يا كميل! لست واللّه متملقاً حتى أطاع ولاممنياً حتى لاأعصى ولا مائلاً لطعام الأعراب حتى انحل امرة المؤمنين وادعى بها
One of Imam Ali’s (AS) recommendations to Kumeil Ibn Ziad (one of his companions):
O Kumeil, I swear to Allah that I do not flatter anybody (I do not make any concessions to anybody) to make him obey me. And I do not make empty promises to avoid their defiance. And I do not pretend to have any tendency towards the food of the Bedouin (I do not lead a simple life) to be the believers’ emir.
(Tohfatul Oqul, p. 175)
In this part of his will, Imam Ali (AS) renounces the usual and ordinary methods that materialistic people use to obtain leadership and to consolidate and preserve it. Flattery is not always before the people who have power, wealth and high position. Sometimes a ruler flatters his subjects and those who serve him to make them obey him. "I do not give people false hopes and do not entertain them with empty promises to make them obey me, I do not pretend to have a tendency towards the food of the Bedouin, and I do not eat what they eat to attain leadership of the believers." It must be noted that this has been said by someone who ate the simplest food and chose to live in the most difficult conditions. Moreover, he used to say, "I do not engage myself in false pretences and hypocrisy." This is very important for us, and we must hold it up as a model to render our goals and intentions pure and divine and to make sure whatever we do is for Allah's sake.