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Home / Books / Nahj al-Balāgha / Volume 1 / Instructions for Malik al-Ashtar upon his appointment as the governor of Egypt / Hadith 1522
Hadith 1522
Hadith #
1522
Book
Nahj al-Balāgha
Volume
1
Section
53
Part
Letters
Chapter
Instructions for Malik al-Ashtar upon his appointment as the governor of Egypt
Source
al-Sharīf al-Raḍī
۞
Then you can be one of two kinds of men. Either you may be generous in granting rights - and then why this hiding in spite of (your) discharging the obligations and good acts that you perform? Or you are a victim of stinginess; in that case people will soon give up asking you since they will lose hope of generous treatment from you. In spite of that there are many needs of the people towards you which do not involve any hardship on you, such as the complaint against oppression or the request for justice in a matter.
وَإِنَّمَا أَنْتَ أَحَدُ رَجُلَيْنَ: إِمَّا امْرُؤٌ سَخَتْ نَفْسُكَ بِالْبَذْلِ فِي الْحَقِّ، فَفِيمَ احْتِجَابُكَ مِنْ وَاجِبِ حَقٍّ تُعْطِيهِ، أَوْ فِعْلٍ كَرِيمٍ تُسْدِيهِ، أَوْ مُبْتَلًى بِالْمَنعِ، فَمَا أَسْرَعَ كَفَّ النَّاسِ عَنْ مَسْأَلَتِكَ إِذَا أَيِسُوا مِنْ بَذْلِكَ! مَعَ أَنَّ أَكْثَرَ حَاجَاتِ النَّاسِ إِلَيْكَ مـِمَّا لَا مَؤُونَةَ فِيهِ عَلَيْكَ، مِنْ شَكَاةِ مَظْلِمَةٍ، أَوْ طَلَبِ إِنْصَافٍ فِي مُعَامَلَةٍ.
Tags GenerosityGovernance
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