Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Alhassanain (p) Network for Islamic Heritage and Thought

The Voice of Human Justice

(Sautu'l 'Adalati'l Insaniyah)

The present book is an English translation of Sautu'l `Adalati'l Insaniyah, the biography of the Imam Ali, written in Arabic by George Jordac, a renowned Christian author of Lebanon. It has gained much popularity in the Arab and the Muslim world. Many Muslim and non-Muslim scholars have paid it glowing tributes.

Author(s): George Jordac

Translator(s): M Fazel Haq

Publisher(s): Ansariyan Publications – Qum

www.alhassanain.org/english

Table of Contents

Publishers' Note 4

Preface 5

Preface of the first edition of the Arabic version published in 1956 5

Arabian Peninsula 7

The Coming of the Prophet 9

A glance over history 12

Notes 19

The Prophet and Abu Talib 20

The Prophet and Ali 23

Note 24

Ali is my brother 25

Notes 29

The attributes of Ali 31

Notes 43

Knowledge and sagacity of Ali 44

Human rights and Ali 49

A Difficult Test 49

Poverty and its consequences 53

Notes 62

Conditions prior to Ali 65

Notes 72

Ruler is one of the people 73

Notes 78

Freedom and its sources 81

Notes 87

Individual freedom 88

Notes 90

Accountability 91

Notes 96

Helping the needy 99

Notes 110

Neither fanaticism nor infallibility 112

Fanaticism 115

Notes 116

War and peace 118

Combat oppression 127

Note 131

Administration of Ali 133

The Common Man 134

The Counsellors 134

The Different Classes of People 135

The Army 136

The Real Guidance 137

Chief Justice 137

Subordinate Judiciary 137

Revenue Administration 138

Clerical Establishment 138

Trade and Industry 139

The Poor 139

Open Conferences 140

Communion with God 140

Aloofness not Desirable 140

Nepotism 141

Peace and Treaties 141

Last Instructions 142

U.N. Charter of Human Rights 144

Notes 147

Value of life and Ali 148

Notes 152

Conditions prevailing after Ali 154

Notes 167

The two families of Quraysh 168

Note 173

Mu`awiya and his successors 175

Husayn and Yazid 187

Supporters of the two parties 197

Notes 216

Murderers of Uthman 217

The volley of criticism 224

What happened to Abu Dharr after his banishment? 235

Note 238

Facts about Uthman's murder 239

Note 245

Some false statements 246

Note 255

A great conspiracy 257

Persons Responsible for the Assassination of Uthman 257

Revolt against Ali 266

God! Be a witness 282

Two impostors 289

The disaster 303

Was it justified? 310

The divine will 315

Let them mourn 318

Publishers' Note

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

The Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali, peace be on him, is the most distinguished personality of Islam after Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be on him. His entire life is the life of struggle for the advancement of Islam. He was a great combatant, a great judge, a great philanthropist and the most pious person of his time. Much has been written and continues to be written about the life, character and attributes of Imam Ali.

The present book is an English translation of Sautu'l `Adalati'l Insaniyah, the biography of the Imam, written in Arabic by George Jordac, a renowned Christian author of Lebanon. It has gained much popularity in the Arab and the Muslim world. Many Muslim and non-Muslim scholars have paid it glowing tributes.

The author is an enlightened man of letters and has written the book with perfect sincerity. However, at times, he has said things which do not accord with the facts of history. In such cases necessary clarification has been made in the foot-notes and at places some paragraphs have been deleted altogether. Keeping in view the usefulness and popularity of the Arabic version of this book, the Islamic Seminary is presenting the English version for the English knowing readers. It is hoped that this book will enlighten the mind of our conscientious young generation and will inspire it to form an Islamic social order.

Preface

The history of great men is a fountain of experience, faith and aspirations for us - a fountain which will never dry up. The great men of the world are like lofty peaks of mountains which we aspire to climb with great eagerness and ardent desire. They are the light-houses which keep darkness away from around us. It is due to the examples set by them that we have gained self-confidence. They have made us hopeful of life, taught us its aim and objects and helped us to avail of its amenities. If these great souls had not been there, we would have fallen prey to despair while combating with the unseen and intelligible forces and would have surrendered ourselves to death.

