Life of Imam Ali | 5 | The Caliphate of Imam Ali

43 Views· 24/06/21

Hussain Makke
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In Lectures

In this session we discuss why Imam Ali (as) initially refused to accept the Caliphate, and once he did, how he worked to undo the damage done to the Muslim nation through his political thought, economic strategies, revamped religious propagation and the education of his people.

Transcript

[0:00][Music] ah after the death of uthman there was anarchy it was

[0:55]a disaster you can only imagine the muslims themselves had killed the

[1:04]khalifa as much oppression or as much disaster as they had been

[1:09]seeing at that time this in itself was a disaster that there

[1:12]was an uprising and now there was absolute anarchy the muslims didn't

[1:19]know which way to go left or right here it's important for

[1:25]us to dissect all the different sorts of lessons we can take

[1:29]from the life of imam ali islam in such a critical time

[1:34]from everything that came before and everything that is to come this

[1:37]is the central point the point of imam ali and how he

[1:41]attained that and how we can take these lessons and these policies

[1:46]and try to implement them into our lives today as the muslims

[1:52]right now are in chaos and people begin to speak about who

[1:57]is going to be the next ruler and who's going to be

[2:00]the next khalifa and some people say talha some people are saying

[2:04]zubair some people are saying sad you know the people that were

[2:07]in the surah of umar in any case people are in different

[2:10]factions benny umayyah at this time is in a little bit of

[2:14]a panic because they were favored during the time of uthman so

[2:17]who's going to take over marwan even hakam is plotting on his

[2:22]own people are going left right center but those who revolted and

[2:25]the ones who came up with an uprising which by the way

[2:28]many of the people who were up coming for the uprising were

[2:31]doing it on just grounds there were those that were doing it

[2:35]on injustice on grounds of injustice and those that were doing it

[2:39]on just grounds in any case the masses were screaming for one

[2:45]man the masses kept calling for ali 25 years later imam ali

[2:52]alayhi salaam for 25 years had been in the background giving advice

[2:55]when needed 25 years ago 40 men would not come now the

[3:04]masses were screaming after him the imam had made sure that he

[3:10]was not to be blamed for anything that occurred without man there

[3:14]are even reports that he had left the city he was not

[3:16]content or happy with what was happening he wasn't trying to advocate

[3:20]for uthman being removed let alone being killed he did not want

[3:25]anyone to blame him for this and this is an important point

[3:27]to keep in mind for what is to come in the battle

[3:32]of jamal because this was the premise used against imam ali in

[3:37]any case the imam at this point did not want anything to

[3:42]do with what happened but the people kept chasing after him he

[3:45]was a well respected figure in the muslim community for 25 years

[3:51]people had not had one black dot on his reputation the muslim

[3:57]ummah at this time was large it was much larger than it

[4:00]used to be before it was a global empire now but the

[4:06]imam refused they started coming after him everywhere but he refused he

[4:09]said no and he meant it it wasn't out of humility he

[4:16]said take someone else as your leader take someone else as your

[4:22]ruler i am not your ruler he had made his peace with

[4:26]it he had made his peace with divorcing his spiritual authority from

[4:29]the political and temporal power and he carried on his duties as

[4:36]the spiritual authority but as we mentioned imam assad he tells us

[4:42]that rulership is based on circumstances and here the circumstances were finally

[4:46]presenting themselves to imam ali the circumstances that he needed in terms

[4:52]of supporters 25 years prior it was now showing itself the masses

[4:55]wanted one man but he didn't want it and he meant it

[4:59]and this was for several different reasons he kept rejecting it he

[5:02]rejected it twice formally and it was because of three main reasons

[5:06]the first reason being the future and the conquests we mentioned the

[5:12]conquests when the muslims went into all the different lands in the

[5:16]world now islam has reached africa it's reached azerbaijan it's reached yemen

[5:22]it's reached iran it's reached all these different lands the imam felt

[5:28]that the muslims had come out of their homes and out of

[5:33]their villages way too early he felt that what the prophet would

[5:36]have intended was for the muslims to learn about their deen about

[5:41]quran about the sunnah all they would do at the time is

[5:45]memorize qur'an there was not have seed of quran they didn't understand

[5:50]to understand their own jahiliyyah to be cultured to understand the jahiliyyah

[5:55]of other civilizations that you're about to go into these civilizations that

[5:59]we're going to meet right now instead of going there conquering them

[6:02]and mixing their jahlil and now there's all these different strands and

[6:09]types of islam that were never intended from the very beginning that

[6:12]are mixed with jahlia of different civilizations how is the imam going

[6:17]to tame this or to be able to be there for everyone

[6:20]and teach them and keep it under control who is teaching what

[6:24]and where at the right time in the right place the right

[6:28]people it's out of his control this was now a global project

[6:32]and that's not what the imam had intended right in the beginning

[6:35]so even though now he had all of these supporters they came

[6:41]at a time of chaos not at the time of peace where

[6:45]he's able to nourish islam as a baby but it came as

[6:48]if islam right now is a grown teenager that doesn't know anything

[6:52]about their deen and he has to start from the very beginning

[6:53]and it's very difficult to do that the second reason were the

[7:00]strategies that he inherited from um the economic strategies the political strategies

