in his presence, but let the jurisdiction in all of this be yours, entrusted entirely to you without restriction. None of the other judges may contest you in this, and if one of the parties to a suit brings his case to you, and the other to another judge besides you, then the one who has brought suit before a judge other than you must bring the case with his opponent before you, willingly or otherwise.
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فاعلم ذلك من رأي أمير المؤمنين وأمره وامتثلْه وقدّمْ به أوامرك وزواجرك، واقرأ كتاب أمير المؤمنين هذا على المنبر ليذيع بين الناس وينشر في حاضرهم وباديهم ودانيهم وقاصيهم. وامضِ على ما قلّدك أمير المؤمنين من ذلك جاريًا على ما تقدّم به توفيق الله لك وتسديده إيّاك من إنفاذ الحقوق وتقويتها وإقامة الحدود على أهلها وشدّة الوطأة على الظلوم ونصرة الحقّ ومعونة المظلوم وإغاثة١ اللهيف وتقوية الضعيف مقتديًا في أحكامك وأقضيتك بكتاب الله عزّ وجلّ الذي {لَّا يَأْتِيهِ ٱلْبَٰطِلُ مِنۢ بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَلَا مِنْ خَلْفِهِۦ ۖ تَنزِيلٌ مِّنْ حَكِيمٍ حَمِيدٍ} فإنّ الله جلّ ذكره قد بيّن فيه حلاله وحرامه وأوضح أحكامه وأنار معالمه. وما لم تجد فيه نصّه ولا في سنّة جدّ أمير المؤمنين محمّد رسول الله ربّ العالمين حكمه التمسه في مذاهب الأئمّة من ذرّيّته الطاهرين البررة الراشدين آباء أمير المؤمنين صلوات الله عليهم أجمعين الذين استحفظهم الله أمر دينه وأودعهم خزائن علمه ومكنون وحيه وجعلهم هداة العباد ونور البلاد ومصابيح الدجى من حيرة العمى وغياهب الردى والطريقة المثلى والمقتدى بهم في أمر الدين والدنيا.
١ خ، ل: إعانة.
Know that this is the considered opinion and command of the Commander of the Faithful: Submit and follow it, preface your commands and exhortations with it, and read the decree of the Commander of the Faithful on the pulpit, so that it might be disseminated among the populace and become generally known among the townsfolk and the inhabitants of rural regions, near and far. Proceed according to the charge the Commander of the Faithful has entrusted to you, continuing to dispense and uphold justice as God enabled you and guided you aright therein in the past, and imposing the canonical punishments on those who deserve them, treating the tyrannical with severity, championing what is right, supporting the oppressed, helping the forlorn, fortifying the weak, drawing in your rulings and judgments on the Book of God, «which invalidity cannot approach, either from before or from behind—a Revelation from One Wise and Praiseworthy.»73 For in it God explained His permitted and forbidden things, clarified His rulings, and illuminated His landmarks. Whenever you do not find the ruling regarding something in God’s Book or in the Practice of the forefather of the Commander of the Faithful, Muḥammad the Messenger of God, may God, the Lord of all Generations, bless him and his family, seek it among the opinions of the Imams from his pure progeny, the devout and rightly guided ones, the forefathers of the Commander of the Faithful, may the blessings of God be upon them all, to whom God entrusted the safeguarding of His religion, in whom He deposited the treasures of His knowledge and the secrets of His revelation, and whom He made guides for the believers, a light for all lands, lamps shining in the murk, leading out of the labyrinth of blindness and the gloom of perdition, the exemplary path to be followed in all matters, both spiritual and mundane.
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وما التبس عليك فأشكل واشتبه فأعضل أنهيته إلى أمير المؤمنين ليوقّفك على وجه الحكم فيه فتمتثله١ وتعمل عليه. فإنّه بقيّة خلفاء الله المهديّين وسلالة الأئمّة الراشدين الذين أمر الله جلّ اسمه بسؤالهم والاقتباس من علمهم وردّ الأمر إليهم. فقال تعالى {وَلَوْ رَدُّوهُ إِلَى ٱلرَّسُولِ وَإِلَىٰٓ أُولِى ٱلْأَمْرِ مِنْهُمْ لَعَلِمَهُ ٱلَّذِينَ يَسْتَنۢبِطُونَهُۥ مِنْهُمْ} وقال عزّ اسمه {فَسْـَٔلُوٓا أَهْلَ ٱلذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ} وقال النبيّ الناطق والرسول الصادق محمّد صلّى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلّم: إنّي تارك فيكم الثّقلين كتاب الله وعترتي أهل بيتي فلن تضلّوا ما إن تمسّكتم بهما، فإنّهما لن يفترقا حتّى يردا على الحوض. فمن اهتدى بأولياء الله في أرضه فقد اهتدى واستمسك بالعروة الوثقى وفاز بالحظّ الأوفى من خير الآخرة والأولى.
١ كذا في خ، و في ز، ل: فتمثّله.
Whenever something continues to perplex you and thus be difficult for you, and remains obscure and thus intractable, refer it in the final instance to the Commander of the Faithful, so that he might direct you to the correct ruling on the issue, so that you might adopt it and act upon it accordingly, for he is the remnant of the Caliphs who were guided by God and the descendant of the Rightly Guided Imams, for God, exalted and sublime be His praise, has decreed that people consult them, draw from their knowledge, and refer matters of importance to them. God said: «Had they referred it to the Messenger and to the Ones in Authority among them, then those who derived it from them would have known it.»74 He, glorious be His name, said: «So ask the People of Knowledge if you do not know.»75 The eloquent Prophet and the truthful Messenger, Muḥammad, said, “I have left among you two weighty matters, the Book of God and my progeny, the People of my House. You will not go astray as long as you hold fast to them, for they will not separate until they approach the heavenly pool.”76 He who adopts as guides God’s Wards in His earth has been led to the correct path, has grasped the strongest link, and has earned the fullest share of the blessings of this world and the next.
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وافتح للخصوم بابك رافعًا عنهم حجابك باسطًا لهم وجهك مواصلاً لهم جلوسك صابرًا نفسك على تنازعهم وتدافعهم في الأمور
