Chapter V: Dangers of Anger, Malice and Envy
Wise sayings. Hazrat Omar once heard some complaints against one of his governors. He called the people and addressed them thus: O people, I have got rights over you that you should advise me in my absence and help me in my good deeds. I have got rights over you whoever he may be. Know that there is nothing so dear to God as patience and kind treatment of a ruler and there is nothing so displeasing to God than ignorance and foolishness of a ruler. Know that one who keeps the persons under his control in punishment will get punishment from the Unseen. There is a Hadis that learning is the friend of a believer, patience is his minister, wisdom is his proof, divine service is its protector, good treatment is his father, modest treatment is his brother, patience is the commander of his forces. A wise man said: How nice is faith? Learning makes it nice. How good is learning? Action makes it good. How good is action? Kind
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treatment makes it beautiful. As patience makes learning beautiful, so one thing makes another thing beautiful. Hazrat Amr-b-As asked his son Abdullah: What is kind treatment? He said: A ruler's kind treatment with his subordinate officers. He asked: What is foolishness? He said: To oppose your Imam or leader and to be modest to one who does you harm. The sage Sufiyan once said to his disciple. O Abu Muhammad, describe it.
He said: To put every thing in its proper place, to mete out good treatment in its proper place, to use sword in its proper place, and to whip in proper place. It appears from this that it is necessary that there should be harsh treatment with modesty and kind treatment with harshness. So it is best to take the middle course between kind and harsh treatments.
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