Text:Letter of Imam 'Ali (a) to Shurayh b. al-Harith al-Kindi

The Letter of Imam Ali (a) to Qāḍī Shurayḥ is a letter of censure from Imam Ali (a) to Shurayh b. al-Harith, the judge of Kufa at the time, rebuked him for purchasing an expensive house.

In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful.	بِسْمِ الله الرَّحمٰن الرَّحِیم
It is narrated that Shurayh b. al-Harith, the judge appointed by the Commander of the Faithful, Ali (a), purchased a house for eighty dinars during his (Ali's) reign. When this news reached him (Ali)...	رُوِيَ أَنَّ شُرَيْحَ بْنَ الْحَارِثِ قَاضِيَ أَمِيرِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ (علیه السلام) اشْتَرَى عَلَى عَهْدِهِ دَاراً بِثَمَانِينَ دِينَاراً فَبَلَغَهُ ذَلِكَ،
Imam Ali (a) called him and asked him: "I am given to understand that you have purchased this house for eighty dinars and a sales deed has also been completed regularizing it with signatures of witnesses".	فَاسْتَدْعَى شُرَيْحاً، وَ قَالَ لَهُ: بَلَغَنِي أَنَّكَ ابْتَعْتَ دَاراً بِثَمَانِينَ دِينَاراً وَ كَتَبْتَ لَهَا كِتَاباً وَ أَشْهَدْتَ فِيهِ شُهُوداً
Shurayh replied, "O Amir al-Mu'minin, this is a fact".	فَقَالَ لَهُ شُرَيْحٌ قَدْ كَانَ ذَلِكَ يَا أَمِيرَالْمُؤْمِنِينَ(ع)
[He (Ali)] then looked at him with the look of one who is angered, and said to him: "O Shuraih! Know well that there will come to you one who will not look into your record, nor ask you for your proof, until he expels you from it (the house) utterly, and delivers you to your grave, alone."	فَنَظَرَ إِلَيْهِ نَظَرَ الْمُغْضَبِ ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهُ: يَا شُرَيْحُ أَمَا إِنَّهُ سَيَأْتِيكَ مَنْ لَا يَنْظُرُ فِي كِتَابِكَ وَ لَا يَسْأَلُكَ عَنْ بَيِّنَتِكَ، حَتَّى يُخْرِجَكَ مِنْهَا شَاخِصاً وَ يُسْلِمَكَ إِلَى قَبْرِكَ خَالِصاً.
"So reflect, O Shurayh! Take care lest you have bought this house with wealth that is not rightfully yours, or paid its price from that which is not lawfully yours. For if so, you will have lost the abode of this world and the abode of the Hereafter."	فَانْظُرْ يَا شُرَيْحُ لَا تَكُونُ ابْتَعْتَ هَذِهِ الدَّارَ مِنْ غَيْرِ مَالِكَ أَوْ نَقَدْتَ الثَّمَنَ مِنْ غَيْرِ حَلَالِكَ؛ فَإِذَا أَنْتَ قَدْ خَسِرْتَ دَارَ الدُّنْيَا وَ دَارَ الْآخِرَةِ
Had you come to me at the time of your purchase—before you bought—I would have written for you a document in accordance with this copy, and you would not have desired to buy this house [for even a dirham] or more than a dirham.	أَمَا إِنَّكَ لَوْ كُنْتَ أَتَيْتَنِي عِنْدَ شِرَائِكَ مَا اشْتَرَيْتَ لَكَتَبْتُ لَكَ كِتَاباً عَلَى هَذِهِ النُّسْخَةِ، فَلَمْ تَرْغَبْ فِي شِرَاءِ هَذِهِ الدَّارِ [بِالدِّرْهَمِ] بِدِرْهَمٍ فَمَا فَوْقُ.
And this copy is as follows: 'This is what a lowly slave, from a dead man who has been compelled to depart, has purchased from him: a house from the abode of delusion, from the side of the perishing and the lot of the doomed.'	وَ النُّسْخَةُ هَذِهِ هَذَا مَا اشْتَرَى عَبْدٌ ذَلِيلٌ مِنْ مَيِّتٍ قَدْ أُزْعِجَ لِلرَّحِيلِ اشْتَرَى مِنْهُ دَاراً مِنْ دَارِ الْغُرُورِ مِنْ جَانِبِ الْفَانِينَ وَ خِطَّةِ الْهَالِكِينَ
And this house is encompassed by four boundaries:	وَ تَجْمَعُ هَذِهِ الدَّارَ حُدُودٌ أَرْبَعَةٌ
The first boundary ends at the callers of calamities, the second boundary ends at the callers of afflictions.	الْحَدُّ الْأَوَّلُ يَنْتَهِي إِلَى دَوَاعِي الْآفَاتِ وَ الْحَدُّ الثَّانِي يَنْتَهِي إِلَى دَوَاعِي الْمُصِيبَاتِ
The third boundary ends at the destructive desires, and the fourth boundary ends at the misleading Satan. Within these lies the gate of this house."	وَ الْحَدُّ الثَّالِثُ يَنْتَهِي إِلَى الْهَوَى الْمُرْدِي وَ الْحَدُّ الرَّابِعُ يَنْتَهِي إِلَى الشَّيْطَانِ الْمُغْوِي وَ فِيهِ يُشْرَعُ بَابُ هَذِهِ الدَّارِ
This purchaser, beguiled by desire, has bought this house from one whose appointed time has compelled him to depart from this world, at the price of leaving behind the honor of contentment and entering into baseness and humiliation.	اشْتَرَى هَذَا الْمُغْتَرُّ بِالْأَمَلِ مِنْ هَذَا الْمُزْعَجِ بِالْأَجَلِ هَذِهِ الدَّارَ بِالْخُرُوجِ مِنْ عِزِّ الْقَنَاعَةِ وَ الدُّخُولِ فِي ذُلِّ الطَّلَبِ وَ الضَّرَاعَةِ
And whatever loss befalls this buyer in what he has purchased, it falls upon the Angel of Death — the very one who dismantles the bodies of kings, seizes the souls of the arrogant, and destroys the dominion of pharaohs, such as the Kisra,^[1] Caesar,^[2] Tubba',^[3] and Himyar.^[4]	فَمَا أَدْرَكَ هَذَا الْمُشْتَرِي فِيمَا اشْتَرَى مِنْهُ مِنْ دَرَكٍ فَعَلَى مُبَلْبِلِ أَجْسَامِ الْمُلُوكِ وَ سَالِبِ نُفُوسِ الْجَبَابِرَةِ وَ مُزِيلِ مُلْكِ الْفَرَاعِنَةِ مِثْلِ كِسْرَى وَ قَيْصَرَ وَ تُبَّعٍ وَ حِمْيَرَ
And as for one who amasses wealth upon wealth, multiplying it, and builds, reinforces, adorns, furnishes, hoards, and clings [to it], claiming it is for his children — [know that] they will all be summoned to the station of presentation and reckoning, and the place of reward and punishment.	وَ مَنْ جَمَعَ الْمَالَ عَلَى الْمَالِ فَأَكْثَرَ وَ مَنْ بَنَى وَ شَيَّدَ وَ زَخْرَفَ وَ نَجَّدَ وَ ادَّخَرَ وَ اعْتَقَدَ وَ نَظَرَ بِزَعْمِهِ لِلْوَلَدِ إِشْخَاصُهُمْ جَمِيعاً إِلَى مَوْقِفِ الْعَرْضِ وَ الْحِسَابِ وَ مَوْضِعِ الثَّوَابِ وَ الْعِقَاب
When the command for the decisive judgment is issued, 'And the falsifiers will be lost there.	إِذَا وَقَعَ الْأَمْرُ بِفَصْلِ الْقَضَاءِ «وَ خَسِرَ هُنالِكَ الْمُبْطِلُونَ»
Reason bears witness to this when it breaks free from the captivity of desire and is delivered from the attachments of this world.^[5]	شَهِدَ عَلَى ذَلِكَ الْعَقْلُ إِذَا خَرَجَ مِنْ أَسْرِ الْهَوَى وَ سَلِمَ مِنْ عَلَائِقِ الدُّنْيَا