[7:04]and the sharia strategies these were difficult for him to deal with

[7:08]economically right now the imam he bases his outlook of the world

[7:15]on justice and equality but right now you have the dispersing of

[7:20]wealth going to arabs before non-arabs to the mohajjarim before the ansar

[7:24]to the quraish before anyone else how is the imam going to

[7:29]come and stop this and tackle this he knew that if he

[7:34]was to attempt this people are going to rebel people are going

[7:37]to stand up and not accept it and they're going to be

[7:40]strong in elite people he knows he knows if he takes this

[7:48]on what he will face not to mention the issues with the

[7:51]sharia and um was a legendary figure his word does not become

[7:59]two so for example when the imam goes to kufa and he

[8:01]sees the people praying to and he tells them stop praying the

[8:06]taraweeh the people started to protest they would call out was they

[8:09]didn't accept it he had that to deal with for example with

[8:14]even muawiyah when the imam tried to tell muawy to stand down

[8:20]after he took the khilafah eventually the people his advisers told him

[8:27]how can you question muawiyah when he is appointed by a hammer

[8:32]as in omar is the one who appointed him you can't go

[8:37]against that so the imam was going to be facing many difficulties

[8:40]when it came to the new policies and changes and strategies that

[8:45]he would want to implement this is not to mention of course

[8:48]the growing of the umayyad government in sham which is the third

[8:55]reason now the imam takes khilafah but he's got a whole new

[8:59]government within a government to deal with muhammad had become so powerful

[9:04]in sham he was supposed to be a governor but he basically

[9:07]became a king in the words of he was untouched the money

[9:16]that was in sham would remain in sham it wouldn't go to

[9:19]madinah to be part of the treasury of bethel muslim it remains

[9:24]in sham and sham had its own army thousands of soldiers very

[9:29]powerful powerful positioning imam ali is going to become the khalifa but

[9:38]he's going to have basically other people around him trying to be

[9:41]the king or the khalifa themselves he's not going to have certain

[9:46]powers that be obey him he knows he's going to inherit this

[9:50]issue in the time of um had such a free reign even

[9:59]abu hurairah himself was beaten by umar when he would this do

[10:01]something that displeased omar umar actually beat him but here mahawaya was

[10:08]left completely alone so immanuel islam has to deal with this this

[10:13]is not to mention the very powerful propaganda machine that muawiyah had

[10:19]in his hands in sham it was so powerful that imam ali

[10:23]islam was questioned amongst the people of sham like no other to

[10:27]the point that even when imam ali salam was martyred imagine when

[10:31]he was martyred and the rumors spread and information spread that he

[10:35]was struck in his salat in his sujood do you know what

[10:40]the people would say he used to pray that's how he was

[10:49]shown to the people he was shown as someone who was rebelling

[10:52]against islam against the muslim empire someone who would even pray this

[10:56]is that they knew this was the umayyad government that was there

[11:02]that imam ali would have to face it was a government within

[11:05]the government of islam so the imam when he said i will

[11:10]just advise as he has been advising from the sidelines the people

[11:14]would not accept they would crowd around him they would walk after

[11:19]him in the streets three days there was anarchy after the death

[11:23]of uthman they would go wait outside his work they would follow

[11:27]him into the farms they would wait outside they would hide behind

[11:32]the trees they were everywhere until there was a stampede they rushed

[11:36]to him on that day they rushed to him and they were

[11:40]pushing and shoving to the point that imam al-hasan was saying were

[11:44]getting squashed they were grown men getting squashed and they were trying

[11:49]to grab amir mormonine and plead with him to accept that's how

[11:52]much kumela bin ziyad ran to amir mu'min and would try to

[11:56]pay homage pay homage try to give him the bay'a right there

[11:59]and then he wants to be the first one malik ashtar came

[12:03]and stopped everyone and said oh people this is the man that

[12:07]we need as our khalifa he is the perfect candidate and his

[12:12]personality is perfect and he received his knowledge from rasulullah himself we

