God has sought from you the fulfillment of their...

God has sought from you the fulfillment of their requirements and He is trying you with them. Set yourself not up to war against God (9), for you have no power against His vengeance, nor are you able to dispense with His pardon and His mercy. Never be regretful of pardon or rejoice at punishment, and never hasten (to act) upon an impulse if you can find a better course.

Never say, “I am invested with authority, I give orders, and I am obeyed,” for surely that is corruption in the heart, enfeeblement of the religion and an approach to changes (in fortune). If the authority you possess engender in your pride or arrogance, then reflect upon the tremendousness of the dominion of God above you and His power over you in that in which you yourself have no control.

This will subdue your recalcitrance, restrain your violence, and restore in you what has left you of the power of your reason. Beware of vying with God in His tremendousness and likening yourself to Him in His exclusive power, for God abases every tyrant and humiliates all who are proud. See that justice is done towards God (10) and justice is done towards the people by yourself, your own family and those whom you favor among your subjects. For if you do not do so, you have worked wrong.

In addition, as for him who wrongs the servants of God, God is his adversary, not to speak of His servants. God renders null and void the argument of whosoever contends with Him. Such a one will be God’s enemy until he desists or repents. Nothing is more conducive to the removal of God’s blessing and the hastening of His vengeance than to continue in wrongdoing, for God harkens to the call of the oppressed and He is ever on the watch against the wrongdoers (11). To be continued!

NOTES: ______________________ 1. Qur’an 53:3. 2. See the article “al-Ashtar” in the new Encyclopedia of Islam. 3. The division into parts and the headings of parts two, three and four are taken from the commentary of Ibn Maytham. 4. The land tax (kharaj) was collected on the basis of the land’s produce. See the Encyclopedia of Islam (new edition), vol. 3, pp. 1030-56. 5. Fara’id wa sunan.