(4)

Reasons for Imām Ali’s (a.s.) Loneliness

Towards the end of this brief study, we present the following important question: if the administration of a state on the basis of the aforementioned policies are applicable and such policies are proper and competent, why then did the people distance themselves after a short time from such a truth-centered statesman as Imām Ali (a.s.) whom they had selected as their leader with their widespread support and left him alone and solitary during the last months of his life?

Explaining the Issue

We will now delve further into the various aspects of this topic and raise the issue more clearly. The foremost questions here are: What was the reason for people’s withdrawal from Ali (a.s.) in such a short period of time within his ruling? Why could he not practically preserve the people’s widespread support of the government? Why was the bond of relations detached between the ruler and the people in Imām Ali’s (a.s.) government, and why were the people so disunited that Imām could not create concordance and harmony even among those who had directly sworn allegiance to him and maintain any unity among them?
Why did Imām (a.s.) complain of the lack of people’s support in actualizing his superior teachings and implementing his reforms during the last days of his life and would painfully say:
هَیهاتَ! أن أطلَعَ بِکُم سَرارَ العَدلِ أوأُقیمَ إعوِجاجَ الحَـقِّ.“Alas! It is indeed hard that I make manifest through you the codes of justice or set in place the crookedness of truth.¹