[12:18]should accept no one else as our leader as he gives this

[12:22]speech he starts telling people to pay homage and now they are

[12:26]putting it right in front of imam ali as he watches on

[12:31]and subhanallah if we compare this scene to 25 years prior the

[12:40]imam did not want the khilafah but then he says it himself

[12:50]he speaks about the fact that these people now are here in

[12:55]front of him he doesn't want it but the fact that they

[12:58]are here and they are forcing it upon him and now he

[13:01]is going to be answerable to allah on the day of judgment

[13:05]it doesn't accept this and he speaks about this in the sermon

[13:10]of shak shakir that we spoke about in the previous session and

[13:15]i wanted to read out to you his words the imam says

[13:20]at that moment nothing took me by surprise except the crowd of

[13:25]people rushing towards me it advanced towards me from every side like

[13:30]the mane of the hyena so much so that hassan and hussain

[13:35]were getting crushed and both the ends of my shoulders garments were

[13:41]torn they gathered around me like a herd of sheep and ghosts

[13:46]and goats behold by him who split the grain and created living

[13:50]beings if people had not come to me and supporters had not

[13:53]exhausted their argument against me i would have cast the rope of

[13:58]the caliphate on its shoulders i wouldn't want it but they were

[14:02]forcing it upon me and i would have given the last one

[14:06]the same treatment as to the first one then you would have

[14:10]seen that in my view this world of yours is no better

[14:16]than the sneezing of a goat here the imam is telling us

[14:20]that the world doesn't matter to him nothing was for political gain

[14:24]or political power he didn't want it some people tried to blame

[14:28]it on him that was man was killed he didn't even want

[14:32]the khilafah the people were forcing it upon him his sons were

[14:35]in danger that's how many people there were around him forcing it

[14:39]upon him do you know what this means my brothers and sisters

[14:42]this is very a very important aspect of our tradition the imam

[14:48]is telling us here of something called taklif this is your duty

[14:54]and responsibility before allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when there is a hudja

[14:58]upon you that's what this means taklif in our lives what is

[15:03]it that allah needs from us so many of us go only

[15:08]towards what we want what i want what i want what i

[15:12]want if the imam had done what he wanted he would have

[15:15]just stayed in the background helped people with their spiritual matters and

[15:19]helped whoever was politically ruling at the time for the betterment of

[15:22]islam but his taklif said otherwise how many of us go towards

[15:29]our tech leaf in life our duties each every single one of

[15:33]us has a duty has a goal we have to have a

[15:36]goal and we have to work and we have to ask ourselves

[15:40]this is the true spirituality of islam in every moment of every

[15:44]day ya allah what is it that you want from me now

[15:46]ya allah what is it that you want from me this is

[15:53]my taklif the imam said histocle fight that moment 25 years prior

[15:59]was to be patient someone says he should have fought but the

[16:03]imam goes toward his tech leaf not towards what you would have

[16:08]done your desires and your own wits and anger taklif you look

[16:13]at our ulama how has our tradition survived for over a thousand

[16:16]years in the way that it has because look towards what their

[16:20]tacleef is we know allamat about the body for example he was

[16:25]a mujtahid he could have easily been a merjah but he became

[16:29]officer of quran because he saw that there wasn't much work in

[16:34]this field that we needed more tafsir so he worked 20 years

[16:40]on this book tafsil mizan one of the greatest books that we

[16:44]have in the last century that scholar has written volumes upon volumes

[16:48]of quran because he saw his tech leap in quran even though

[16:51]at the time people would say why are you doing this this

[16:55]is we don't we need to see the quran he went to

[16:58]tafsir quran what is it in your life look around where are

[17:02]the gaps that islam needs you in that you can fulfill this

[17:05]is your taklif you must fulfill your duties and fulfill your roles

[17:09]the imam is teaching us here and so when he comes this

[17:13]is why he is the correct ruler because he doesn't want to

[17:17]rule that's when you have a true leader the true leader is

[17:20]the one who doesn't want to be the leader when the one

[17:23]who wants to be a leader is trying to take the leadership

[17:27]then he should be scared for his own soul and people should

[17:31]be scared of him but here he does not want to be

[17:35]the leader they were forcing it upon him and so this is

[17:37]the true the true and noble individual who comes to lead by

[17:43]truth and justice and the imam tells us that the greater the

[17:48]blessing that allah bestows upon you the greater allah has a duty

[17:54]towards himself from you this is important and of course imam ali

[17:59]was bestowed with so many blessings his character his knowledge so he

[18:04]saw that now this was his taklif the most difficult difficult task

[18:10]but it was unavoidable it wasn't an issue of him being i

[18:15]am the leader now i am the ruler it was an unavoidable

[18:18]task that he had to take on so now he gives a

[18:25]speech to the people he accepts the behavior began to give the

[18:32]bear but he says i accept the bear from you but he

[18:37]felt that there was going to be so much standing against him

[18:40]and he had doubts in some people's sincerity but he could not

[18:43]leave them in this hopelessness so he accepted on conditions now before

[18:47]i state the conditions i want to just mention something some historians

[18:52]they have a hatred in their hearts for ali nabi nabitalib they

[18:56]want to even when it comes to his khilafah they want to

[19:00]speak about ishmael the consensus the majority consensus that ali they make

[19:06]an issue out of it he didn't really have ishmael there was

[19:08]dispute that's why there were so many wars no no no that's

[19:13]not why there were so many wars there were so many wars

[19:18]because people wanted the oppression and umali came with justice they wanted

