Hundred Great Muslims

46 Hundred Great Muslims
kept in Baitul Mal among the poor. When he was accorded a royal welcome in
Kufa, he preferred to stay in the open field instead of the local palace in which
arrangements for his boarding had been made. He could not add to the
prosperity of his house during the lifetime of Hazrat Fatima. He had only one
blanket, which was barely enough to cover his head and feet when he slept.
Even, during the days of his Caliphate, he did not give up his simplicity and
wore tattered clothes and ate coarse food. He loathed to engage a servant for
performing household chores, which were handled by his beloved wife Fatima
who was the favourite daughter of the Prophet. She was accustomed to grinding
the corn with her own hands.
Writing in Izalat-ul-Khifa, Shah Waliullah says that Hazrat Ali once
received baskets of oranges from some country. Hazrat Imam Hasan and Husain
picked up one orange each which Hazrat Ali snatched from the hands of his
sons and distributed all the oranges among the common people. As Islam forbids
accumulation of wealth, Hazrat Ali, always lived up to his convictions; neither
he ever amassed wealth, nor he believed in hoarding wealth in the Public Treasury.
During his Caliphate, he had to offer even his favourite sword for sale
in order to purchase a piece of cloth. In spite of being extremely poor, he
never turned away in disappointment anyone who knocked at his door. One
night he watered a garden of Medina and received grain as his wage. The next
morning when he returned home he got a portion of grain boiled. But he gave
the whole of it to a beggar who knocked at his door. This was repeated on
three successive days with the result that he himself had to go without food for
three days.
Unlike Muawiya who recklessly distributed the wealth of Baitul Mal
among his own men, with ulterior motives, Hazrat Ali scrupulously followed
the principles laid down by the Second Caliph and equally distributed the public
money among the people. This impartial justice of the Caliph antagonised his
supporters, who began to side with Muawiya. Despite surmounting difficulties
Hazrat Ali faced them with courage and conviction and kept up the high
traditions of the Prophet.
His Administration steered clear of partisanship, favouritism or nepotism.
He was particularly severe on his Governors and kept a regular watch on their
actions. Once his own cousin Ibn Abbas, the Governor of Basra, drew some
money from the Baitul Mal for his personal expenses. Hazrat Aliquestioned his
action and Hazrat Ibn Abbas was so much frightened that he left Basra for
Makkah. It becomes abundantly clear from this that Ali did not spare even
his dear once who strayed from the path chalked out by the Prophet.
"Ali's Administration", says Ameer Ali, "was too disturbed by civil war
to remedy the evils of the previous Administration; but he removed most of the
corrupt Governors and restored the policy of Umar where he had the power;
established a state archive for the safe custody and preservation of the records