ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Rationality of Islam A Basic Guide in Islamic Administration The following instructions in the form of a letter were written by Imam ‘Ali (A) to Malik al-Ashtar, whom he had appointed as a Governor of Egypt in the year 657 A.D. (approximately). There is a main central idea running throughout these instructions, like one single thread out of which a cloth is woven, and that is of Allah. The government is of Allah.

The governors and the governed are both creatures of Allah. This letter is based on the principles of administration as taught by the Holy Qur’an.

It is a code to establish a kind and benevolent rule, throwing light on various aspects of justice, benevolence and mercy, an order based on the ethics of a benign and pious ruler ship, where justice and mercy is shown to human beings irrespective of class, creed and color, where poverty is neither a stigma nor a disqualification and where justice is not tarred with nepotism, favoritism, provincialism or religious fanaticism and on the other hand it is a thesis on the higher values of morality.

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Be it known to you, O Malik, that I am sending you as Governor to a country which in the past has experienced both just and unjust rule. Men will scrutinize your actions with a searching eye, even as you used to scrutinize the actions of those before you and speak of you even as you did speak of them. The fact is that the public speak well of only those who do good. It is they who furnish the proof of your actions.

Hence the richest treasure that you may covet should be the treasure of good deeds. Keep your desires under control and deny yourself that which you have been prohibited against. By such abstinence alone, you will be able to distinguish between what is good and what is not. Develop in your heart the feeling of love for your people and let it be the source of kindliness and blessing to them. Do not behave with them like a barbarian, and do not appropriate to yourself that which belongs to them.