[19:22]the oppression in their favor of course they wouldn't be oppressed they'd

[19:25]be oppressing other people but they'd have wealth they'd have power they

[19:31]want to ask and question the ishmael of and we just have

[19:36]to we have to pose the question was the ishmael for the

[19:42]first khalifa no we saw there wasn't the ansar were against himself

[19:47]was against many of the bani hashim were against labas was against

[19:52]the ashhab of imam ali alayhi salaam the great you saw salman

[19:58]you saw amar they were against sad was against what majority what

[20:08]consensus what ishmael was there for the first khalifa as for the

[20:12]second kharifa he was appointed by the first no ishma as for

[20:16]the third it was five six people they're the ones who elected

[20:23]in a very strange surah with strange rules a strange council what

[20:28]ishma was there so when it comes to alibaba now he wants

[20:31]a question saying that there was ishma there was everyone wanted ali

[20:39]there were no people arguing about it the only people didn't want

[20:43]the ali were in sham and his own little government you put

[20:48]marawi aside everyone gave baya to ali everyone gave bayer even that

[20:53]bani omaya gave baya to ali everyone gave baya there was no

[20:59]ifs buts and maybes no ifs and maybes everyone gave baya to

[21:02]ali and he came one of the proofs of this is when

[21:08]he went to fight in the battle of jamal many of those

[21:11]that people were using in the history books to say this person

[21:15]didn't give ba'aya this person didn't give back because they wouldn't go

[21:19]to jamal for example the imam asks them why are you not

[21:21]coming with me didn't you give me the bay'ah isn't it part

[21:27]of pledging allegiance to come with the caliph to war why aren't

[21:31]you coming with me to war this is the first war the

[21:34]first battle the battle of jamal which we'll speak about in the

[21:37]next session in the first battle people began to leave him right

[21:41]in the beginning right in the first battle but here even ahmad

[21:45]yasser he was surprised he said yamil nominee didn't they pay attention

[21:52]to you why aren't they coming this is proof they gave him

[21:57]baya everyone gave him the they began to leave afterwards slowly and

[22:00]we'll speak about how that happened eventually inshallah today i want to

[22:06]speak about the policies later on i'll speak about what happened but

[22:10]here everyone gave baya and the imam came with conditions he said

[22:14]i have conditions to accept the bay'a first of all those alive

[22:20]from the surah of umar they have to give first before everyone

[22:24]else here the imam was being very intelligent because he could see

[22:30]that first of all the shore of umar they were known as

[22:35]elite muslims omar's word is legendary as i mentioned the people chosen

[22:41]by him were legendary now those who were still alive were only

[22:44]three talha zubair and saad the imam demanded they give the bay'a

[22:49]first if anyone was going to come and try to argue with

[22:54]the imam or make an uprising it would most likely be someone

[22:58]with the power that one of these individuals had and remember zubaid

[23:02]was against the first khalifa 25 years prior and zupay was in

[23:07]the house of zahra alayhi and zubaid was at the janazah of

[23:12]zara just keep that in mind the imam says i want these

[23:15]three to give bayha first they gave the bay'a he got the

[23:18]bear from them then he said now i want the people of

[23:24]badr and the people of uhud and the mohajjarim and ansar to

[23:27]give the bay'a they were known as well they were very highly

[23:32]respected the people of badr and saw the original muslims old in

[23:37]age they came they gave the baya and then he said and

[23:40]this is the part that is the cherry on top he said

[23:44]and now the rest of the people am at the nest and

[23:49]this was a thorn in the eye of who quraish he didn't

[23:56]even mention them quresh who believed they had the right to choose

[24:02]the khalifa quraysh gave his opinion they said what is it to

[24:07]you o son of sumayyah and what quraish chooses quraysh remember who

[24:15]is going to take sultan muhammad from us we are the people

[24:22]of muhammad we are his tribe the imam and the very first

[24:26]action he does as khalifa even before his khalifa the initial bay'ah

[24:29]he destroys the idea of tribes he destroys the idea of quraysh

[24:34]they even mentioned them he put them with a hammet and nas

[24:38]with the rest of the people quraysh is not important he didn't

[24:41]even mention them so this was a big blow to them a

[24:46]big blow and it's the reason why they didn't want him 25

[24:50]years beforehand here the imam receives the baya from the people of

[24:54]uhudan badur and receives the bay'a from the mahajana ansar and then

[24:57]the rest of the people give by everyone gives bayer except in

[25:01]sham muawiyah does not give the bay at that time and i'll

[25:05]get to him in a moment now we see how the imam

[25:10]came towards ruling the islamic empire some people believe that the imam

[25:19]when he began he came with a cut throat attitude he came

[25:21]and he started to implement his laws and that's why so many

[25:26]wars happen but that's not true it's not true the imam was

[25:29]very patient he was very calm with taraweeh when the people were

[25:36]not accepting to change the sunnah of um you know what the

[25:40]imam did he sent imam mustafa to go and appoint a leader

[25:45]for this a lot the people are not accepting a point that