However, the righteous persons have not so far surrendered themselves before despair nor shall they do so in future, because they are entitled to victory and success. This is proved by the fact that in history many persons have been successful and victorious and Ali is one of them. These people who conquered death are always with us. Although time and space separate them from us, neither time prohibits us from hearing their words nor distance prevents us from seeing their faces.

Preface of the first edition of the Arabic version published in 1956

The best proof of what has been said above is the present book. It is the biography of a great man. Although he was born in Arabia his person is not meant for Arabia only. Although the fountains of his kindness and favours sprang from Islam he is not confined to the Muslims. If he had been for the Muslims only a Christian would not have been prompted involuntarily to analyse the events of his life and eulogize like a poet his fascinating judgments, his stupendous feats of valour and interesting incidents of his life.

Championship of Ali was not confined to the battlefield. He was also matchless in the matter of faith, piety, purity, eloquence, magnanimity, help for the deprived and the oppressed and support for truth. So much so that even after the passage of more than fourteen hundred years his wonderful achievements are a beacon light for us and extremely useful for making our lives sublime.

The author has explained the various events in detail and also mentioned at length the views and beliefs of the Imam regarding religious, political, social and financial matters. Furthermore, he has explained the events of the life of Ali with great dexterity and in a manner in which they had not been penned before.

No historian or writer, however deft and dexterous he may be, can draw a true picture of the Commander of the Faithful even in a thousand pages, nor can he explain the dreadful events which took place in his time. The things which this wonderful and unmatched person thought of, and acted upon, had not till then been seen or heard by anyone. They are more than a historian can cover even in a very detailed treatise. Hence, whatever picture of Ali is described by a writer will inevitably be incomplete.

However, the object of an author in writing a book like this is to collect the details of the actions and words of the Commander of the Faithful from all possible sources and to ponder over them very carefully and then to present them in such a way that it may be possible to see a glimpse of the Imam as he was. This is what the author has done in this book.

I am sure that George Jordac, a research scholar and an unbiased person as he is, has been successful in describing the life of the Imam to a large extent and those who read it will be obliged to say that it is the biography of a person who was second to the Prophet of Islam.

Michael Na'imah

Arabian Peninsula

The territory of Arabia is very wonderful and miraculous and it will retain this characteristic even in future. It contains very large deserts. If these deserts had not been devoid of rains and had been green and fertile this land would have fed the hungry and clothed the naked of the world. However, unfortunately Arabia has always remained a desert. It contains vast areas comprising mounds of sand, small and dry hills and stony tracts, which are neither cultivable nor habitable. If farming had been possible this region would have been thickly populated, but the position is otherwise. Although this territory is surrounded by sea on three sides, the rains are very scanty and it is very hot during summer.

It also rains in some areas which makes the atmosphere somewhat cool. However, when the scorching wind blows it is so hot that trees and plants become dry and even the animals die of heat.

The Arab poets liken zephyr, which always blows from the eastern side, with the breeze of Paradise.

There are no perennial rivers in Arabia. However, as and when rains come and the streams begin to flow, the people avail of the opportunity and store water by constructing dams. This water suffices only for some time.

Camel is the typical animal of Arabia which enjoys a distinguished position as compared with the animals found in other regions. The Almighty God has given it long legs so that it may cover long distances easily and may not get weary in the dreary deserts. Its hooves are also such that its feet do not get thrust into the sand. It also possesses sufficient stamina to cross the difficult and strong paths and can tolerate heat as well as thirst. God has given it an extraordinary stomach in which it can store water to suffice for many days and as and when water is not available its owner also takes out water somehow from its stomach for his personal use. The Arabs have given the camel thousands of names.

Vegetation is very rare in this territory. Some thorny bushes grow but they too are withered on account of shortage of water and severe heat. The dwellings of the people are usually tents which cannot protect them either from the scorching winds or from the heat of the sun. In fact there is no difference between living in these tents and living under the sky. For these reasons its population is scanty and scattered. The people of Arabia do not usually live at one place permanently but shift from place to place.

The staple food of the Arabs is dried palm-dates. To this is added the meat of the camels and the hunted animals. On account of their spending their lives permanently in the deserts warfare and bloodshed have become a part of their nature. It is so hot in the desert and valleys of the Arabian Peninsula that the earth accumulates sufficient heat to enable the people to roast the animals on the sand.

