In these two statements it has been clearly admitted that...

In these two statements it has been clearly admitted that virtue is the thing which unites the people at one point just as humanity is basically the point of unification. What has been stated above makes it abundantly clear that just as man possesses many other rights he has, according to the laws enunciated by Ali, this right also that he should be free in the matter of his beliefs and there should be no restriction on his holding any belief he likes. Freedom cannot be divided.

It is not possible that man should be free in some respect and a captive in some other respects. A Muslim is the brother of a Christian whether he likes it or not, because a man is the brother of a man whether he admits it or not.

If in the eyes of Ali the main object of creating man as a free being had not been this that he should make efforts to acquire virtues and if, according to him, freedom had not been a sacred right, he would not have praised the followers of Jesus in the same manner in which he praised the followers of Muhammad. In the foregoing pages we have mentioned that a Christian stole the coat-of-mail of Ali and claimed that he had purchased it.

We have also mentioned how Ali behaved with the Christian as a person equal to himself, rather in the manner in which a father behaves with his son. We have also stated how Ali lodged a complaint in the court of the judge Shurayh and what its outcome was and how the Christian became one of his sincere disciples and vehemently helped him.

The history of Arabia is proud of the following sentence of Ali which adorns its pages: “If a carpet is spread for me and I sit on it, I shall decide the cases of the Jews according to their book `the Torah', of the Christians according to their book `the Evangel' and of the Muslims according to their Qur'an, in such a way that everyone of these books will cry out: “Ali has spoken the truth”. Ali instructed Ma`qal son of Qais as under:- “O Ma`qal! Fear God.

Don't be unjust to the Muslims and don't oppress the Zimmis . Don't be proud, because God doesn't like the proud”. It shows that according to Ali `fear of God' means this that a person should not oppress his fellow-beings and should not in any way be unjust to them. Furthermore, he places the Muslims and the non-Muslims at the same level and does not accord preference to anyone of them. This equality of the Muslims and the non-Muslims can be observed in each and every order of Ali.