Nahj al-Balaghah: Imam Ali’s book
If you take look at Nahj al-Balagha, you will see that what the Commander of the Faithful has said about lack of interest in the world and piety is far more than all his statements concerning other things. The reason is what I just discussed. Otherwise the Commander of the Faithful was not the type of person to seclude himself from the world. On the contrary, he was one of the most active people when it came to improving the conditions of material life. Both before and after he came to power, he never showed any tendency to slack off. Why was that? It is well-known that when Imam Ali (a.s.) lived in Medina - before he was assigned caliph - he had created a garden with his own hands. He had channeled water to his garden. He had planted palm trees there. Paying attention to material life, the nature that God has created for man, managing the lives of the people, managing the people's financial affairs, and preparing the means for the economy to thrive are all positive measures which are among the duties of individual Muslims and Muslim officials. That is the way the Commander of the Faithful worked. But he was not at all dependant on material possessions. That was all part of Imam Ali's (a.s.) plan for moral education.