[25:49]he didn't change things like this straight away he left the issues

[25:54]of rituals of hajj hajj was changed you know the taraweeh was

[25:58]changed the adhan was changed he left the adhan for two three

[26:01]years he didn't try to change it back why because the imam

[26:07]was focusing on something more important than this he focused on social

[26:13]justice before the rituals when it came to the wealth of the

[26:18]muslims and the poor and justice and oppression he was absolute about

[26:25]that he would not accept anyone to have his right taken away

[26:29]from him he prioritized you see this is a lesson for us

[26:31]my brothers and sisters when we are teaching islam to people you

[26:37]don't teach a new muslim to praise that delay straight away right

[26:40]you have to slowly nourish them unfortunately some of the culture right

[26:47]now is to teach everyone the rituals first before the meanings you

[26:49]have to pronounce this way if you don't do it this way

[26:52]allah won't accept it from you and you have to do it

[26:54]like this and like that and you have to redo it and

[26:56]fasting in prayer and oh no calm down this is the lesson

[27:00]for us to teach to teach the spirit of the sharia first

[27:09]for people to know why they do what they do the imam

[27:11]begins with justice this is why we do what we do he

[27:16]teaches them through justice some people want to say that the imam

[27:19]was too idealistic he was not pragmatic like rasulullah look at rasulullah

[27:22]what he was able to do rasulullah was able to bring abu

[27:28]sufyan and turn him into an ally they wanted to say that

[27:31]look if ali was actually that smart how come he could not

[27:35]turn muawiyah into an ally say why are you reading history in

[27:39]this bias format maurya for years years now he has been shown

[27:45]and he has proven that he is incapable of resisting temptation when

[27:50]it comes to power to give muhammad another chance is basically showing

[27:57]everyone around him that nothing is going to change to give muawi

[28:01]another chance would have caused another uprising but the imam's power base

[28:05]in medina many of them the ones who supported yamali right now

[28:08]were the ones who were revolting against uthman so if they saw

[28:13]imam ali is overlooking the corruption of muawiyah then it would be

[28:17]like well what was the whole point of removing uthman in the

[28:19]first place of going up against uthman's policies in the first place

[28:25]right now would cause more instability by trying to be nice and

[28:30]jolly with muawiyah people need to look at history in this way

[28:37]real life imam ali al-islam did his taklife with muawiyah the same

[28:43]way he does tak leave 25 years before when he did not

[28:47]go to war now he saw muawiyah what he was doing and

[28:49]the imam kept trying to hold off battles but we will see

[28:54]how battles were forced upon him now the imam came in with

[29:00]many changes in policies and he began with the following the first

[29:05]thing he did was the way in which the khilafah was to

[29:10]be given to the next ruler of course now it would not

[29:14]be based on all the different types of ways that it was

[29:17]used before now the temporal power and spiritual authority has been combined

[29:25]once again imam was back and here the imam knows who is

[29:28]going to be the nes khalifa from then it's going to be

[29:32]hasan al-mustapha right there and then it was there imam now the

[29:35]spiritual authority is combined with temporal power the second thing was now

[29:41]he began he began to give a lot of sermons in public

[29:43]much of the sermons that we have from the imam in they

[29:48]occur after the caliphate they occur after the khilafah and in those

[29:54]four to five years of his rule here he begins to speak

[29:59]to the people that educate them on islam for so long it's

[30:02]been 25 years many of the people who are muslims now did

[30:05]not know rasulallah they had not seen him they much of their

[30:09]islam was not the islam that was intended or taught by the

[30:11]prophet the imam had to start again and he began those sermons

[30:15]and that member became the place where he sat and he gave

[30:18]knowledge to the people we began to speak to the people in

[30:23]a just muslim society the people need to know what's going on

[30:26]they need to be kept in the loop politically religiously he would

[30:30]do that he would be honest and tell them what was happening

[30:32]and how was happening and why and often remind them how everything

[30:37]is intertwined with allah the third issue that the imam tackled was

[30:42]the economic strategy before the imam wealth was dispersed in unequal ways

[30:48]but the imam immediately the first thing he did was he began

[30:54]to give the muslims dinar by dinar before this some people were

[30:58]getting thousands of dinar thousands they had acres of land worth ten

[31:03]thousand d not and there were many muslims who were very poor

[31:08]the imam did not accept and he gave everyone an equal distribution

[31:12]of course this did not go well with many of the elite

[31:15]but the imam paid no attention to that and made sure that

[31:20]everyone received what was rightfully theirs not only that but the taxes

[31:23]the jizya was rajib it was obligatory on everyone annually everyone had

[31:28]to pay a jizya but the imam came and he put exemptions

[31:33]down and you must only think for the imam to put these

[31:38]exemptions down what was happening before that so these exemptions everyone pays

