Story No. 238 – Hadhrat Ali Murtaza’s (as) Justice with the people
Justice with the people Imam Jafar as-Sadiq (as) narrated the following.
When he holds the position of caliphate, Ali Murtaza (as) scaled the mimbar (pulpit) and said: “All praise and thanks be to Allah (SWT). I will not seize a single dirham from your shares so long as a single bunch of my dates in Yathrib is available. Be sure. Do you think I will prefer you to myself?” Older brother Aqil stood up and said: “This means that you will put me and the black ones of Madinah on the same level, does it not?” Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (as) asked him to sit down, and said, “You have no preference to the black ones of Madinah except by means of a virtue in Islam or piety.”
The following narration in recorded by Ibn Hagar in his book titled ‘Sawaiq al-Muhriqa’
(Ibn Asakir narrated that) Older brother Aqil asked Amir ul-Mu’minin (as) to give him some money because he was poor. Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (as) told him to wait until his share of the State Treasury would come out. As Aqil insisted, Hadhrat Ali Murtaza (as) asked a man to take Aqil to the market and lead him to the locks of the stores so that he would unlock and take from them. “Do you want me to be thief?” asked Aqil. Hadhrat Ali Murtaza (as) said: “And do you want me to be thief as you ask me to give you the shares of Muslims?” Aqil then threatened he would join Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan.
As soon as Aqil ibn Abi Talib asked him, Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan gave him one hundred thousand dirhams and asked him to take the mimbar and tell people his story with his brother.
Aqil ibn Abi Talib ascended the mimbar and said: “People, when I tried to make Ali ibn Abi Talib give up his religion, he refused and preferred his religion to me. But when I asked Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan to prefer me to his religion, he did.”
These stories are just a small portion of the righteous life of Hadhrat Ali Murtaza (as). His life is a comprehensive and extensive scene of the manifest of high spiritual characteristics in a pure and divine leader. It is on us to promote ethics and spirituality in ourselves using such teachings, and to obey his clear path as much as possible.