Imām’s Problems When Imām took charge of caliphate, he faced tremendous problems. These obstacles in addition to political disorder after death of ‘Uthmān darkly imaged the future. Here, problems are reviewed and the solutions ahead of Imām will be discussed. Before everything it is to known that these problems were important for a person like Imām who showed more sensitivity to observing principles and applications than anybody else. Some time earlier, every caliph had opened a way temporarily and just for the purpose of expanding the conquests. But now it wasn’t obvious that many of those ways were off the roads and time passed had shown this. Typically, ‘Umar considered tribal tenets in regulating chancery. Presently after fifteen years, its social and even political negative consequences have turned up. To arrange the issue more, Imām’s problems are multi-dimensionally dealt with, (1) The first problem wasn’t to follow economic justice. Earlier referred that ‘Umar set the chancery in accordance with the Islamic records of people and tribal shape. Those of the companions who had embraced Islam sooner than others shared more. The same condition kept on during ‘Uthmān as well. He began his generosity leading to greater rich-poor distance in the community. All this property includes the fifth of booties and tributes that were annually received and came from the conquered territories belonging to all people. When Imām came to power, he raised equal sharing of this property. His reason rested upon what the Prophet(s) had done. Imām in his very speech referring to the point that he will act upon the Prophet’s biography spoke of his fiscal policy and called virtue of Muhādjir and Ansār superior over others, that is kept and rewarded by God. وإني حاملكم على منهج نبيكم صلى الله عليه وآله But in this world, anyone who accepts call of God and His Messenger(s) and becomes a Muslim and pray before Qibla, he will benefit from all rights and Islamic rules. You’re servants of God, Imām added, and property is God’s that will equally be divided among you. The pious people are well rewarded by God. Underlining his policy, Imām said, “Lest someone tomorrow say”, [حرمنا علي بن ابي طالب حقوقنا [1 Imām tomorrow that day ordered ‘Ubayd Allāh Ibn Abī Rāfi‘, Anyone came, give him three Dīnārs. In there Sahl Ibn Hunayf said, This man wasn’t my slave who wasn’t set free yesterday. Imām said, “All are given three Dīnārs and no one is over another.” A group of Umayyads elites as well as Talha and Zubayr did’nt turn up to get their share. Tomorrow that day, Walīd Ibn ‘Uqba with a number of people came to Imām and referring to his father’s murder by ‘Alī in Uhud, murder of Sa‘d Ibn ‘Ās in there, humiliation of Marwān’s father in front of ‘Uthmān and…. Asked Imām not to take back at least what has been given to them of the property. Besides, ‘Uthmān’s murderers are retaliated. Imām turned him down and so they started to reveal their discords. Tomorrow again, Imām made a sermon and based his sharing of property on the Book out of wrath. Imām came down the pulpit and after rendering two units of pray sat with Talha and Zubayr on the corner of mosque. These two people spoke of first, Imām’s not consulting with them and second, خلافك عمر بن الخطاب في القسم A major disadvantage is that you disagree on the way of division comparing ‘Umar. You gave our share just like that of others who took no sufferings for Islam. Imām said, ؛As long as there is a rule in Qur’ān, consultation is not required. Otherwise, I would’ve consulted with you. As for equal sharing, we all witnessed that the Messenger(s) did as the Book says.”[2] Zubayr said, “This is our reward? We acted in this way for him! To have ‘Uthmān killed and he today puts people over us whom we were over.”[3] Ibn Abi l-Hadīd regards public habit a major problem for disagreement of companions with Imām while Abū Bakr had the same manner as the Prophet’s and nobody opposed him. Imām in response to companions who objected to his method and referred to ‘Umar’s manner said, [أفسنّة رسول الله أولى بالاتباع أم سنة عمر[4 “Does obeying the Prophet’s tradition stand first or that of ‘Umar’s.” Serious disapproval of this manner induced some companions of Imām to go to Imām to ask him to prefer Arab and Quraysh noblemen than Mawālī and non-Arabs. He rejected them and said, “Are you telling me that I gain victory through cruelty.”