Similar deserts replete with sand, scanty and scattered population and uniformity of conditions are very tiresome things and make life unpleasant. Aspiration and hope which are the capital of happy life do not exist anywhere in this desert.

In such difficult circumstances and with such uniform life it was not possible for the nomadic Arabs to become acquainted with the vicissitudes of life and the various ways and manners of the other people of the world. Existence of righteousness and piety which make the heart of man accept faith cannot be imagined in a barren land. Such qualities develop in green and fertile lands and not in stony and dry areas. They develop in persons who are endowed with blessings of all kinds and not in the heart of those who are devoid of them.

A few small towns and settlements of those times were not very significant, firstly because their number was very small and secondly their position was no better than a few tents pitched in a barren desert, which had to suffer the onslaught of unfavourable winds. Of course, in Taif and Madina better means of livelihood were available.

As regards Mecca it was an idol-temple. Its residents were tradesmen in whose eyes one dinar was more valuable than the life of a human being. A life of poverty and indigence in a desert burning like hell with the present full of despair and the future without any hope - this was the condition of what was called the Arabian Peninsula.

What is surprising is this that although there are many lands adjacent to Arabia which are fertile and contain all amenities of life, there were people who ignored all these facilities and preferred to lead a miserable life in this barren land. They, therefore, never thought of stepping out of this desert. And what is more surprising is that the people there considered their homeland to be superior to the entire remaining world. They neither wanted to leave it, nor desired to choose another place as their homeland. This was a miracle of the Arabian Desert even before the Prophet of Islam was appointed to the prophetic mission.

However, if we compare all the cold and sweet springs, the fertile and green lands, the beautiful sceneries, the wealth and all other blessings available to various countries, other than Arabia, with the thing which appeared in that land, all those blessings and facilities appear to be of no value. The Arabian Desert, the land of miracles, produced something which is superior to all other blessings.

That magnanimous being was the great personality who showered his blessings on all human beings, who cleansed the springs of reality, because of whom the value of life became known, righteousness and deliverance became great things, and reality was elevated viz. Muhammad.

The birth of the cousin of Muhammad, Ali, in Arabia, where human life was not worth more than a dinar was the second miracle of this Desert.

The Coming of the Prophet

With eyes as bright as the shining sun, a reality on the lips more brilliant than the light of the sun, a heart more fresh than the flowers of the gardens of Yathrib and Taif, habits and morals more decent than the moon-lit nights of the Hijaz, a mind more brisk than the strong winds, a bewitching tongue, a heart with heavenly light, firm determination like a trenchant sword and heavenly words on the tongue - such was Muhammad son of Abdullah, the Prophet of Arabia, the Prophet who destroyed the idols which had separated brothers from brothers. He did not break only the idols of wood and stone but also broke the idols of wealth, indecent habits and party-spirit.

The only thing which the cowardly Quraysh desired was money should be transferred from the hands of the nomadic Arabs to their own pockets. The only value which they attached to life was that in order to earn profit they should travel through the desert on the back of the camels undergoing extreme hardships and then return to their hometown Mecca - the same Mecca which was the city of idol-worship, and where money was the only thing which counted.

Suddenly they heard a voice which shook their nerves. Their hopes were shattered. The world turned away its face from them saying: “The value of man is not the same which you have assessed and the object of the creation of the nomadic Arabs is not the same which you think it to be”.

....... This was the voice of Muhammad ........

Banu Asad and Banu Tamim were so foolish and ignorant that they buried their daughters alive without any cause. There was no justification for their doing so except that it was a custom which had survived amongst them. They were opposed to the Divine will. They hated the beauty of nature. And then they heard a voice, which was expressive of deep love and sympathy for the people saying: “Don't bury your daughters alive. Daughters are as good a creation of God as the sons. No human being has a right to deprive others of life. It is only God who creates the people and makes them die”.

........ This was the voice of Muhammad .......

The Arabs were always fighting. They fought and shed blood for years on account of very trivial things. They killed their own brothers and then rejoiced and glorified themselves on it. To sacrifice their lives for the sake of their own ignorance was something very ordinary for them. The children cried and screamed and grew up in conditions which were not conducive to the creation of love or sympathy for anyone in their minds.

