UN endorses Imam Ali's way of working

United Nations Legal Committee, member states voted that the order of Imam Ali to Malik al-Ashtar (Nahj Al-Balagha letter 53) should be considered as one of the sources of International Law. The United Nations urged the Arab nations to use that letter as a model.

The aforementioned are some of the recommendations of Imam Ali to Malik al-Ashtar whom he appointed as governor of Egypt. To date they have remained to be known as the Alawi Constitution, about which the Christian scholar George Geordac comments: “There is nothing the in the United Nation Human Rights declaration except that you would find its equivalent in the constitution of Ali ibn Abi Taleb, but then you would find in his constitution greater values and of higher essence.”

The then UN secretary General Kofi Annan said: “The words of Ali ibn Abi Talib, ‘O Malik! The people are either brothers in religion or your equal in creation’ must be adhered to by all organisations and it is a statement that all humanity must embrace.”

Annan suggested that the document of Imam Ali to Malik al-Ashtar must be considered from the legal viewpoint, and after lengthy studies and considerations by the UN Legal Committee, member states voted that the document should be considered as one of the sources of International Law.

Shebly Shmayyil, another Christian scholar states: “Ali ibn Abi Talib is the leader and guide for mankind, and the East and West has never seen anyone like him, neither in the past nor in the present. His dealings with those took up arms and practiced terrorism

Imam Baqir states that his great grandfather – Imam Ali – never labelled those who fought him with infidelity or hypocrisy, but used to say, “They are our brethrens who mutinied against us.”

Imam Ali did not only endeavour to promote the culture of coexistence, but rather relentlessly contributed to creating an environment of awareness and understanding on individual and social levels in order to facilitate a positive and continuous coexistence.

Ali believed that people and governors have rights over each other and God created these rights so as to equate with one another. The greatest of these rights that Allah has made obligatory is the right of the ruler over the ruled and the right of the ruled over the ruler.

If the ruled fulfill the rights of the ruler and the ruler fulfills their rights, then right attains the position of honor among them, the ways of religion become established, signs of justice become fixed and the sunnah gains currency.

Imam Ali wrote directions for his officials which clearly show what form of regime he wanted to introduce. It was not to be a regime whose officers had an upper hand and were fattened on public money. It was to be a regime where the governed and the tax-payers were at premium. It was their convenience for which the State was to function. It was a welfare-state working solely for the welfare of the people living under its rule, a regime where the rich cannot get richer while the poor are made poorer; a regime where canons of religion hold the balance between the governed and the ruler.

He asked people not to speak with him as they spoke with cruel governors and be honest with him.

Earlier, the UNDP in its 2002 Arab Human Development listed six sayings of Imam Ali about the importance of knowledge and establishment of ideal governance.