppress them and when he never asks for things which are beyond their power…
[Dealing with Different Groups in the Society]
You must know, Maalik, that the people over whom you rule are divided into classes and grades and the prosperity and welfare of each class of the society individually and collectively are so interdependent upon the well-being of the other classes that the whole set-up represents a closely woven net and reciprocal aspect. One class cannot exist peacefully, cannot live happily and cannot work without the support and good wishes of the other…
[Take Care of All Segments of Society]
The army and the common men (common citizens who pay taxes or tributes) are two important classes, but in a welfare state their well-being cannot be guaranteed without proper functioning and preservation of the other classes, the judges and magistrates, the secretaries of the State and the officers of various departments who collect various revenues, maintain law and order as well as preserve peace and amity among the diverse classes of the society. They also guard the rights and privileges of the citizens and look to the performances of various duties by individuals and classes. And the prosperity of this whole setup depends upon the traders and industrialists. They act as a medium between the consumers and the suppliers. They collect the requirements of the society…Then comes the class of the poor and the disabled persons. It is absolutely necessary that they should be looked after, helped and well-provided for. The Merciful Allah has explained the ways and means of maintaining and providing for each of these classes. And everyone of this class has the right upon the ruler of the State that at least minimum necessities for its well-being and contented living are provided.
[Honest Judiciary]
So far as dispensing of justice is concerned, you have to be very careful in selecting officers for the same. You must select people of excellent character and high caliber and with meritorious records. They must possess the following qualifications: Abundance of litigations and complexity of cases should not make them lose their temper…They should not develop vanity and conceit when compliments and praises are showered upon them. They should not be misled by flattery and cajolery... Pay them handsomely so that their needs are fully satisfied and they are not required to beg or borrow or resort to corruption. Give them such a prestige and position in your State that none of your courtiers or officers can overlord them or bring harm to them. Let judiciary be above every kind of executive pressure or influence, above fear or favor, intrigue or corruption. Take every particular care of this aspect because before your appointment this State was under the sway of corrupt, time-serving and wealth-grasping opportunists who were lewd, greedy and vicious and who wanted nothing out of a State but a sinful consent of amassing wealth and pleasures for themselves.
[Officers of the State]
Then come the officers of your State. You must supervise their work. They must be appointed after a careful scrutiny of their capabilities and characters. These appointments must be made originally on probation without any kind of favoritism being shown or influence being accepted otherwise tyranny, corruption and misrule will reign in your State…Keep them also well-paid so that they may not be tempted to lower their standard of morality and may not misappropriate the cash of the State which they hold in their trust and if after being paid handsomely they prove dishonest, then you will be right to punish them. Therefore keep a careful watch over their system of work and rule…
[Revenue and Tax Collection]
So far as collection of land revenues and taxes are concerned you must always keep in view the welfare of the tax-payers which is of primary importance than the taxes themselves because these taxes and the tax-payers are the original sources on which the welfare of your State and its subjects depend. If the tax-payers complain to you of the heavy incidence to taxation, of any accidental calamity, of the vagaries of the monsoons, of the recession of the means of irrigation, of floods or destruction of their crops on account of excessive rainfall and if their complaints are true, then reduce their taxes. This reduction should be such that it provides them opportunities to improve their conditions and eases them of their troubles…
[Poverty Causes Ruination of a Country]
Remember, Maalik! If a country is prosperous and if its people are well-to-do then it will happily and willingly bear any burden. The poverty of the people is the actual cause of the devastation and ruination of a country and the main cause of the poverty of the people is the desire of its ruler and officers to amass wealth and possessions whether by fair or foul means. They are afraid of losing their posts or positions and sway or rule and want to make the most during the shortest time at their disposal. They never learn any lesson from the history of nations and never pay any attention to the commands of Allah.
[Treat Business People Well]
I want to advise you about your businessmen and industrialists. Treat them well, and order your officers to follow the same policy. There may be local businessmen carrying on their trade in certain places or those who send their merchandise from one place to another. There may even be those who import and export goods. Similarly there may be industrialists and manufacturers as well as industrial labor or men engaged in the handicrafts. They all deserve sympathy, protection and good treatment…One more thing about these traders and industrialists: While treating them most sympathetically you must keep an eye over there activities as well...
