A letter to Mu’awiya.
You must know and understand that Allah has made this world a place where one is to stay only to provide for a happy life for himself in the Hereafter by his deeds. People are put to test here so that they may be rewarded according to their merits.
Our life does not end here and we are not created only for this world. Nor are we ordered to concentrate our energies only to acquire pleasures, power and pomp here. We are brought here simply to be tested in accordance to our knowledge, intentions and activities.
You are being tested through me and I am being tested through you. Each one of us is to be an evidence of the demonstration of the intentions and deeds of the other – whether they have been pious or sinful. You began by misinterpreting the Holy Qur\’an and on the basis of these misinterpretations you started grasping power and wealth and began oppressing and tyrannizing the people. Your next unholy action was to call me responsible for an action (murder of Caliph Uthman) of which my tongue and hands were both innocent.
You with the Syrians tried your best to bring this deed to my door. The learned from your side persuaded the ignorant and influential people, and drove the commoners to rise against me.
Fear Allah and do let Satan drive you wherever it wants, think of death and the life after death because that is the only resting-place for you and me and for every human being. Be afraid of the Wrath of Almighty Allah which may throw you into such a calamity that it will not only be an end of you but an end of your dynasty.
I swear, and my oath is such that I have no intention of breaking it, that if fate so arranges as to bring us face to face against each other then I shall not leave the battlefield: “Until Allah judges between us, and He is the best Judge” [ Qur\’an, 7:87 ].
56.Instructions to Shuray bin Hani
When Imam Ali (a) appointed Shuray bin Hani as commanding officer of the vanguard of his army, which was marching towards Syria, he gave Hani the following instructions.
Day and night keep the fear of Allah in your mind. Be afraid of this alluring and vicious world, never trust it. If you do not check yourself from the desire of acquiring inordinate things then your mind will surely drive you towards losses. Therefore, have a complete watch and command over yourself and at the time of anger and annoyance see that you do not lose your temper.
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