212. Imām Ali (a.s.) – in his instructions to Mālik al-Ashtar: “Investigate the situation of the land tax in a manner that will rectify the state of those who pay it, for in the correctness of the land tax and the welfare of the taxpayers is the welfare of others. The welfare of others will not be achieved except through them, for the people, all of them, are dependent upon the land tax and those who pay it. Let your care for the prosperity of the earth be deeper than your care for the collecting of land tax, for it will not be gathered except in prosperity. Whoever exacts land tax without prosperity has desolated the land and destroyed the servants (of God). His affairs will remain in order but briefly. So if your subjects complain of burden, of blight, of the cutting off of irrigation water, of lack of rain, or of the transformation of the earth through its being inundated by a flood or ruined by drought, lighten (their burden) to the extent you wish their affairs to be rectified. And let not anything by which you have lightened their burden weigh heavily against you, for it is a store which they will return to you by bringing about prosperity in your land and embellishing your rule. You will gain their fairest praise and pride yourself at the spreading forth of justice among them. You will be able to depend upon the increase in their strength (resulting) from what you stored away with them when you gave them ease; and upon their trust, since you accustomed them to your justice toward them through your kindness to them. Then perhaps matters will arise which afterwards they will undertake gladly if in these you depend upon them, for prosperity will carry that with which you burden it. Truly the destruction of the earth only results from the destitution of its inhabitants, and its inhabitants become destitute only when rulers concern themselves with amassing (wealth), when they have misgivings about the endurance (of their own rule) and when they profit little from warning examples.”1
213. Imām Ali (a.s.) – in his instructions to Mālik al-Ashtar (as narrated in Tuhaf al-`Uqul): “Gather tax-payers of all the regions under your dominion and order them to inform you of the situations of their regions including ways of prosperity and the ease in the collection of taxes. Then check the views raised by the experts other than tax-payers. If they complain of heaviness of taxes, or problem caused by the severing of the irrigation water, or of a change in the condition of the land either due to flood or drought or pestilence, you should remit the tax to the extent that you hope God will improve their position. If they seek help in rectifying what they can do with their own fortune, you should assist them; for your assistance will bring about prosperity.
The remission granted for the removal of distress from them should not be grudged by you, because it is an investment which they will return to you in the form of prosperity of your country, the progress of your dominion, the earning of their praise, well intention and happiness in addition to those which Allah makes easy for you to attract. The land tax cannot be collected through fatigue and exhaustion, yet, it is what you can depend upon. Besides, if something happens, you can depend upon them, that is because of the strength you preserved abundantly for yourself in them through catering for them and also because of their trust in you that you have gained through always treating them justly and also because you have shown to them that you have understood their excuses concerning the matters you relied on them and they happily accepted them. Indeed prosperity of towns guarantees what you expect and impose and the poverty and ruin of the land is because of the poverty of its people and people become poor when rulers turn towards extravagancy. As a result there remains very little hope for them (rulers) to remain in their post because of benefiting little from past lessons.”2
