Book Four, On Justice: The Chosen Doctrine

But the doctrine of our school is this: that this practice of justice is the worst of ways, and that justice brings endless ruin. They have proven this with clear arguments, saying: the foundation of kingship, command, and governance rests on force and intimidation. Unless people fear someone, they will not obey him; all will be equal, the order of affairs will crack, and the system of things will fall apart. The ruler who, God forbid, practices justice, who beats no one, kills no one, seizes no property, does not get himself drunk, and shows no rage or fury toward his subjects: people will not fear him, the subjects will not obey their kings, sons and servants will not heed their fathers and masters, and the welfare of lands and people will collapse. For this very reason they have said: Kings will spill a hundred lives for the sake of a single gain! They declare: 'Justice brings ruin.' What clearer proof than this: the kings of Persia, like Zahhak the Arab and the sinner Yazdegerd, over whom the seat of hell now presides, and the others who came after them: as long as they practiced oppression, their fortune was rising and their kingdom flourishing. When the reign reached Khosrow Anushirvan, on the feeble advice and counsel of half-witted viziers he chose the way of justice. In no time the battlements of his palace collapsed, the fire-temples that were their shrines all died out at once, and their trace was wiped from the face of the earth. The Commander of the Faithful, the builder of the pillars of faith, Umar ibn al-Khattab, may God be pleased with him, who was famed for justice, laid bricks by hand and ate barley bread; they say his cloak weighed seventeen mans. Muawiya, by the blessing of tyranny, wrested the kingdom from the hand of Imam Ali, may God honor his face. Not until Nebuchadnezzar had slaughtered twelve thousand innocent prophets in Jerusalem, taken thousands more captive, and set them to tending his beasts did his fortune rise and did he stand exalted in both worlds. Genghis Khan, who today, to the blindness of his foes, sits in the lowest pit of hell as the leader and guide of all Mongols, first and last: not until he had cut down thousands upon thousands of the innocent with his merciless sword was the kingship of the whole earth secured for him. A Tale: It is recorded in the Mongol chronicles that when Hulagu Khan had conquered Baghdad, he ordered that those who had escaped the sword be gathered before him. He questioned each group about its trade, and once he understood the state of them all, he said: 'Craftsmen are indispensable,' and let them go back to their work. To the merchants he gave capital to trade on his behalf. The Jews he judged an oppressed people, so he was content to take tribute from them. The catamites he sent to his own harem. The judges, sheikhs, Sufis, pilgrims, preachers, chanters, beggars, wandering dervishes, wrestlers, poets, and storytellers he set apart and declared: 'These are surplus to creation and waste the bounty of God.' He ordered them all drowned in the river and cleansed the face of the earth of their filth. Inevitably, kingship stayed in his house for nearly ninety years, and every day their fortune grew. But when the wretched Abu Said got the notion of justice into his head and made himself known by the slogan of justice, in a short while his fortune was spent, and the house of Hulagu Khan and all his labors were undone by Abu Said's good intention. Yes: When a man's days turn dark, he does only what will do him harm. Mercy be upon these great and blessed men who guided the people out of the darkness of justice into the light of righteous oppression.