God and have deemed their status too high to fall prey to obedience to others like themselves, would never give up their independence and do not accept slavery. It is only a person like this that deserves to be emancipated. Imām Ali (a.s.) says:
مَن قامَ بِشَرائِطِ العُبودِيَّةِ اُهِّلَ لِلعِتقِ.He who fulfills the requirements of servitude [to God] is worthy of emancipation.1
The conditions of servitude includes submission to God as His servant and acceptance of Divine law, which leads to real independence, freedom and liberation, and evading this is in fact returning to slavery, even if it may appear to be freedom.
4.To Care about People
Caring about people and valuing and respecting all is a sublime manifestation of social policies in Imām Ali’s (a.s.) ruling. In his (a.s.) view, people should be treated with compassion and kindness, and rulers must respect people, their perspectives and their principles. Politicians in other governments mostly try to satisfy the ‘influential’ and the powerful, or in other words, the elite in the political circle, even if it leads to the dissatisfaction of the masses.
Contrary to this policy, Imām Ali (a.s.) has stated:
فَإِنَّ سُخطَ العامَّةِ يُجحِفُ بِرِضَى الخاصَّةِ وإنّ سُخطَ الخاصَّةِ ، يُغتَفَرُ مَعَ رِضَى العامَّةِ.Verily, the discontent of the general public harms the content of the elite, and the discontent of the elite is pardoned with the content of the masses.2
Imām Ali (a.s.) recommended the administrators to be kind to people, to maintain direct relations with them, have personal meetings with them and be informed of their problems. The Imām would say: “People have mainly suffered hardships, endured pains