Notes

↑ Kisra, is the Arabicised form of "Khusraw" which means a King whose domain of rule extends to a vast area. This was the title of the rulers of Iran.
↑ Caesar was the title of the rulers of Rome, which in Latin means the child whose mother dies before delivery and who is extractedby cutting open her body. Since among the Kings of Rome, Augustus was born, like this he was known by this name, and after that, this word was adopted as the title of every ruler.
↑ Tubba', is an appellation of each of the Kings of Yemen who possessed Himyar and Hadramawt. Their names have been mentioned in the holy Qur'an in chapters. 44:37 and 50:14.
↑ Himyar, originally, an important tribe in the ancient Sabaean kingdom of south-western Arabia; later the powerful rulers of much of southern Arabia from c. 115 BC to c. AD 525.
↑ Ṣadūq, al-Amālī, p. 311.

References

Ibn Abī l-Ḥadīd, ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd b. Hibat Allāh. Sharḥ Nahj al-balāgha. Edited by Muḥammad Abu l-faḍl Ibrāhīm. Qom: Kitābkhāna-yi Ayatullāh Marʿashī Najafī, [n.d].
Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Al-Amālī. Tehran: Kitābchī, 1376 Sh.

[1] Kisra, is the Arabicised form of "Khusraw" which means a King whose domain of rule extends to a vast area. This was the title of the rulers of Iran.

[2] Caesar was the title of the rulers of Rome, which in Latin means the child whose mother dies before delivery and who is extractedby cutting open her body. Since among the Kings of Rome, Augustus was born, like this he was known by this name, and after that, this word was adopted as the title of every ruler.

[3] Tubba', is an appellation of each of the Kings of Yemen who possessed Himyar and Hadramawt. Their names have been mentioned in the holy Qur'an in chapters. 44:37 and 50:14.

[4] Himyar, originally, an important tribe in the ancient Sabaean kingdom of south-western Arabia; later the powerful rulers of much of southern Arabia from c. 115 BC to c. AD 525.

[5] Ṣadūq, al-Amālī, p. 311.

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