[31:41]the jizya except beggars beggars don't pay taxes people are above 50

[31:46]years old don't pay taxes anyone below the age of 20 does

[31:50]not pay taxes neither do you pay per head so the father

[31:53]the head of the family was expected to pay taxes on the

[31:56]head of each person in his family the imam saying no longer

[31:59]do you pay per head of anyone in your family that you're

[32:02]responsible for who is above 50 years old or below 20 years

[32:06]old no tax upon them you are not responsible to pay tax

[32:10]upon them and they are not responsible to be taxed upon themselves

[32:13]no tax for women no tax from women no tax for the

[32:20]blind no tax for the sick mentally unstable no tax for the

[32:22]paralyzed and there are several stories to show how the imam would

[32:26]act when it came to finances there was once even his brother

[32:29]came asking for more of a share asking for more than was

[32:37]rightfully his and so the imam looked at him and replied by

[32:42]taking some heated iron and bringing it towards the skin of our

[32:47]heel and as akil started to feel the heat approach his skin

[32:52]he moved his hand back and the imam said my brother by

[32:56]trying to take more than is rightfully yours you're asking for heat

[33:03]which is much more intense than what you just felt the imam

[33:07]tells us about this incident in najibalara that even for my brother

[33:12]i would not give my religion another incident when it came to

[33:16]his long-standing ally abdullah ibn abbas and his cousin he had taken

[33:22]something that was not rightfully his he had taken some land from

[33:27]some people a property and the imam writes a letter to him

[33:30]and tells him fear allah and give these people back what you

[33:35]took from them and if you don't with god's permission i will

[33:39]strike you with my sword the same sword that whoever i strike

[33:44]with it enters the fire by allah even if it was hassan

[33:49]and hussain who did this they would not receive any leniency from

[33:51]me imagine and it's very important that he mentions the prophet's grandsons

[33:58]here he's showing that there is no favoritism in his government there

[34:00]is no nepotism this is absolute justice when it comes to even

[34:05]the way in which he was with the poor it's reported that

[34:08]there was once a man who was sitting next to him he's

[34:11]the one reporting this he sees the imam have a bag next

[34:14]to him he thought was a bag of jewels but the imam

[34:17]sits down around lunchtime opens it up and it's dry bread and

[34:20]he begins to eat his lunch and he says is it prohibited

[34:24]for you to have a better meal than this why are you

[34:26]eating dry bread we all know this was one of his main

[34:30]staples in his diet and the imam would say i want to

[34:35]feel and eat what the poorest of this region feel and eat

[34:42]how can i eat to satisfy myself when there are people out

[34:45]there that cannot in my region so let me experience what they

[34:51]are experiencing at least once a day i will have this type

[34:55]of meal when i improve their standards of life then i will

[35:00]improve my meal this was islam how he was with the people

[35:03]for the first time ever the system of distribution now was weekly

[35:08]and it began on thursday on thursdays the imam would give out

[35:12]the wealth to the muslims so that on fridays the day of

[35:17]the celebration that we have friday is the holy day right and

[35:20]we come to watch allah and devote ourselves especially on a friday

[35:24]the imam would want everyone to have positive feelings so he'd make

[35:27]thursday a day where he'd give them their wealth what was rightfully

[35:31]theirs and it's reported on one of these days a young boy

[35:36]was watching everyone in line everyone was getting in line slaves and

[35:39]masters alike slaves were receiving the same amount as their masters imagine

[35:47]that and people of all different kinds arabs and non-arabs you had

[35:52]people from all different classes standing in line waiting to receive what

[35:55]was theirs for the week and he says that i saw the

[36:01]imam he finished dispersing all the wealth until nothing was left he

[36:06]went to the masjid he led the prayers then he left the

[36:10]office empty-handed he gave his own share because the imam has his

[36:16]own share the same as everyone else's share but he had given

[36:18]his own share to a lady an elderly lady who was complaining

[36:22]that her share wasn't enough for her he gave his own share

[36:25]to her and left empty-handed this young boy reports this we have

[36:28]various different reports that are similar to what this young boy reported

[36:33]especially this one from us a companion of the imam he said

[36:38]once he was telling the imam yeah imam if you continue this

[36:44]way it's not wise when people are going to start deserting you

[36:46]aren't they going to leave us aren't they going to go towards

[36:51]maui when you're giving the master and the slave the same and

[36:54]you're giving the persian the arab the same amount are they going

[36:57]to desert you that's why they're leaving us to go towards maurya

[36:59]and the imam told him i cannot tolerate not even for a

[37:06]moment when elitist people try to exploit the weak of society as

[37:10]for the people you're talking about i'm glad they deserted me i

[37:13]don't want them and as for those that i'm helping you're asking

[37:17]why am i helping them i know they can't help me because

[37:21]the man was telling him they can't really do anything for you

[37:24]these people are weak what are the slaves going to do for

[37:28]you what are the women going to do for you they can't

[37:29]help you in the army they can't help you conquer but the

[37:32]imam says i'm not doing that so they can help me i'm

[37:36]not serving them for their service i'm serving them because many of

[37:41]these people who are paralyzed who are blind who cannot sustain themselves

[37:44]they can't help themselves so i help them may allah help me

[37:49]in fulfilling my duty towards them for they are human beings just

[37:54]like you and i look how he saw the slave just like

[37:59]him and he saw a blind person just like him a paralyzed

[38:04]person just like him deserve just as much as much right as

[38:07]he does and the woman of society which at that time had

[38:10]their rights downtrodden just like him deserve as much rights as he

[38:15]has this was the fourth action that the imam took was he

[38:19]replaced all the governors under the previous administration he took away all

