To an administrator accused of misappropriation

To al-Mundhir ibn Jārūd al-‘Abdī who had misappropriated certain things given into his administrative charge.

Now, the good behaviour of your father deceived me about you and I thought that you would follow his way and tread in his path. But according to what has reached me about you, you are not giving up following your passions and are not retaining any provision for the next world. You are making this world by ruining your next life, and doing good to your kinsmen by cutting yourself off from religion.

If what has reached me about you is correct, then the camel of your family and the strap of your shoe is better than yourself. A man with qualities like yours is not fit to close a hole in the ground, nor for performing any deed, nor for increasing his position, nor for taking him as a partner in any trust, nor for trusting him against misappropriation. Therefore, proceed to me as soon as this letter of mine reaches you if Allāh so wills.

as-Sayyid ar-Raḍī says: al-Mundhir ibn Jārūd al-‘Abdī is he about whom Amīr al-mu’minīn (peace be upon him) said that: He looks very often at his shoulders, feels proud in his garments (appearance) and usually blows away (dust) from his shoes.