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Back You are here: Home Eternal Words Nahj al-Balaghah Letters instruction27 - Given to Muhammad Ibn Aba Bakr (May Allah Be Pleased with Him), When Imam Ali Ibn Aba Talib, Peace be Upon Him Appointed Him as Governor of Egypt

instruction27 - Given to Muhammad Ibn Aba Bakr (May Allah Be Pleased with Him), When Imam Ali Ibn Aba Talib, Peace be Upon Him Appointed Him as Governor of Egypt


Deal humbly with the public. Remain lenient. Meet them largeheartedly, accord them equal treatment so that the mighty should not expect injustice from you in their favor and the lowly should not be despondent of your justice. Allah, the Sublime, will certainly question you, O community of His creatures, about your actions, small or big, open or concealed. If He punishes you, it is because you have been oppressive, and if He forgives you, then it is because He is the most Generous.
Be informed, O servants of Allah, that the God-fearing share the joys of this transient world as well as those of the next, for they share with the people of this world in their worldly matters while their people did not share with them in the matters of the next. They lived in this world in the best manner of living. They ate the choicest food and enjoyed herein all that the people with ease of life enjoyed. They secured from it what the haughty and the vain secured. Then they departed from it after taking provision enough to take them to the end of their journey, having contracted a profitable transaction. They tasted the pleasure of renouncing the life in this world, firmly believing that on the Coming Day, they will be neighbors of Allah, where their call will not be repulsed, nor will their share of pleasure be small.
O servants of Allah! Fear death and its measures, and prepare all that is needed for it. It will come as a big event and a great affair, either as something good in which there will never be any evil, or an evil one in which there will never be any good. Who is nearer to Paradise than one who works towards it, and who is nearer to Hell than one who works for it? You are being chased by death. If you stop, it will catch you, and if you run away from it, it will grab you. It is more attached to you than your own shadow. Death is tied to your forelocks while the world is being wrapped up from behind you. Therefore, fear the Fire whose hollow is deep, whose flames are severe and whose punishment is novel. It is a place wherein there is no mercy. No call is heard in it. No pain is healed in it. If it is possible for you to have severe fear of Allah and to rest hope in Him, then do both these things because every individual can have hope in His Lord to the extent of his fear of His Lord. Certainly, the most hopeful person with Allah is whoever fears Him the most.
O Muhammad son of Aba Bakr! Be informed that I have given you charge of Egypt which is my biggest force. You are duty-bound to oppose your passions and to serve as a shield against your religion even though you may get only an hour in the world. Do not enrage Allah for pleasing others because (Allah) is such that He may take the place of others, yet others cannot take the place of Allah. Say prayers at their appointed times. Do not say your prayers earlier for the sake of (available) leisure, nor should you delay them on account of any preoccupation. Remember that every deed of yours is dependent on your prayers.

An excerpt of the same:

The leader of guidance and the leader of destruction cannot be equal, nor can the friend of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) and the enemy of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.). The Messenger of Allah (p.b.u.h.) has told me that: “With regard to my people, I am afraid neither of a believer nor of an unbeliever. As for the believer, Allah will afford him protection because of his belief. As for the unbeliever, Allah will humiliate him because of his lack of belief. But I fear for anyone of you who is hypocrite in his heart and who has mastered the language. He speaks what you hold as good but does whatever you dislike.


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