131. Imām Ali (a.s.) –in his letter to Masqala: “The greatest of treachery is the treachery against the [Muslim] nation and the greatest deceit against the people of a city is the deceit of their leader. There is five hundred thousand [coins] of the property of the Muslims with you, so send it to me when my envoy comes to you, otherwise come to me when my letter reaches you; as I have told my envoy not to let you go unless you return the property. Wassalām!”¹

132. al-Ghārāt –narrating from Dhahl ibn Hārith: “Masqala invited me to his residence and prepared dinner and we had it together. He then said to me: “By God, the Commander of the Faithful asks me to return this property and I am not able to do that.”
I said to him: “If you wish, he will give you one week of respite so that you can collect the property.”
He said: “By God, I do not want to impose it on my folk or ask anyone for it.”
Then he said: “By God, if the son of Hind or the son of `Affān had demanded that property, they would have left it to me. Did you not see how `Uthmān [in his rule] granted a hundred thousand dirhams of the taxes of Azerbaijan each year to Ash`ath ibn Qays?”
I said: “This man [Ali ibn Abi Tālib] (a.s.) does not view it like that and he would not grant you anything.”
He kept silent for a while and so did I. No longer than one night after the talk we had together, he joined Mu`āwiya. The

news of this reached Ali (a.s.) and he said: “What has happened to him? May God kill him! He acted like the masters and ran away like the slaves, and became treacherous like the vicious people. Let it be known that if he had stood up to collect the property and failed, I would not have added to his jailing. If we had found something with him we would have confiscated it; and if we had not found any property with him, we would have released him.” Then he went to [the house of Masqala] and destroyed it.”²

131. عنه علیه السلام ـ في كِتابِهِ إلىٰ مَصقَلَة ـ: أمّا بَعدُ، فَإِنَّ مِن أعظَمِ الخِيانَةِ خِيانَةَ الاُمَّةِ، وأعظَمُ الغِشِّ عَلىٰ أهلِ المِصرِ غِشُّ الإِمامِ، وعِندَكَ مِن حَقِّ المُسلِمينَ خَمسُمِائَةِ ألفٍ، فَابعَث بِها إلَيَّ ساعَةً يَأتيكَ رَسولي، وإلّا فَأَقبِل حينَ تَنظُرُ في كِتابي؛ فَإِنّي قَد تَقَدَّمتُ إلىٰ رَسولي إلَيكَ ألّا يَدَعَكَ أن تُقيمَ ساعَةً واحدةً بَعدَ قُدومِهِ عَلَيكَ إلّا أن تَبعَثَ بِالمالِ، وَالسَّلامُ عَلَيكَ.¹

132. الغارات عن ذُهَل بن الحارِث: دَعاني مَصقَلَةُ إلىٰ رَحلِهِ، فَقَدَّمَ عَشاءً فَطَعِمنا مِنهُ، ثُمَّ قالَ: وَاللهِ إنَّ أميرَ المُؤمِنينَ يَسأَلُني هذَا المالَ، ووَاللهِ لا أقدِرُ عَلَيهِ، فَقُلتُ لَهُ: لَو شِئتَ لا يَمضي عَلَيكَ جُمعَةٌ حَتّى تَجمَعَ هذَا المالَ. فَقالَ: وَاللهِ ما كُنتُ لاُِحَمِّلَها قَومي، ولا أطلُبَ فيها إلىٰ أحَدٍ.
ثُمَّ قالَ: أما وَاللهِ لَو أنَّ ابنَ هِندٍ يُطالِبُني بِها، أو ابنَ عَفّانَ لَتَرَكَها لي، أ لَم تَرَ إلَى ابنِ عَفّانَ حَيثُ أطعَمَ الأَشعَثَ بنَ قَيسٍ مِئَةَ ألفِ دِرهَمٍ مِن خَراجِ أذرَبيجانَ في كُلِّ سَنَةٍ، فَقُلتُ: إنَّ هٰذا لا يَرى ذلِكَ الرَّأيَ، وما هُوَ بِتارِكٍ لَكَ شَيئاً، فَسَكَتَ ساعَةً وسَكَتُّ عَنهُ، فَما مَكَثَ لَيلَةً واحِدةً بَعدَ هٰذا الكَلامِ حَتّى لَحِقَ بِمُعاوِيَةَ، فَبَلَغَ ذلِكَ عَلِيّاً علیه السلام فَقالَ: مالَهُ؟! تَرَّحَهُ² اللهُ! فَعَلَ فِعلَ السَّيِّدِ، وفَرَّ فِرارَ العَبدِ، وخانَ خِيانَةَ الفاجِرِ! أما إنَّهُ لَو أقامَ فَعَجَزَ ما زِدنا عَلى حَبسِهِ؛ فَإِن وَجَدنا لَهُ شَيئاً أخَذناهُ، وإن لَم نَقدِر لَهُ عَلى مالٍ تَرَكناهُ، ثمَّ سارَ إلىٰ دارِهِ فَهَدَمَها.³