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Imam Ali and Political Leadership

Imām Ali's Loneliness in His Own Words

We said earlier that history is a truthful witness to the claim that the short period of Imām Ali’s (a.s.) government has been the most sublime manifestation of a rule based on human values. His ruling method was not only attractive to those committed to Islamic human values, but those uncommitted to such values were also attracted by it, and they sometimes did not fail to admit its magnificence and perfection. Therefore, the reasons for the people’s distance from the government of Imām Ali (a.s.) is not to be sought in the inconsistency of his method, but there are other reasons and causes to be delved into, that will be mentioned in the following pages.
Imām Ali (a.s.) himself explicitly and sufficiently has talked about the reason for the withdrawal of people from him and turning their backs on his government. In his sermons and responses to queries, he expressed the reasons for their initial welcome and then their eventual distancing from him. Here is a review of the background, reasons and causes of the people’s withdrawal and Imām Ali’s (a.s.) loneliness:

1. Contradictory Demands

The first reason for the people’s distance from Imām Ali (a.s.) was the fundamental difference between two types of views about government. In reality, these two approaches had fundamental conflict between each other in their motivations and purposes.
A great majority of the participants in the uprising against `Uthmān, especially a number of the key players of that movement such as Talha and Zubair, did not intend to bring the community back to the Prophetic conduct (sira) and tradition (sunna). They did not wield their swords, in order to maintain the sovereignty of genuine Islamic values. Party monopolization tendencies and tribal decision-making of the Umayyads in government which was formed through `Uthmān’s rule had exhausted them. For them, overthrowing `Uthmān and their pledge of allegiance to Ali (a.s.) were in fact aimed at solving this problem, although in their slogans they stated otherwise.


Imam Ali and Political Leadership
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made as a military center; a place for those who knew nothing other than to fight and combat, and hence, always thinking of conquering borders and gaining spoils of war.
The people who had gathered in Kufa were far away from Madina which hosted most of the [Prophet’s] companions. Very few companions frequented Kufa as it was the Caliph `Umar’s policy to have them remain in Madina.1
The Kufans were therefore deprived of acquiring knowledge and had very little understanding of religious laws and doctrines.
`Umar had explicitly asked the companions who intended to travel to Kufa not to teach them any hadith and not to distract them from their familiarity with the Holy Qur'ān.2 The Kufans’ familiarity and preoccupation with the Qur'ān was restricted to mere recitation and nothing more and this point can also be found in the words of the Caliph. This is why, those who initially gathered in Kufa as the ‘reciters’ (qurrā') later formed the original core of the Khārijites.
The important point here to take notice of is the tribal system in Kufa and the prevalence of ethnocentrism and dominance of the clannish culture and lifestyle in the behavior and relations of the Kufans. In this culture, the chief of the tribe was the key role player in the movements and efforts, while other people were blind followers who had no power of choice.
Thus, when we say that people left Imām Ali (a.s.) alone, we mean the elite, the influential and the chieftains of the Islamic community left him alone. This painful fact was more evidently seen in the people of Iraq at that time, especially among the Kufans.
Now and after this brief explanation, we proceed to deal with the reasons for Imām Ali’s loneliness, according to his own words and sayings.

1.. al-Mustadrak `ala al-Sahihayn, vol. ۱, p. ۱۹۳, h. ۳۷۴

2.. Kanz al-`Ummāl, vol. ۱, p. ۲۹۲, h. ۲۹۴۷۹

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    Imam Ali and Political Leadership
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