'Obeyd-e Zakani The Ethics of the Aristocrats, translated by Hasan Javadi (Chapter Four)

 

Chapter Four

On Justice

The Abrogated Practice

 

The great men of the past regarded justice as one of the four virtues, and upon it they based the foundation of this world and the next. Their belief was that "By justice the heavens and the earth stand upright,"1 and to exercise the message of the Koran which says, "God orders you to practice justice and be generous."2 Therefore, the kings, emirs, and noblemen always tried to be just and look after their subjects and soldiers as the means for attaining good repute. They so firmly believed in this that they encouraged the common people to be just in their dealings and partnerships and said:

Be just since in the heart's own lands

The just the Prophet's state commands

 

The Adopted Practice

 

 

But the view of our contemporaries is that this quality is the worst of all attributes and that justice brings forth much loss, a thesis that they have proved with the clearest of proofs. They say: "Punishment is the bulwark of kingship, lordship and mastership." Unless a man is feared no one will obey his orders, and all will feel themselves equals. Thus the order of affairs will be disrupted and the administration will be undermined. One who practices justice (God forbid) and refrains from beating, killing, and fining his subjects, and who does not get drunk and make an uproar and quarrel with them, will not be feared by anyone. Such kings will not be obeyed by their subjects, and children and slaves will not heed the words of their parents and masters. Consequently, the affairs of the country will lapse into chaos. This is why they have said:

 

Kings for gaining one of their objects

Will sacrifice one hundred subjects.

 

They say: "Justice bequeaths adversity." What proof can be more convincing than this: that as long as the kings of Iran, such as Zahhak the Arab3 and Yazdigird the Sinner,4 who now honor the best seats in hell along with the other potentates who arrived after them, practiced injustice, their kingdoms prospered and flourished. But when the time of Khosrow Anushiravan5 arrived, he followed the counsel of feeble-minded ministers and chose the way of justice. Before long the pinnacles of his palace fell to the ground and the sacred fire in the temples, which were their places of worship, was extinguished, and all traces of their existence vanished from the surface of the earth. The caliph of the faithful and the establisher of the laws of religion, 'Umar ibn Khattab6 (may God rest his soul in peace), who was well-known for his justice, used to make bricks and eat barley bread, and as they relate, his (patch-work) robe weighed seventeen mans;7 whereas Mu'awiyja8 , by virtue of his injustice, usurped the kingdom from 'Ali (may God ennoble his face). Nebuchadnezzar did not establish himself as a king and was not exalted in both worlds, until he murdered twelve thousand innocent prophets in Jerusalem and enslaved several thousand more. Chingiz Khan, who now despite his enemies is the leader and guide of all the Mongols, ancient and modern, in the deepest compartments of hell, did not attain the rulership of the whole world until he shed the blood of thousands and thousands of people.

 

Anecdote

 

It has been related in Mongol histories that when Hulagu Khan conquered Baghdad he ordered all the inhabitants who had escaped the sword to assemble in front of him. Then he asked each class about its circumstances, and after learning about them all, he said:"The artisans are indispensable and should be allowed to go to their work." The merchants were provided with capital so that they could trade for him. Considering the Jews as an oppressed people, he was content with a poll-tax from them. He also sent the eunuchs back to their jobs in order to look after their seraglios. Then he separated the judges, sheikhs, Sufis, Hajis, preachers, noblemen, Seyyids9 , beggars, religious mendicants, wrestlers, poets and story-tellers from the rest, and said: "These are superfluous creatures who wrongfully waste the bounty of God." By ordering them all to be drowned in the Tigris, he purified the earth of their vile existence. Consequently, sovereignty was firmly established in his family for about ninety years, and their prosperity increased every day. But since the poor Abu Sa'id was obsessed with the idea of justice and distinguished himself with this quality, before long the days of his monarchy were numbered, and the House of Hulagu and his endeavors disappeared through the aspirations of Abu Sa'id.10 It is true to say:

 

When the time of man begins to pale

He does only the things that are of no avail.

 

Blessings be upon these great and successful men who guided mankind from the dark delusion of justice into the light of proper direction.