One of Imam Ali’s political manners was tolerating the enemies as much as possible
On the issue of the political behavior of the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.) I should say that he used to tolerate his opponents and even his enemies as much as possible. Although it is true that he experienced three wars during his nearly five-year rule, he fought in these wars after he showed all kinds of tolerance. The Commander of the Faithful (a.s.) was not a person to draw his sword without showing proper tolerance towards his opponents.
Now, I want you to listen to a number of hadiths narrated by him. In the beginning of his caliphate, a number of people gathered around the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.) and they insisted that he deal with some of his opponents. They firmly insisted that he should do this. In response, the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.) advised them to be patient.
One of the things that he said was, "One group will think as you do, but another will not think as you think, and there will be still another group who will be neither this way nor that way". There are some people who have the same opinion as you do and there are some people who believe something that you do not. There is another group of people who do not take sides at all. These people have a different opinion. "Therefore, you should be patient". He said that they should be patient so that he can carry out his responsibility with acumen. "Be patient until people quieten down and hearts settle in their places so that rights can be achieved for people easily".
He said that they should allow him to establish people's rights in a calm and peaceful way. "But if I do not find another way, the last treatment, of course, will be branding with a hot iron" [Nahjul Balaghah, Sermon 168]. We should do our best to establish and achieve people's rights in a patient and kind way. If we realize that there is no other alternative, then we should "brand with a hot iron". This is a well-known Arabic saying. It means that the last alternative is behaving in a firm way. We should treat the wound with medicines and ointments as much as possible. We should use ointments in order to clean the wound. If it is not possible to do this, then the last treatment will be to heat it with a hot iron because there is no other way.
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