Badr o Doja

In the Name of God. the Merciful, the Compassionate

This is that with which ‘Ali, the servant of God and Commander of the Faithful, charged Malik ibn al-Harith al-Ashtar in his instructions to him when he appointed him governer of Eqypt:

to collect its land tax, to war against its enemies, to improve the condition of the people and to engender prosperity in its regions. He charged him to fear God, to prefer obedience to Him (over all else) and to follow what He has directed in His Book-both the acts He has made obligatory and those He recommends- for none attains felicity but he who follows His directions, and none is overcome by wretchedness but he who denies them and lets them slip by. …And he charged him to break the passions of his soul and restrain it in its recalcitrance, for the soul incites to evil, except inasmuch as God has mercy.؛ٰ