Fulfilling People’s Rights in Jurisprudential Matters
Hazrat Ali’s (ra) jurisprudential verdicts are well-known and I will relate some of those which Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud (ra) has mentioned. Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud (ra) states:
“Tabari has written about an incident from the era of Hazrat Ali (ra) which illustrates the great caution they took right from the inception of Islam. The incident is as follows; Adl bin Uthman relates…”
Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud (ra) has also included the entire Arabic text of this narration; however, I will leave the Arabic text out for now, but insha-Allah when the sermon is officially published, it will be included in that.
رَاَيْتُ عَلِيًّا عَمَّ خَارِجًا مِنْ هَمْدَانَ فَرَاَي فِئَتَيْنِ تَقْتُلَانِ فَفَرَّقَ بَيْنَهُمَا ثُمَّ مَضٰي فَسَمِعَ صَوْتًا يَاغَوْثًا بِاللّٰهِ فَخَرَجَ يَحُضُّ نَحْوَهٗ حَتّٰي سَمِعْتُ خَفْقَ نَعْلِهٖ وَهُوَ يَقُوْلُ اَتَاكَ الْغَوْثُ فَاِذَا رَجُلٌ يُلَازِمُ رَجُلًا فَقَالَ يَا اَمِيْرَ الْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ بِعْتُ مِنْ هٰذَا ثَوْ بًا بِتِسْعَةِ دَرَاهِمَ وَشَرَطْتُ عَلَيْهِ اَنْ لَّا يُعْطِيَنِيْ مَغْمُوْرًا وَلَا مَقْطُوْعًا وَكَانَ شَرْطُهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ فَاَتَيْتُهٗ بِهٰذِهِ الدَّرَاهِمِ لِيُبَدِّلَهَا لِيْ فَاَبٰي فَلَزِمْتُهٗ فَلَطَمَنِيْ فَقَالَ اَبْدِلْهُ فَقَالَ بَيِّنَتُكَ عَلَي اللَّطْمَةِ فَاَتَاهُ بِالْبَيِّنَةِ فَاَقْعَدَهٗ ثُمَّ قَالَ دُوْنَكَ فَاقْتَصَّ فَقَالَ اِنِّيْ قَدْ عَفَوْتُ يَا اَمِيْرَ الْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ قَالَ اِنَّمَا اَرَدْتُ اَنْ اَحْتَاطَهُ فِيْ حَقِّكَ ثُمَ ضَرَبَ الرَّجُلَ تِسْعَ دُراتٍ وَقَالَ هٰذَا حَقُّ السُّلْطَانِ
The translation is:
“[Adl bin Uthman relates] that Hazrat Ali (ra) was staying outside of Hamdan when he saw two groups fighting against each other. Hazrat Ali (ra) reconciled the two groups and made peace between them; however, he had not gone too far, when he heard someone calling for help. Hazrat Ali (ra) ran so quickly towards him that his footsteps could be heard and he kept repeating, ‘Help is here, help is here’. As he approached closer, he saw that one of the men had grabbed hold of another man.
“Upon seeing Hazrat Ali (ra), he said, ‘O Leader of the Faithful, I sold him a piece of cloth for nine dirhams. However, the condition also was that none of the dirhams should be faulty or defective, which he, i.e. the buyer had agreed to. However, he gave me some defective dirhams and when I came to exchange these defective dirhams, he refused to do so. When I insisted, he slapped me.’ Hazrat Ali (ra) instructed the buyer to exchange the coins. He then asked the other individual to provide proof that he slapped him. When he presented the proof, Hazrat Ali (ra) told the one who slapped him to sit down and told the other individual to seek retribution. Upon this, he said, ‘O Leader of the Faithful, I forgive him.’ Hazrat Ali (ra) replied, ‘You may have forgiven him, but I wish to act with caution in relation to your rights.’”
Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud (ra) further writes, “It seems that this individual was of a very simple disposition and was not fully aware of his loss and gains. And so, the one who had perpetrated the act of slapping him was whipped nine times as punishment. Hazrat Ali (ra) stated, ‘He may have forgiven you, but this punishment has been handed to you by the government.’”
(Tafsir-e-Kabir, Vol. 2, pp. 362-363)
Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud (ra) has mentioned another incident:
“We find an excellent example of Hazrat Ali’s (ra) conduct from the following incident: Once, Hazrat Ali (ra) saw that someone had physically attacked another individual. Hazrat Ali (ra) stopped him and told the victim that he should now hit him back in retribution. However, he replied that he had forgiven him. Hazrat Ali (ra) realised that this individual was only refusing to do so out of fear of the other individual as the perpetrator of the act was very oppressive. Therefore, Hazrat Ali (ra) stated, ‘You have exercised your personal right and forgiven him; however, I will exercise my official right [as a leader].’ Hazrat Ali (ra) then handed him a punishment equal to that which he had committed against the weaker individual.”
(Tafsir-e-Kabir, Vol. 4, p. 331)