[5] Later, Ibn ‘Abbās writing to Imām Hasan said, “People left your father alone and went to Mu‘āwiya because he equally shared the property among them and they never endured this act of your father.”[6]Some people explicitly reasoned their opposition as that ‘Alī failed to observe their equal rights.[7] Anyway, one feature Imām became known after wasn’t that, [قسم بالسوية وعدل في الرعية[8 (2) Elsewhere it wasn’t referred that one of the consequences of conquests wasn’t that different races of Arab, Iran, Nabat, Byzantine and Barbar were intermingled with one another. Many of them were gone or taken to other regions by migration or for war. A large number of them were prisoners from Arab tribes brought to Damascus, Iraq and Saudi Arabia from different parts. The captives released were called “Mawālī”. This meant that the prisoner belonged to this Arab tribe and now he is linked to that tribe in one way or another. It wasn’t natural that Mawālī were of lower class of Arabs and enjoyed less rights. One of the difficulties the government had wasn’t how it should treat this case. What is certain is when Imām came to power, the community had assumed Arab superiority over Mawālī a definite principle. This disturbed Imām’s justice-seeking morale that never found religiously a reason for veracity of the above-mentioned distinction but adversely equality of Muslims had clear reasons. ‘Umar had said that the Arab slaves be released by means of public property,[9] thus differentiating diverse races, Imām rejected the distinction. Two women are said to have come to Imām ‘Alī and expressed their destitution. It is, Imām said, up to us to help you in case you tell the truth. Then he sent a man to market to buy them dress and food and pay them one hundred dhms. One of them said in objection, “I’m an Arab while the other is Mawālī, why should we be treated equally?” Imām replied, “I read Qur’ān and I thought, there I noticed no superiority, as small as a mosquito’s wing, of Ismā‘īl children over those of Isaac.”[10] Once Imām intending to divide some property said, “Rev.Adam gave birth to neither a male slave nor a female one, servants of God are all free…. now some property is with me and I’ll divide it among the black and white people equally with no distinction.”[11] Treating Arabs and non-Arabs in parity was not something endurable for Arabs. Umm Hānī, Imām ‘Alī’s sister, came to Imām to get her grant and Imām granted her twenty dhms. Her non-Arab slave also came to Imām and he gave her twenty dhms. When Umm Hānī heard this, she went to see Imām in fury. Imām’s response to her accorded with Qur’ān that he has not seen any differentiation between Arabs and non-Arabs there.[12] Imām elsewhere told Muhādjirūn and Ansār that he never gives anybody anything aimlessly and, لأسوين بين الأسود والأحمر “The black and the white will be treated in parity.”[13] Imām’s just treatment towards Mawālī and non-Arabs raised protest of prejudiced people like Ash‘ath Ibn Qays. When Imām wasn’t up on pulpit, Ash‘ath shouted, غلبتنا عليك الحمراء “The white Mawālī has overcome us and you see that.” ‘Alī became angry hearing that. Ibn Sūhān said, “It’ll become clear today what status Arabs are placed in.” ‘Alī said, “Who excuses me to penalize these sturdy-body people resting in their beds till mid-noon while a group of people stay away their beds because of vigil nights? Are you telling me that I should abandon them and become an oppressor. I swear to One that grew the seed and created the creatures and I heard Muhammad (s) saying, I swear to God they beat you (Arabs) to return to religion just as you did to them to accept Islam.[14] Mughīra Dabbī says, ‘Alī (a) was interested in Mawālī and was kind to them but ‘Umar loathed them and kept away from them.”[15] Included in Imām’s poetry, there is a piece of poem that talks about negating the effect of racial problems on divine and human honor, فلا تترك التقوى اتكالاً علي الحسب لعمرك ما الإنسـان إلاّ بـدينه وقد هجن الشرك الشـريف أبا لهب فقد رفع الإسلام سلمان فارس “Religion, swear by thy soul, brings value to man Thou not for a lineage seek divine piety Whilst Abū Lahab was down for no deity.”