(3) The Imāms of ahl al-Bayt ...

(3) The Imāms of ahl al-Bayt , peace be on them, had their own brilliant policy and method in the world of government and policy. They thought that government should be a means for establishing pure justice and truth, spreading love and friendship among men. They though that government should be a means for refreshing peoples, achieving their welfare, security, and prosperity. They thought that government was worthless if it did not achieve these noble aims through which peoples become happy.

Listen to what the master of the Household (of the Prophet), Imām Ali, the Commander of the faithful, peace be on him, when he said to his helper and adviser, Abd [1] Al-Ya'qūbi, Tārikh. Allah b. Abbās to whom he held up his sandals made of fiber and asked him: Ibn Abbās, how much do you value these sandals? They have no value, Ibn Abbās retorted.

By Allah, they are more lovable to me than these affairs of yours but for the fact that I must establish (what is) true and ward off (what is) false, explained the Imām. The dictionary of policy has no words greater or more exalted than these words said by Imām Ali, the Commander of the faithful and greatest Muslim thinker, peace be on him. Authority has no value unless it establishes fairness and justice, wards off falsehood and tyranny.

This is the path which Allah has chosen for His servants, that they may be righteous, and that they may enjoy a government which stands on neither deception nor misleading nor playing with the fates of the community. (4) Imām al-Ridā, peace be on him, appeared on the arena of the political life in Islam, and he was the most brilliant politician in Islamic history.

He was steadfast in his political attitudes, so he was not deceived by the bright ways and false hopes of al-Mumūn, the Abbāsid king, when he abdicated the throne and entrusted it to him. This abdication of the throne was not real; nor was it true at all; rather al-Mamūn had decided that in order to achieve his political goals; probably the most important one of these goals is that he wanted to suppress those burning revolts which were about to burn the Abbāsid government and to fold its flag.

Among those revolts was that of Abū al-Sarāyā. It is worth mentioning that Abū al-Sarāyā was an inspired military commander like Abū Muslim al-Khurasāni, who had overthrown the Umayyad government.