In these circumstances they heard another voice which said: “What are you doing? You kill one another although you are all brothers because all of you have been created by God. Strife is something satanic. Peace and friendship are more beneficial for you. The blessing for which you fight can't be achieved except through peace”.

........ This, too, was the voice of Muhammad .......

The Arabs were the most proud and egoistic people. They considered the non-Arabs inferior to themselves. Not only this, but they did not consider the non-Arabs even human beings. Muhammad disliked this attitude of the Arabs very much. Addressing these proud people he said: “No Arab is superior to a non-Arab unless he is more pious. Whether you like it or not all human beings are brothers of one another”.

There were oppressed, homeless and helpless persons whose faces had been scorched by the hot winds. The society had discarded them and made their lives miserable. They were more humble in the eyes of the people than the particles of sand and their life had become extremely unenviable.

And these were the true friends of the Prophet of Islam, just as the indigent and outcasts of the society were the friends of Jesus Christ and other great men of the world. It was these very people for whose benefit the Prophet of Islam endeavoured to prevent the establishment of dictatorship, disallowed slavery, freed man from the bondage of his fellow-men, and established the public treasury so that all might benefit from it without any discrimination.

He directed the efforts of the people towards public welfare. He insisted on Quraysh, who were his kinsmen, at every step that they should improve their conduct, do good deeds, and keep their attention directed whole-heartedly to God, who has united the scattered creation into a single whole.

However, Quraysh instigated the ignorant persons as well as their own children to stone and ridicule him.

The helpless, oppressed and homeless slaves among whom one was Bilal, the Mu'azzin of the Prophet, were overjoyed when they heard this: “All human beings are fed by God. He likes him most who is more helpful to his creatures”.

........ This was the voice of Muhammad .......

Those who were his enemies and stoned and ridiculed him heard this animating voice:

“If you (Muhammad) had been stern and hard-hearted they would all have deserted you a long time ago. Forgive them and ask God to forgive (their sins) and consult with them in certain matter. But when you reach a decision trust God. God loves those who trust Him”.(3:159)

........ This was the voice of Muhammad .......

The following pure words were imprinted on the minds of those who were endeavouring in the path of God for a better life, and were ready to support him (Muhammad) in his campaign against idol-worship and evil-doing, and were afraid lest their rights and good conduct might be wasted in the battle-field.

“Remember! Don't be treacherous. Don't commit breach of trust. Don't kill either a child or a woman or an old man or a monk in a monastery. Don't burn a date-palm tree and don't cut any tree nor pull down a building”.

........ This voice was the voice of Muhammad .......

The Arabs heard this heavenly voice from Muhammad and spread it in all the four corners of the world. They covered powerful rulers and kings with this voice, established brotherhood amongst human beings and strung them in one faith, and created relationship between man and God.

The shade of Muhammad spread so much that the entire Old World came under it and the land from the east up to the west began producing the fruits of goodness, knowledge, peace and friendship. The Prophet of Islam stretched his hand and sowed the seeds of friendship and brotherhood throughout the world. That hand is still stretched and is busy sowing the seeds. Hence, there is no part of the world wherein the followers of Muhammad are not found. One of them may be in Pakistan and the other may be in Spain, but in spite of this both of them are treated to be under one and the same standard. The Prophet provided honour and respect to the Orientals which is even now a shining crown on their heads.

This voice of the Prophet, was a call for human brotherhood. It stopped the hands of the rulers from reaching the property of the subjects and gave equal rights to all human beings. In his religion there is no discrimination between a common man, a ruler and a subject and an Arab and a non-Arab, because all human beings are the slaves of God and it is He who provides sustenance to all of them.

This voice emancipated women from the oppression of men, freed the labourers from the injustice of the capitalists and delivered the servants from the degradation of submission to their masters. As opposed to Plato and other philosophers, who deprive the workers of their social rights on account of their mean occupation and have divided the society into many grades, the Prophet of Islam made all human beings participate in the affairs of government. He also disallowed usury and exploitation of one man by another.

After the Prophet of Islam it was Ali ibn Abi Talib who called men to good morals.