Worship of God and Obedience to the Prophet\'s Sunnah

Ethical Factors and Transcendental Values
It is in the nature of man to incline towards virtue and try to acquire values that are deemed lofty and transcendental. Not all are equal in this quest for moral perfection since abilities vary from person to person. However, when we look at Imam \'Ali (A.S.) we see him stand out as the model par excellence of all such ethical values. He strove selflessly and embodied the merits which rarely accumulate in one person. These matchless traits, if they earned admiration and praise from God and his Prophet, appeared unpleasant to some and were another cause of breeding enmity in sick and jealous hearts. Some of these dynamic qualities which aroused animosity towards him are as follows:

1. Worship of God and Obedience to the Prophet\'s Sunnah
Anyone who attempts to write something about Imam \'Ali (A.S.) will admit that he was a perfect man of God, obedient to the Creator in all aspects of life to the extent that he would not even entertain the idea of committing the most minute act of disobedience.
...By Allah even if I am given all the domains of the seven (stars) with all that exists under the skies in order that I may disobey Allah to the extent of snatching one grain of barley from an ant I would not do it. For me the world is lighter than the leaf in the mouth of a locust that is chewing it...30
He was a paradigm of piety and excelled all others in the worship of God, as he himself says:
"O people I do not impel you to any obedience unless I practise it before you and do not refrain you from any disobedience unless I desist from it before ,,31
He lived according to the commandments of God and in accordance with the Sunnah of the Prophet and because of his commitment to these factors he refused to accept the caliphate after the death of \'Umar ibn al-Khattab when the condition spelled by the 6-man shura was that the new caliph should be bound to the behaviour and patterns set by the Shaykhayn (first two caliphs). 32

2. Love for Justice & Practicing of Justice
Although justice is regarded as a much-cherished humanitarian principle there are very few who really adhere to justice and practice justice. History bears witness that persons in power show respect for justice and implement justice as long as it is in their interests. Justice in the lexicon of such persons has definite limits. But for Imam \'Ali (A.S.) justice had a transcendental meaning where self-interests cease to exist. He was the epitome of the just ruler and spared no effort for the implementation of justice. When he heard that the agents of the rebel Mu\'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan had plundered the city of Anbar and snatched the jewelry from the women including those non-Muslims living under the protection of Islam, he said:
"If any Muslim dies of grief after all this he is not to be blamed but rather there is justification for him before ,,33
In another place the Imam says:
By Allah, I would rather like to pass the night in wakefulness on the thorns of Sa\'dan or to be driven in chains as a prisoner than meet Allah and His Prophet on the Day of Judgement as an oppressor over any person or a usurper of anything out of the worldly wealth. And how can I oppress anyone for (the sake of a life) what is fast moving towards destruction and is to remain under the earth for a long time. 34
This lofty sense of justice for restoring people their denied rights, if it endeared him to the oppressed masses it made the oppressors his open enemies. The Commander of the Faithful was determined to restore to the public treasury the wealth of the Muslim that the third caliph \'Uthman bin \'Affan had distributed among his supporters who were now the wealthiest people. He says in this regard:
By Allah, even if I had found that by such money women have been married or slave-maids purchased I would have resumed it because there is wide scope in dispensation of justice and he who finds it hard to act justly should find it harder to deal with injustice.35
This is how Imam \'Ali (A.S.) spelt out his state policy, but those who had prospered in earlier reigns due to rampant favoritism, nepotism and other forms of corruption, felt alarmed and became obstacles to the implementation of justice in the Islamic society.