[Take Care of the Poor]
Then I want to caution you about the poor. Fear Allah about their conditions and you attitude towards them. They have no support, no resources and no opportunities. They are poor, they are destitute and many of them are cripples and unfit for work. Some of them come out begging and some (who maintain self-respect) do not beg, but their conditions speak of their distress, poverty, destitution and wants…You must fix a share for them from Baytul Mal (the Government Treasury). Besides this reservation in cash, you must also reserve a share in kind of crops etc. from government granaries in cities where food-grains are stored as are cultivated on State-owned land because in these storage the share of those living far away from any particular city is equal to the share of those living nearby…Let me remind you once again that you are made responsible for guarding the rights of the poor people and for looking after their welfare….Therefore, be very careful of the welfare of the poor people…Though everyone of these poor persons deserves your sympathy and you will have to do justice to His cause to achieve His favor, yet you should pay more attention to young orphans and old cripples. They neither have any support nor can they conveniently come out begging. They cannot reach you; therefore, you must reach them...
[Listen to People’s Grievances]
Out of your hours of work, fix a time for the complainants and for those who want to approach you with their grievances. During this time you should do no other work but hear them and pay attention to their complaints and grievances. For this purpose you must arrange public audience for them during this audience, for the sake of Allah, treat them with kindness, courtesy and respect. Do not let your army and police be in the audience hall at such times so that those who have grievances against your regime may speak to you freely, unreservedly and without fear…
[Stay in Touch With People]
You must take care not to cut yourself off from the public. Do not place a curtain of false prestige between you and those over whom you rule. Such pretensions and show of pomp and pride are in reality manifestations of inferiority complex and vanity. The result of such an attitude is that you remain ignorant of the conditions of your subjects and of the actual cases of the events occurring in the State..
[Never Award Lands to Your Friends and Relatives]
You must never give lands in permanent lease with all proprietary and ownership rights to your friends and relatives. You must never allow them to take possession of the source of water-supply or lands which have special utility for the communes. If they get possession of such holdings they will oppress others to derive undue benefits and thus gather all the fruits for themselves leaving for you a bad reputation in this world and punishment in the next…
[Be Fair in Dispensing Justice]
Be fair in dispensing justice. Punish those who deserve punishment even though he may be your near relation or a close friend and even if such an action may give you pangs of sorrow and grief. Bear such a sorrow patiently and hope for Divine reward. I assure you this will bear good fruits…
[Peace Brings Prosperity]
If your enemy invites you to a Peace Treaty that will be agreeable to Allah, then never refuse to accept such an offer because peace will bring rest and comfort to your armies, will relieve you of anxieties and worries, and will bring prosperity and affluence to your people. But even after such treaties be very careful of the enemies and do not place too much confidence in their promises because they often resort to Peace Treaty to deceive and delude you and take advantage of your negligence, carelessness and trust. At the same time be very careful, never break your promise with your enemy, never forsake the protection or support that you have offered to him, never go back upon your words, and never violate the terms of the treaty. You must even risk your life to fulfill the promises given and the terms settled because of all the obligations laid by Almighty Allah upon man (in respect to other men) there is none so important as to keep one's promises when made.
[Do Not Shed Blood]
Beware of the sin of shedding blood without religious justification and sanction because there is nothing quicker to bring down the Wrath of Allah, to take away His Blessings, to make you more deserving of His Wrath and to reduce the span of your life than to shed innocent blood. On the Day of Judgment Allah will first attend to sins of bloodshed carried out by man against man. Therefore, never try to strengthen your power, position and prestige by shedding innocent blood. Such murders instead of making your position strong will not only considerably weaken it but may also transfer your power totally, taking it away from you and entrusting it to somebody else.
[Avoid Self-Admiration]
Beware and do not develop the trait of self-admiration and self-appreciation. Do not get conceited of the good points that you find in your good character or good deeds that you have done. Do not let flattery and cajolery make you vain and egoist. Remember that of all the cunning ruses of the devil to undo good deeds of the pious people and to affect their piety, flattery and false praises are the ones on which it relies the most…. The practice of boasting over the favors done undoes the good done… and the habit of breaking one's promises is disliked both by Allah and by man…
[Do Not Make Decisions in Haste]
Do not be hasty and do not precipitate your decisions and actions, when the time comes for an action to be done, or a decision to be taken, then do not be lazy and do not waste time and do not show weakness. When you do not find a true way to do the thing on hand, then do not persist on the wrong way and when find a correct solution, then do not be lethargic in adopting it. In short do everything at a proper time and in a proper way and keep everything in its proper place…
I beseech Allah that by His Limitless Mercy and by His Supreme Might He may grant our prayers, that He may lead both of us to the Divine Guidance of achieving His Pleasure, of successfully pleading our cases before Him, justifying our deeds before man, of gaining good repute, of leaving good results of our benign and just rule with ever expanding prosperity and ever increasing welfare of the State and of meeting our ends as martyrs and pious persons, as our return is towards Him only.
May the peace of Allah be upon the Holy Prophet (saws) and His chosen descendants.
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