The Profound affection
Ali realized that the logic of affection is higher than that of the law, that man’s kindness to man and other creatures is but the argument of life against death, and existence on non-existence.
And Ali’s attitude towards woman has not been that one which some had depicted.
If it has been of the justice of cosmos and balance in existnce that blaze of summer and seqeezig clouds of winter meet on one level that rivulets, tornadoes and soft breezes exterminate in one truth, and that nature carries in itself, in each one of its manifestations, the law of reward and punishment; so one aspect of this justice too, and of this balance is that the powers of nature deal with each other and interpenetrate; whether they were the elements of the inanimate or those of life and equally as well what is resulted from this or separated from that.
And because man’s characteristics, morals, inclinations, and sensations are resulted from the elements of life which merge and so consititute what we call man’s personality, so they are dealing with each other interpenetrating, and what proves that is the long observation and accurate comparison, then the bases of modern science which observes, balances, and establishes its discoveries on foundations and bases.
It has been mentioned that man in Ali Ibn Abi Talib’s doctrine is the ideal picture of the ideal cosmos. It is attributed to him this saying in which he addresses man:
You suppose yourself a tiny body
And within you the greater world is enfolded
It is natural in such a condition that Ali insists on asking whatever concerns man of that which belong to his time and the capabilities of his age. It is also natural that he insists on reveal-ing what lies in this “body within which the greater world is enfolded” of the aspects of cosmic justice, and the equivalence of existence within the frame round which his views turned.
Directly and deeply Ali sensed that there are among crea-tures, connections that do not vanish except by the vanishing of these creatures and anything that decreases these connections, decreases also the meaning of existence itself. If man is one of these creatures, so is connected with them as a relation of existence. And if that was - and it is as such - so the connection of a creature with its like is more fitting and priorer. But if this creature was of the living beings, then what fastens him to the living beings of his kind is firmer and stronger. As to man - the head of living creatures - his connection with his brother man is the first necessity for his existence as an individual and a group.
When Ali states that the righteous society is the one in which social justice predominate in its broader meanings and nobler forms, he is but establishing a law or what is of the law. But this law does not become clear in his mind and does not become a necessity except because it is a natural outcome of what we called the spirit of comprehensive cosmic justice which imposes the existence of this law. Hence we see Ibn Abi Talib insisting intensely on looking beyond these laws and protecting them through what is more sublime than them, the humanitarian sympathy.
Sympathy is nothing but this deep material and spiritual inclination to perfection and sublimity. It is then a moral necessity since it is an existential necessity.
The first page that Ali spreads of the pages of sympathy begins with reminding people that they are all brothers, so he describes them as ‘my brothers’ in a clear address while he is the prince of them. Then he adds that by reminding the rulers that they are people’s brothers, all people, and that this fraternity entails compassion by necessity, saying to his masters over his armies: “It is obligatory on the ruler that the distinction he achieves, or the wealth with which he has been exclusively endowed, should not make him change his behaviour towards those under his authority, and that the riches Allah has bestowed on him should increase him in nearness to his slaves and kindness to his brethren.”
And what he mentions to himself and his officers, that they and people are brothers by affection and sympathy, he returns and states it in a comprehensive wisdom directing towards all human beings without difference or distinction: “You are brothr-ren, dirty natures and bad conscience have separated you.” He,thus, places dirtiness of nature and evil of conscience in a side, and the sympathy of heart and affection of the soul in another side. And as it was of the existential right of man to enjoy man’s sympathy, so nature which carries in itself the values and standards has to compensate a righteous person whom the neighbours, the relatives, and the family have missed, and did not enfold him with the dress of sympathy, for this loss with more kindness and sympathy he gets from the distant ones, so Ali says: “He who is wasted by near ones is dear to remote ones.”
He, intending to cultivate this fraternity existing on human sympathy, does not accept even small faults as they have a tentative deviation from the generosity of sympathy: “know then, had it not been for some deficiencies, you would be the preffered in this matter.”
If known laws were allowing Ibn Abi Talib to fight the conspirators against him, he does not do so except after he respects all sides of kindness in his soul and heart, and after he agitates all the connections of human brotherhood in the souls and hearts of his enemy fighters. And if he has done it in the end he is but doing it unwillingly not voluntarily, sadly and in tears, not happily and laughingly, and then his feeling of victory after the battle, is more painful and bitter than his opponents’ feeling of defeat.
And if known laws were allowing Ibn Abi Talib to leave the transgressors against him after his death at the hands of supporters and sons to fight and punish due to a perversity they used and strived to, so the compassion for man - which is to him beyond every law - drives him compulsorily to address his supporters sons with this great saying: “Do not fight the Kharijites after me, because that who had sought right but fail to hit, is not like that who sought wrong and hit it.”
Due to this factor of deep sympathy he connects a person’s happiness with that of his neighbour, i.e, with humanity’s happiness as a whole, since a person’s neighbour has neighbours, and what rights he owes him they owe other people. And of his happiness too is the prevalence of this sympathy over him, therefore other’s sons will acquire this kindness that his sons get: “Educate orphan in the manner you educate your sons.” Every-one should sense the spirit of basic justice which excel the positivistic laws in value and beauty because it carries humani-tarian warmth and joins morals with the logic of heart, not the logic of submission to the law: “The young among you should follow the elders while the elders should be kind to the young.”