[38:23]of those of corruption and he brought forward righteous people and he

[38:27]made sure that the governors had the duty of prayer of hajj

[38:30]of giving sermons on friday they had to be men of knowledge

[38:33]and men of religion here he began to do away with people

[38:37]who no one would touch before he told marwan abraham to step

[38:42]down and he told me himself to step down he left no

[38:45]stone unturned he also came to make sure that the hadiths would

[38:49]be written again before they had said that people should not write

[38:53]hadiths because they would mix between the quran and the traditions but

[38:56]of course this was not the case all had copies of the

[39:01]quran people had copies people had memorized the quran there was going

[39:04]to be no confusion between a hadith and quran anyway the imam

[39:08]made sure that we would inherit this great tradition and its knowledge

[39:12]and its jewels even though we couldn't inherit everything we have what

[39:17]we need right now to follow the path towards allah the imam

[39:20]also made sure there were reforms when it came to education and

[39:24]he went towards focusing on language and the arts so he employed

[39:30]special teachers to teach rhetoric to treat teach balarama eloquence to teach

[39:35]logic and to teach mathematics he made sure that he would also

[39:40]come and implement syntax of the arabic language he focused on language

[39:46]so much because language is culture and language is the key to

[39:50]knowledge so he came forward and he brought forward a man named

[39:53]abu aswad al-du'ali who is known as the one who implemented first

[39:57]the rules of nahu and the imam told him right that the

[40:07]word is a noun and a verb and a half which is

[40:11]not in the english language but it's something that connects the noun

[40:16]and the verb and he split all the different words in the

[40:20]arabic language into these three categories so imam ali islam is the

[40:24]one who first came forward and put in the first initial rules

[40:28]of nahu for the arabic language and you can see the imam

[40:32]took upon himself with all these different duties and responsibilities the philosophy

[40:37]of religion quran and he had special recitals for quran to teach

[40:40]quran and he too he took on the responsibility of tafsir quran

[40:45]to explain the meanings and the bhawatin behind the ayat and of

[40:49]course he worked on ethics and he had pupils he was still

[40:53]a teacher subhanallah even you look at his khutbas and how he

[40:58]would show his talents there was a hutba that he gave without

[41:02]any dots in it and anyone who knows the arabic language can

[41:07]tell you how difficult it would be to give a khutbah with

[41:11]letters without any dots he did this without any preparation even more

[41:16]than this he has another khutba where he does not use the

[41:19]character alif which is the most commonly used character in the arabic

[41:22]language no preparation he gives these sermons to the people long sermons

[41:29]full of wisdom and knowledge of allah subhanahu wa tahala and of

[41:33]the realities of life and he would show that this is the

[41:37]type of knowledge inherited from rasulullah he also made sure that the

[41:44]judiciary was very independent from the leadership so that everything that happens

[41:48]in the islamic courts is just and there was once when someone

[41:53]had taken something that rightfully belonged to imam ali and the witnesses

[41:58]were not in town so the imam went to the court this

[42:02]was a christian man who had taken from him the imam he

[42:04]was the khalifa but he went to the court and when he

[42:09]came inside the judge stood up and tried to honor him as

[42:13]a king and the imam told him no i'm not here as

[42:17]a ruler i'm not here as a leader or a caliph i'm

[42:19]here to complain about something's been taken away from me like anyone

[42:23]else and so the other christian man came forward the defendant and

[42:27]the imam put forward his claim and based on what the evidence

[42:32]the imam brought forward the imam's claim was rejected of course the

[42:38]judge was shy to reject the claim but he was told to

[42:40]judge based on evidence and it's probable the imam did this to

[42:44]ensure that everything was happening in a just way the imam accepted

[42:51]this judge he accepted the opinion of the judge and the final

[42:56]conclusion and he was happy and he left the court the christian

[42:58]man was astonished he was fearing for his life he thought that

[43:02]this would be the end when he saw how humble yamali was

[43:07]he came out he followed him he said my master you are

[43:11]the khalifa of the land you could have easily had me killed

[43:16]you could have easily confiscated what's rightfully yours but you didn't you

[43:19]came and you treated me the same way you treat anyone else

[43:24]and i'm not even a muslim and you're the khalifa of the

[43:27]land and you're treating me as an equal i feel ashamed to

[43:30]even have done this to you and i want to know more

[43:34]about this religion of islam and the imam looked at him and

[43:36]said has someone put you up to this he said no i

[43:39]sincerely want to know about what makes someone like you and subhanallah

[43:44]isn't that the question that we all ask this religion that made

[43:48]ali ibn abi talib what is the truth of such a tradition

[43:52]we have not even pierced the layers we do a great injustice

[43:57]to islam look at what it can bring forward with the epitome

[44:00]of justice and elegance and truth with imam ali alayhi salaam this

[44:04]is what we need to incorporate into our lives the man asked

[44:09]him would you forgive me and would you allow me to enter

[44:13]into the fold of islam and teach me so this is how

[44:16]the imam would be he would be just to everyone even when

[44:19]it came to himself he would not want any special treatment and

[44:23]of course finally the imam worked on what was known as the

[44:31]theological army he wanted to build an army based on quranic principles

[44:34]of knowledge of spirituality he wanted soldiers who were spiritual soldiers based