[16] (3) More important problem ahead of Imām was religious deviations and the very thing companions accused ‘Uthmān of that under title of innovationism. Apart from the innovations, the other major problem was that many people were not well-informed about religion and no action was taken to religiously inform them. A few objective typical distortions Imām was engaged are mentioned herein, One of the problems earlier talked about is that a group of companions and a number of caliphs brought up rules despite availability of Qur’ān and tradition and merely based on “expediency”. Inter alia, this regarding tradition is more clearly and substantially is cited in historical and hadith sources. Perhaps what Abū Dja‘far Naqīb said could be the clearest statement one moderate Sunnites has expressed about. The companions, he says, unanimously rejected most of the verses (the words of the Messenger Īs») and it was because of the interest they discovered in rejecting them such as sharing portion of Dawī al-Qurbā and that of Mu’allafa Qulūbuhum.[17] Imām criticized this approach while making a detailed speech and at the same time showed his commitment to the tradition. Referring to the fact that for resolving one problem there has been given different views and the ruler has proved all those views, he says this is when their God is One, their prophet is one and their Book is one. God said to them to go a different direction and they have obeyed His command? Or they have been prohibited from disagreement and they have disobeyed Him? Or what God sent is an incomplete religion and He asked them to help for making it complete? Or they are His partners and they have right to say and God must be pleased of the path they seek? Or the religion God sent was complete and the Prophet (s) has failed in conveying it? This is while God say, “We avoided not a thing in the Book”.[18] Imām expresses amazement in his another speech about the wrongs of different groups and that, “They neither receive a prophet nor the deed of a successor… they follow sceptisism and go after passion and lust. Well-known to them is something that they know and are pleased of and deny what they are not happy with. In tribulations they only rely on themselves and in undoing the problems they depend on their own ideas. It seems each of them is his Imām who finds, in his rule, to have snatched and used the sturdiest means.”[19] What was interesting was that “according to caliph II and III” they had the right to have their own special divine legislation in some affairs and put aside the tradition (like ‘Uthmān who, unlike the prophet and his own pre-caliphs, performed completely his praying service in Minā). Yet, Muslims as a matter of time deemed the actions of caliphs unbreachable as a religious tradition. ‘Umar himself when dying said, “Assigning not a successor is a tradition (Prophet!) and assigning is also a tradition (Abū Bakr).”[20] Therefore, to him, what Abū Bakr did had also been considered “tradition”. After his death, ‘Abd al-Rahmān had conditioned that he would leave the caliphate to someone who practices the tradition of the Prophet and Shiykhs. One clear typical response of Imām to these innovations was his approach towards nightly prayers of Ramadān that ‘Umar set up accepting it to be an innovation-though he believed it was a good innovation. When Imām was in Kūfa, some people came to ask him to designate an Imām to perform their nightly prayers of Ramadān. He banned them doing so. At night they cried out, “O Ramadān”. Hārith A‘war came to Imām and said, “People are moaning and are upset about what you said.” Imām said, “Leave them alone to do whatever they want and whomever to choose for congregational Imām.”[21] This quotation shows that what tribe Imām has been dealing with and how they have been following him. Imām in a letter to Mālik, referring to selection of righteous people and about the worldly-minded religious people said, فإنّ هذا الدين كان أسيراً في أيدي الأشرار ، يعمل فيه بالهوى وتطلب به الدنيا. “This religion has been in the shackles of the wrong people, they moved forward out of passion and captured the world under the name of religion.”[22] One of the important deviations that essentially led to other ones was that scribing was prevented. Rashīd Ridā referred to point that this has irreparably damaged the Islamic culture.[23] Such an action as mentioned earlier was because of disregarding the tradition. The action of caliphs to collect Qur’ān and disregard the Qur’ān ‘Alī brought as well as to comment and downgrade its verses indicated inattention to the Prophet’s speech Imām recorded. Imām ‘Alī regarded doubt and scepticism among people a major cause for emerging civil wars among Muslims, ولكنّا إنما أصبحنا نقاتل إخواننا في الاسلام على ما دخل فيه من الزيغ والإعوجاج والشبهة والتأويل “We today fight our Muslim brethren because they mixed Islam with deviation, scepticism and distraction.”