If the inability to obtain virtues is a defect, the logic of sympathy in Ali’s language renders the inable person to acquire people’s fraternity as the most defective: “The most helpless of all men is he who cannot gain brothers.” Ali adds to this inability another helplessness that is the tendency towards dispute and quarrelling, saying: “Be careful of dispute and quarrelling.” Rather what is prior is softness of speech since it enables to fasten the relations between a heart, as the source of sympathy, and the other heart: “Softness of speech is of generosity.” There is nothing among tendencies of heart which is near to comfort than one’s feeling that he has loving brothers among all people; if Ibn Abi Talib felt pain from the evils of his time he regards bread - which the means of survival truthfulness - which is the centre of survival, and people’s fraternity in one position; he says describing the people of his time: “people are about to lose three thing: a legitimately - earned pence averacious tongue, and a brother to whom one feels at ease.”
If estrangeness is a great severity as it entails loneliness the most intense of it is the hour man misses his brothers and dears since he then misses hearts of whose kindness he is proud, and with whose sympathy he lives: “A stranger is he who has no beloved” and forfeiture of lovers an alienation”.
We have to refer to Ibn Abi Talib’s attitude towards woman in these field woman is a half of humanbeings is this half void of kindness to the other half? And is the other half asked to deriate from the standards of cosmic justice that requires man’s kindness to man?
Many interpreted some of Ali’s sayings about woman in a way by which they wanted wisecrack and entertainment more than they wanted to show Ali’s position towards her. They insisted on some words he said in circumstances the most promi-nent feature of which was a hostility of a certain woman to him while he has not done evil and did not ordered except to do a favour. It slipped away from them that like these sayings which were the result of a limited condition in itself, aiming to clarify the causes of the conflict between two extremely different mentalities, he but said of men what is more forceful and sever. Hence he does not mean all men, and in their all conditions. And he, when he uttered these sayings on woman, he did not mean all women, and in all their conditions. Those persons who caused disastors which befell him and the goodness through him, were subjected to such sayings whether they were men or women having men’s power and authority. If he attacked these and these of men and women, he was but attacking in them certain positions in which they stood against right and justice as well as their supporters. And this disclaims the allegation of offence to the woman by Ali. I ask those whom the matter concerns to mention one word in which Ali offends woman and was not being directed to a certain person in a certain situation, or motivated by this person in this situation. He attacked woman when she has been the cause of a turmoil, and attacked man in such situation. Hence he attacks turnmoil no more!
Yet Ali’s position towards woman has been as a human being such as his attitude toward man, without difference and discrimination. Has not there been, in his profound sadness on his wife being dead, an evidence of his sense of woman’s value as a human being having all man’s rights and assumes all his duties, and at the basis of these rights and duties is to enjoy human kindness, and others are to enjoy his kindness as well.
Had not people during the pre-Islamic period and afterward been optimistic at boy’s birth and become happy, and been pessimistic at girl’s birth and become sad?
Had not Al-Farazdak’s attitude towards woman been an empression of the position of his age on woman, and it was an age connected with Ibn Abi Talib’s time, the hour his wife died, and he loved her as they claimed, and so he said of her this surprising saying:
The easiest lost, if death befells him
Of man’s friends, is he who is veiled
That is the cheapest lost one of man’s companions and acquaintance is that who wears a veil, and he means woman. Woman, in his heart and at his language, is not worth crying on or being sad for, Why? For nothing but because she is woman!
And Ali, has not he been one of the sons of that time? But he was the most penetrating in thought, the most honourable in view, and the deepest in sense, and he said among other speeches in this respect, blaming the companions of that reckless intellect: “Some of them like boys and dislike girls, etc”. so boys and girls are on one standing with Ali, they are associated by a human’s nature merely.
In addition to that, Ali, who feels pity on people generally and the weak of them particulary, imposes on compassionate nature to be most sympathetic to woman as she is oppressed, if not weak, so he says: “Support the oppressed, and prevent and punish douting oppressor, and do good to your women.” He says in another place: I command you to dissuade from evil and to do good to your woman.” Ibn Abi Talib made the rings of this integrated procedure follow one another in his call that all people, then people and the whole creatures should warp them-selves in the warmth of sympathy, so he says of knowledge - and we have known the value of knowledge in his belief-: “The head of knowledge is gentleness.” He does not see in many sins what is more terrifying than that they lead to severity due to its being accustomed to, so then they are the reason for a cold aversion that replaces in hearts warm sympathy, so he says: “tears haven’t dried out except for severity of hearts, hearts haven’t hardened except for committing plenty of sins”. And if you were not one of sin committers, you would be of the class of sympathy; and it is your right to sacrifice-by this sympathy-whatever you possess to support your brother, man: “If you had certitude of your brother, so grant him your money and hands, and show him goodness.”
At last, Ali utters a group of sayings that center around the orbit of calling people to be devoted to people in kindness and sympathy. They are trully considered one of the most great sublime ethical tradition man possesses of them are these master-pieces: “Behave well with him who behaves ill with you, give to him who deprives you. Do good to all people as you like it to be done to you. Do good to him who offends you. Grant favour to him who deprives you...etc.”
To achieve this compassionate call, Ibn Abi Talib partici-pates beasts, places and people in a mutual right of sympathy; so he says: “Fear Allah in the matter of His creatures and his cities because you will be questioned even About lands and beasts.”
Thus, man’s kindness to man and all creatures is but the argument of life on death; rather it is a will of the will of just existence!
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Author: George Jordac
