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Generosity in Providing Administrators with Daily Sustenance
114. Imām Ali (a.s.) –in his instructions to Mālik al-Ashtar: “Then bestow provisions upon them abundantly, for that will empower them to reform themselves and it will make them needless from consuming what is under their authority and it is an argument against them if they should disobey your command or sully your trust.”1
See Chapter Seven: ‘Judicial Policies’
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Choosing Secret Agents to Keep a Check on the Administrators
115. Imām Ali (a.s.) –in his letter to Ka`b ibn Mālik:2 “appoint someone in your place and set forth with a group of your companions until you reach the villages of Sawād.3 Then, see into the affairs of my administrators in the regions of Tigris and `Udhayb4 and check their conducts. After that, return to al-Bihqubādhat5 and take charge of the affairs there and follow God in what He has assigned to you. Know that all the actions of the son of Adam are recorded and preserved and will be rewarded. Do perform good deeds. May God make you and us successful in goodness! Let me know of your honesty in what you do. Wassalām!6
1.. Nahj al-Balāghah, Letter ۵۳, Tuhaf al-`Uqul, p. ۱۳۷, Da`ā'im al-Islām, vol. ۱, p.۳۶۱.
2.. It seems that the name Mālik ibn Ka`b is correct, as Imām Ali (a.s.) did not have an administrator by the name of Ka`b ibn Mālik, rather there was a person by this name who refused to swear allegiance to the Imām. Mālik Ibn Ka`b was indeed one of the trusted administrators of the Imām in the region of `Ayn al-Tamr and the area of Bihqubādhat.
3.. A part of the Iraqi lands and villages that were conquered during the time of the Caliph `Umar ibn al-Khattāb It was called Sawād (blackness) as it was covered with palm groves, trees and crops.
4.. `Udhayb is the Bani Tamim water reservoir and the first water that the travelers encounter while traveling from Kufa towards Mecca.
5.. The name of three villages near Baghdad located on the banks of Euphrates.
6.. Tārikh al-Ya`qubi, vol. ۲, p. ۲۰۴.
