A heavy-built man was passing through
the market of Kufa, his step was firm and assured. He had a fine
physique and sun-burnt face; encounters of the battle-field had left
their marks on him and the corner of one of his eyes was slit. A
shop-keeper, to amuse his friends, threw a handful of sweepings onto the
man. The man continued his walk in the same assured and firm manner,
without raising an eye-brow or looking towards the shop-keeper. When he
went away, a friend of the shop-keeper said:"Do you know who the man
is whom you have insulted just now?"
"No, I do not recognize him. He was a passer by like thousands of
people passing this way every day. But tell me who this man is."
"Strange! Didn't you recognize him? He was Malik Ashtar, the renowned
commander-in-chief of Imam Ali."
"Strange! He was Malik Ashtar! The same Malik whose bravery turns the
heart of lions into water and mention of whose name makes his enemies
tremble with fear?"
"Yes, that was Malik himself."
"Woe to me! What did I do? Now he will give orders to punish me
severely. I must run to him immediately to apologize and request him to
forgive my misbehavior."
He ran after Malik. He saw him turning towards a mosque. He followed
him to the mosque and saw that he had started praying. He waited till he
finished his prayer. Humbly introducing himself he told him:
"I am the man who had committed the silly prank and behaved
disrespectfully to you."
Malik said: "By Allah, I did not come in the mosque but for your
sake, because I understood that you were a very ignorant and misguided
man and that you give trouble to the people without any reason.
I felt pity on you and came here to pray for you and ask Allah to
guide you onto the right path. No, I did not have any such intentions
that you were afraid of." |
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When Imam Ali learned about the
martyrdom of Malik Ashtar, he exclaimed: "Malik, what a man Malik was!
By Allah, if he had been a mountain he would have been a big one, and if
he had been a stone he would have been tough; no horseman could have
reached it and no bird could fly over it. (Nahjul Balaqa, Saying no.
441)Malik Ashtar is among those great men of Islam who chose justice
and truth in the conflict between the Right and Wrong, between justice
and injustice. During his life, he fought so long and so zealously
against tyrants and rebels that he was eventually appointed as the
general of Imam Ali's army.
Besides being a brave combatant, Malik Ashtar was a virtuous man of
learning. At the height of authority as Imam Ali's commander-in-chief,
he was regarded among the humblest men of society. This man of God was
the distinguished disciple of Imam Ali. The best way to describe his
character is to quote the comment which the superman of Islam, Imam Ali,
made on him. We may note in what terms the Muslim great teacher, the
Master of the Pious, and the Commander of the Faithful, i.e., Imam Ali,
spoke about that self-made man. He entrusted Malik Ashtar with such
difficult commissions which the latter always fulfilled successfully.
When, after a succession of transient governors, Imam Ali gave
Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr the rule of Egypt, the troops of Muawiya, the
rebellious governor of Syria, had expanded their invasion deep inside
Egypt, creating tumult and disarray in the largest and the most
strategic territory within Imam Ali's realm. The critical circumstances
demanded a wise brave fighter, able to put down the enemies. Although
Imam Ali needed Malik Ashtar in his army, he sent the latter to Egypt in
the better interests of Islam, and wrote an important letter to the
Egyptians by way of introducing Malik Ashtar:
From the creature of God, Ali ibn Abu Talib, to the people whose
anger was for the sake of God. They got angry when they saw that their
land was being run over by people disobedient to God; when rights were
being crushed and obligations were being ignored and spurned; when
tyranny and oppression were the order of the day, and every good or bad
person and every local resident or outsider had to face them; when
goodness and piety were taboos; and when nobody cared to keep himself
from vices and sins.
After praise of God and compliments and homage to the Holy Prophet,
be it be known to you that I am sending to you such a creature of God
who forsakes rest and sleep during days of danger, who does not fear his
enemy at the worst frightening and critical junctures, and who is more
severe than burning fire to sinners and vicious people. He is Malik ibn
Harith from the tribe of Mazahaj. Hear him and obey his commands which
you will find to be right and according to true canons of Islam. He is
such a sword among the swords of God that its sharpness will never get
blunt or whose stroke will never miss. If he orders to advance against
your enemies, then advance. If he commands you to stay, then stay,
because he neither advances or attacks nor puts anyone backward or
forward save with my command. In sending him to you I have given
preference to your needs to those of mine, so that he may serve you
faithfully and may treat your enemies severely and strongly. (Nahjul
Balaqa, Letter no. 38)
That was a precise description by Imam Ali of a man who was a true
and sincere servant of Islam.
In another letter, from Imam Ali to two army generals, Malik Ashtar
is described as:
I have placed Malik Ashtar in command over you and over all those
under you. Therefore follow his orders and take him as the armor and
shield for yourselves because he is one of those from whom I have no
fear of weakness nor any mistakes, nor laziness where haste is more
appropriate, nor haste where slackness is expected of him. (Nahjul
Balaqa, Letter no. 13)
That was Malik Ashtar as characterized by Imam Ali, the symbol of
piety and virtue.
On the other side, we have different views on him held by the vicious
gang of Umayyad criminals. "Muawia ibn Abu Sufyan," writes the great
historian Ibn Athir, "always cursed Ali, Ibn Abbas, Hasan, and Husayn in
his prayers." Muawia, the embodiment of unbelief and hypocrisy, head of
tyrants and rebels of history, after having had martyred Malik Ashtar by
his traitorous agents, thanked God (the kind of God he believed in) for
the great favor endowed upon him, and went on thus: "Ali ibn Abi Talib
had two hands: one was Ammar Yaser that was cut off in the Battle of
Seffin; the other was Malik Ashtar that has just been cut off."
Malik Ashtar as known on both Right and Wrong sides was indeed a
great man.
He was born in pre-Islamic period and was converted to the new
monotheistic religion proclaimed by Muhammad the Messenger of God. After
the death of the Messenger, he frequently took active part in battles
between Muslims and the tyrannous Sasanian State, and between Muslims
and Byzantine Empire. During the just caliphate of Imam Ali, he was
among the most excellent generals of the former. He also took part in
the armed conflicts with the seditious Nakethin, with Mareqin or the
Khawarij of Nahravan, and with Qasetin or the apostates and tyrants of
Syria, winning brilliant victories for the Army of the Right.
During the caliphate of Uthman, Malik Ashtar incurred the Caliph's
disfavor and was thereby sent into exile. He had the honor to be in
Muhammad's company, and was among Imam Ali's close companions. When
Egypt was rent with disorder by the Umayyad sinister agents, Imam Ali
substituted Malik Ashtar for Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr as governor of Egypt.
But before reaching his destination, Malik was martyred by Umayyad
assassins in the village of Qulzom near Egypt. |
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