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Ali's
submission to law
The fame of Ali's impartiality as
Chief justice spread far and wide. Had circumstances allowed him
to reign peacefully the world would have witnessed a unique
combination of divine and secular justice. In the cases which
were brought to his court, Ali made no distinction between friend
and foe, between his own relatives and persons unknown to him.
An interesting story is told of a
case in which Ali was himself the plaintiff. It concerned a coat
of mail, lost by Ali at Siffin and picked up by a Christian who
then wore it himself. Ali recognizing his armor on the Christian
took the miscreant to the Qazi of the city, demanding that the
culprit should be dealt with according to the law. When the Qazi
asked the Christian if it belonged to him, he pleaded "not
guilty" saying, "My possession of it is a clear proof of my
ownership."
The Qazi then asked Ali to
substantiate his charge by producing a witness. Ali produced his
son Hasan as a witness but the Qazi refused to accept his evidence
saying that he was a close relative of the plaintiff. Ali did not
do anything more than saying that it was surprising that the Qazi
did not accept the evidence of one who was pronounced by the
Prophet as the Head of the Youth of Paradise. The Qazi was now in
a great fix for he was loath to accuse Ali of having brought a
false charge against the Christian yet unable to convict the
accused for lack of proof. Seeing the dilemma in which the Qazi
found himself, Ali however said, "The judge ought not to be
influenced by the dignity of any party; merit alone as the judge
takes it to be, should be the criterion for deciding the issue."
The Qazi then pronounced judgment as follows: In the absence of
any conclusive evidence, and this the Caliph has failed to
produce, the suit is dismissed."
The Christian merrily walked out
of the court, but after going only a few paces he turned back, and
going up to Ali, said, "O Commander of the Faithful, verily the
coat of mail is yours. I got it on the battlefield of Siffin. I
only wanted to see how judicial cases are decided in your courts.
My Lord, pray stretch forth your hand for I intend to take the
oath of allegiance and accept Islam at your hands." So saying he
took the oath of fealty to Ali, and accepted Islam. Ali then
presented to him that same coat of mail and also a horse, saying,
"Blessed art thou indeed. Previously thou wert a soldier of a
secular king but henceforth thou hast accepted enlistment as a
soldier of God." The new convert is said to have joined Ali's
army, fighting in all the battles in which Ali was involved until
on the battlefield of Nahrwan he was killed, thus obtaining a
martyr's crown.
Ali was also
very particular that his magistrates should also follow the
principle of strictest impartiality issuing very strict
instructions that they should never take bribes and never
pronounce judgments until they were fully satisfied with the
merits of the case.