[44:41]on chivalry based on future he couldn't do this before now he

[44:45]wanted to focus and order this army the imam was nearing the

[44:51]age of 60 but he was still as strong and still as

[44:53]brave as he was in his prime he had not done battle

[44:59]in 25 years but he never stopped training now the warrior of

[45:05]badr uhud and khandak was going to be the warrior of basra

[45:09]in the battle of jamal of sefen and of naharawan and he

[45:15]had special orders for his soldiers he wanted them to exemplify a

[45:22]very straight and upright tradition of being a soldier and so he

[45:25]had rules for them and orders and these were always keep the

[45:29]fear of allah on your minds and no you can never do

[45:35]anything without his grace he's always watching us he made sure that

[45:38]the soldiers were always pious he told them religion our tradition islam

[45:43]is peace it is love so do not go and fight people

[45:46]and take their life except in self-defense if people are attacking us

[45:51]and you're defending yourself only we do not attack first remember he

[45:56]would say your arms and your mounts take care of them they

[46:00]are your best guards he would tell them work hard but also

[46:05]rest both are necessary do not make one over step the limits

[46:10]of the other never chase an enemy if he's running away and

[46:15]if he's fleeing never kill him never kill an enemy who is

[46:19]begging for their life or begging for mercy never kill a civilian

[46:24]and never outrage the modesty of women never take any gifts from

[46:29]any civilian population we are not to be bribed ever and make

[46:33]sure to remember your daily prayers subhanallah look at the way in

[46:38]which he's raising these soldiers he would tell them to meditate upon

[46:40]death often he would tell them you are all going to die

[46:45]death is coming to you inevitably whether you are on the battlefield

[46:50]or you are a thousand miles away from it so make your

[46:52]peace with it the imam wants fearless soldiers and this is taken

[46:55]from you can see in the books of the legendary samurai when

[46:59]they meditate upon all the different ways that they can die whether

[47:03]in fire whether being killed with knives or arrows with a falling

[47:07]from a great height and when they would meditate upon this they

[47:10]would become fearless and they would live in the moment these are

[47:15]the great meditations of the samurai imam ali is implementing it into

[47:22]a soldiers the spiritual true soldier and he would organize his army

[47:26]into those on horseback and camels the swordsmen and the archers and

[47:33]the way in which he would fight and lead by example never

[47:37]losing a battle in his life and the way that he would

[47:41]defeat the enemy in one blow and if not he would give

[47:43]the enemy a chance to get up and run away and no

[47:46]enemy ever got up for the second blow he did not like

[47:52]heavily armed soldiers dressed in heavy armors because he often wanted his

[47:55]army to be agile for them to move quickly he himself would

[48:00]not wear heavy armor especially on his back because no one could

[48:04]ever penetrate his armor to reach his back the imam did not

[48:09]ride on a horse only on a camel or on foot and

[48:13]he was once asked why not purchase a horse yeah amir al-mu'min

[48:16]he said i don't need one because when i am attacked i

[48:22]never run away from battle and if my opponent flees from me

[48:26]i do not chase him this is the greatest warrior of islam

[48:30]this is the greatest warrior in history period war for him was

[48:35]a duty only in self-defense and he often told them his soldiers

[48:41]my soldiers this battle is the small battle the minor battle this

[48:46]jihad is a small jihad quoting rasulullah he said remember the life

[48:50]of a muslim is in the battlefield of jihad al-aqbar with the

[48:54]nafs your real battle is the battle of the self in the

[48:58]soul make sure that you are victorious in this greatest of battles

[49:01]and now after the imam had established his pillars all eyes were

[49:09]on sham what's shem going to do how are they going to

[49:12]respond the imam wrote a letter to muawiyah he was told don't

[49:15]do it leave muhammad but the imam wrote him the letter i

[49:19]would not leave mahawya and mahalia did not respond he told them

[49:21]the people have given they are and i have someone appropriate to

[49:26]take over in sham but muhammad ignored the imam instead he had

[49:31]taken the garment of uthman and began to use it as a

[49:34]banner in sham to say the khalifa has been killed unjustly and

[49:39]we are demanding recompense for his blood it doesn't matter how he

[49:44]was killed doesn't matter why he was killed what matters is he's

[49:46]dead he was killed and now malawia begins his mission of propaganda

[49:51]and so you see how the powers that be they make you

[49:56]see what they want you to see and hear what they want

[49:58]you to hear he started to mobilize the people already against amir

[50:02]mukmini and he began to plot and he began to write letters

[50:07]to certain individuals who he felt could compete with imam al-islam in

[50:12]the political realm and now he began this qurayshi tactic of forming

[50:20]alliance once more only for imam ali al-islam this time he was

[50:26]in a position to raise the sword allah

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