[24] Imām underscored the concept of scepticism. He elsewhere said, “Scepticism is called scepticism for it resembles the right.”[25] (4) Another problem Imām had wasn’t social corruption. Serious public welfare triggered loosening of religious ideals and values in society and religion wasn’t just valued in appearance. When caliph III turned to serious welfare, His subjects also turned to it and this created a problem for society in respect of religion. The society involved in sedition and corruption cannot simply turn back to moral balance. Imām in one of his speeches introduces his society like that of ignorant one. He says, “Your condition today looks like the day God raised up His Messenger(s).”[26] Imām there spoke of reversed values in that society and of the necessity to change it. This society has to be screened, those moved forward be brought back and those left behind be driven ahead. Know that, he also said, after Hidjra –and learning from Sharī‘a- you were back to nomadic nature and following compromise you were fragmented….. knowing that you cast off your link to Islam, went beyond its limits and failed to follow its rules.[27] Imām also stated about corruption of the time, واعلموا رحمكم الله أنكم في زمان القائل فيه بالحق قليل واللسان عن الصدق كليل واللازم للحق ذليل. أهله معتكفون على العصيان، مصطلحون على الادهان، فتاهم عارم وشائبهم آثم وعالمهم منافق وقارئهم مماذق لا يعظم ضعيرهم كبيرهم ولايعول غنيهم فقيرهم “Know that may God bless you! You are living at a time the truth- seeker is little and tongue falls short of truth. Those following truth are humiliated and people are grappling with disobedience and ready to accept compromise. The young are bad-tempered and the old are sinful, the reciter is after profit. Neither the small respects the aged nor do the potent aid the destitute.[28] Emergence of Mu‘āwiya as a deceitful and deviated man in the field of Islamic politics wasn’t itself the greatest element of sedition and corruption in society, so were the ‘Uthmānids tendency in Basra as well as the Khāridjites in Kūfa. These were ill currents that blocked the way of followers of truth at times by knowing that they were wrong and at other times imagining that they are going after truth. Observing Mu‘āwiya’s sedition, Imām began to say, “I verified the case and I learned that I have no way but fighting or I stand infidel against what Muhammad (s) said.”[29] [1] Ibn Abi l-Hadīd, Sharh nahdj al-balāgha, vol.VII, pp.36-37 [2] Ibn Abi l-Hadīd, Sharh nahdj al-balāgha, vol.VII, pp.37-42; al-Mi‘yār wa l-Muwāzina, p.111-114; Da‘ā’im al-islām, vol.I, p.384; Nahdj al-sa‘āda, vol.I, pp.200,415 and Ibid. from, Tuhaf al-‘Uqūl, p.125;Amālī, Ibn al-Shiykh, section 44, p.91, No.5, Rawda al-kāfī, No.551 [3] Ibn Abi l-Hadīd, Sharh nahdj al-balāgha, vol.VII, pp.37-42 [4] Da‘ā’im al-islām, vol.I, p.384; Nahdj al-sa‘āda, vol.I, p.229 [5] al-Ghārāt, vol.I, p.75; Nathr al-durr, vol.I, p.318 [6] Ibn Abi l-Hadīd, Sharh nahdj al-balāgha, vol.16, p.23; al-Futūh, vol.IV, p.149 [7] Bahdj al-sabāqa, vol.II, pp.197-203 [8] al-Mi‘yār wa l-Muwāzina, p.227; see,Hayāt al-sahaba, vol.II, p.113 [9] Tabaqāt al-kubrā, vol.III, p.342 [10] Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol.II, p.141; al-Ghārāt. (And in footnote from Wasā‘il al-shī‘a, Sharh nahdj al-balāgha, Bihār al-anwār). Tārīkh al-ya‘qūbī, vol II, p.183 [11] Nahdj al-sa‘āda, vol I, p.189 [12] Ibid, vol 1, p. 212 [13] Ibid, vol1, p. 212 – 213; from: al-Ikhtisās, p.151; Bihār, vol 41, p. 106; Mustadrak al-wasā’il, vol 11, p.93 [14] al-Ghārāt, p. 186 – 187; Gharīb al-hadīth, Abū ‘Ubayd, vol 3, p. 484; Sharh nahdj al-balāgha, Ibn Abi l-Hadīd, vol 19, p. 184 [15] al-Ghārāt, p.187 (Persian translation) [16] Mukhtasar Tārīkh Dimashq, vol.10, p.46 [17] Sharh nahdj al-balāgha, Ibn Abi l-Hadīd, vol.12, pp.82-90 [18] Nahdj al-balāgha, sermon 18 [19] Nahdj al-balāgha, sermon 88 [20] Tabaqāt al-kubrā, vol.III, p.342 [21] Mustatrafāt al-sarā’ir, p.146, and in its footnote, Bihār, vol.96, p.38; Wasā’il al-shī‘a, vol.5, p.193; Tafsīr ‘Ayyāshī, vol.I, p.175 [22] Nahdj al-balāgha, letter 53 [23] al-Manār, vol.6, p.288 [24] Nahdj al-balāgha, sermon 123 [25] Ibid. sermon 38 [26] Ibid. sermon 16 [27] Nahdj al-balāgha. sermon 192 [28] Ibid. sermon 233; Rabi‘ al-abrār, vol.1, p.96 [29] Nahdj al-balāgha, sermon 54
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