Had he been telling the truth only, people would not have liked him.

Had he been telling the truth only, people would not have liked him." Abuzar said: "Enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong have left for me no friends." Imam Ali said: "Do not try to use artificial manners to be intimate with me and do not address me with those words with which the tyrants are addressed." These words of the Imam show that to like flattery and the use of high sounding titles is also a sort of a compromise on principles.

Those who like such cheap things do not succeed in reforming society. Imam Ali further said: "For me the strong is weak till I force him to restore the rights of others." He means to say that he is not one of those who compromise on principles. We frequently meet with the word compromise in connection with the Mu'awiya affair and the proposals put to Imam Ali to come to terms with him. Imam Ali said that a leader must not be a specimen of the depravity of his people.

"He should not be an impious man commanding others to piety or an ailing physician treating other people." How can a man who is eating dates himself ask others not to eat them. "He who puts himself as a leader of the people, should begin the reform with himself...." A leader must not be greedy for avarice means permanent bondage, which is contrary to spiritual and moral freedom.

In respect of Christ Imam Ali says: "He had no wife to seduce him, no child to grieve him, no property to divert his attention and no cupidity to disgrace him." (Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 160). In short, a man who is morally a materialist cannot be a true reformer and a materialist philosopher cannot morally be a 100 per cent non materialistic. Other qualities of a reformer: Calmness in spite of sensitiveness. An example of calmness in Imam Ali's behaviour.

A woman from Basrah and a Kharijite once abused him, but he paid no attention to their foul language. A reformer must be iron-clad. He should not be delicate, but he should be sensitive. An example of being sensitive without being delicate is the story of Sufiyan Ghamidi, who arrived in Anbar. "If any Muslim dies henceforth on account of sorrow ........

"Should I pass the night while I have overeaten and there are hungry stomachs around me?" 42.It may be noted that these notes were written before Islamic revolution had taken place in Iran. A part of the life account of the Holy Prophet should be studied from the viewpoint of the principles of leadership. Item No.