But the ruler will not truly accomplish what God has...

But the ruler will not truly accomplish what God has enjoined upon him in this respect except by resolutely striving, By recourse to God’s help, by reconciling himself to what the truth requires and by being patient in the face of it what is easy for him or burdensome.

(I.) Appoint as commander from among your troops that person who is in your sight the most sincere in the way of God and His Prophet and of your Imam, (8) who is purest of heart and most outstanding in intelligence, who is slow to anger, relieved to pardon, gentle to the weak and harsh with the strong and who is not stirred to action by severity nor held back by incapacity.

Then hold fast to men of noble descent and those of righteous families and good precedents, then to men of bravery, courage, generosity and magnanimity, for they are encompassed by nobility and embraced by honour. Then inspect the affairs of the soldiers (9) as parents inspect their own children.

Never let anything through which you have strengthened them distress you, and disdain, not a kindness you have undertaken for them, even if it be small, for it will invite them to counsel you sincerely and trust you. Do not leave aside the examination of their minor affairs while depending upon (the examination of) the great, for there is a place where they will profit from a trifling kindness and an occasion in which they cannot do without the great.

Among the chiefs of your army, favour him most who assists the soldiers with his aid and bestows upon them what is at his disposal to the extent that suffices both them and the members of their families left behind. (10) Then their concern in battle with the enemy will be a single concern, for your kind inclination toward them will incline their hearts to you.

(11) Verily the foremost delight of the eye for rulers is the establishment of justice in the land and the appearance of love for them among the subjects. (12) But surely the subjects’ love will not appear without the well-being of their breasts, and their sincerity (toward rulers) will not become free from blemishes unless they watch over their rulers, find their governments of little burden and cease to hope that their period (of rule) will soon come to an end.