Who was 'Ali ibn Abi Talib?

 

Wisdom and Justice of ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib (R.A.)

 

‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib Ben Abd Al-Muttalib Bin Hashim (R.A.) was the youngest and the earliest convert of Islam. He was a close cousin of the prophet Muhammad (prayers and peace be upon him) born of Abu Talib and Fatimah from Banu Hashim. He married the daughter of Prophet, Fatimah.

Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was raised by the prophet. His knowledge and conduct were like the Qur’an and the Sunnah. He was reliable, wise and trustworthy. Prophet Muhammad (prayers and peace be upon him) charged him with various respectable responsibilities. He made Ali the scribe of the Qur’an, the writer of the treaty of Hudaybiyah and also the settler of disputes and uprisings (Ahmad, 2012). He was also the fourth and last of the rightly guided caliph chosen by Allah. Along with that, he is also one of the 10 people who were given the glad tidings of paradise in this world (Sunan al-Tirmidhī 3747).

‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib was a wise man with great knowledge, Prophet described him as, “the one who has the most knowledge and greatest in intelligence” ('Aziz, 2009). ‘Ali was very well versed in the Qur’an and knew everything about each verse, from its time of revelation to the place, purpose and reason for its revelation. He encouraged the wise use of knowledge and acquisition of beneficial knowledge. He believed that seeking knowledge was worship. It is an eternal gift that increases when acted upon. Knowledge is not something to be carried but used in the favor of Allah.  ‘Ali strongly believed that people who store knowledge are like stray animals, rather it is the duty of the learner to pass his wisdom to his fellows. He encouraged the Muslims to become scholars, to study the Deen with understanding and to contemplate on the verses of Qur’an. From his wisdom, he departed the people with the knowledge of five things that every person must memorize: to keep hope only in Allah, for the ignorant to not be shy in seeking knowledge, for a person to only fear his sins, to be patient, and for a scholar to always say “Allah knows best” so he may not fall into arrogance ('Aziz, 2009).

‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) was wise and soft-hearted. He often cried in his prayers and helped the oppressed. In his five years of being the Caliph, he worked in setting up an ideal state. Even before he became the Caliph, he supported Abu Bakr, Umar bin Khattab and Uthman bin Affan in all matters of ruling and disputes. His excellent and just behavior made even the enemies to give him their trust. ‘Ali was very intelligent and fair in the way he solved the disputes between the people. Once two men, one with five breads and the other with three were joined with a third men whom they shared their bread with; the third men paid them 8 dirhams. The dispute arose when the men with 3 breads didn’t want the dirhams to be split 5:3 but rather half. Even on ‘Ali’s command the man persisted for an equal division, so ‘Ali asked the dirhams to be split 1-7. The reason behind such a split was a wise one which the man had to accept. The reason behind such a division ‘Ali explained was:  if each bread is split into three parts such that the man with the three breads gets 9 pieces and the man with 5 breads get 15 pieces, and if all these pieces are shared equally among the three men, each man gets 8 pieces. Since the man with the three bread only contributed 1/3 of his one bread to the other, he is only supposed to get one dirham while in comparison, the other man contributed 2 and 1/3 of his breads (Najeebabadi, 2000).

Similarly, ‘Ali is known to have solved many other disputes justly. He is an excellent leader who exercised his authority for the welfare of others. It was his mission to wipe out poverty by providing resources to the poor and needy. He undertook a three- track approach to manage his state: encouraging his people to do good by preaching Qur’an and Sunnah, implementing moral laws for the administrators to follow and getting rid of evils among the administrators (Abbas, 2019).

He was very good at managing the public fund or treasury. He changed the perspectives of the tax collectors from collecting taxes for a momentary gain to a long investment that can help in development and progress of the state and society (De Gifis, 2010). He disliked the idea of holding public money, he preferred to invest the money in public matters. He had a just economy where the public fund was distributed evenly among all members of the society: rich or poor, slave or royal, black or brown, etc. Since the priority was not to accumulate wealth in the public fund but to take care of the well-being of the people, ‘Ali was careful with the public money. He always grew uncomfortable if there was any money left by the end of the day. His justice was for Allah and for Islam. He had no intentions to earn the favor of the rich by giving them more from the public fund. His purpose was to help the poor with their basic necessities. He wished to lessen their burden by being a just Caliph of Islam. He wanted to stop the rich from spending excessively on things because this can increase the gap between the rich and the poor.

He wanted to create a moral society where people work on the Qur’an and Sunnah. To ensure that people work justly in market places, he took trips to the market (Abbas, 2019). This kept the sellers and people of market under surveillance and reminded them that there would be accountability if any unethical activity is observed. 

‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was a man free from hypocrisy and false beliefs. He was adamant to create a society that would please Allah and his Messenger (prayers and blessings be upon him). His knowledge and his Iman were what made it possible for the Islamic Caliphate to prosper.