“We raise in rank whom We will, and above everyone possessed of knowledge is one more knowing” [Joseph: 76]. And He said concerning Dhū al-Qarnayn: “We gave him the means to all things” [The Cave: 84]. They said: knowledge (1).
The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “War is deception” (2). Among the wisdom expressed in verse are these lines by Abū al-Tayyib (3):
Sound judgment comes before the courage of the brave;
It takes first place, while courage takes the second.
When both unite within a mighty soul,
It reaches every station of sublime glory.
Yet a ruler must overlook punishing people for sins they commit that harm no one but the perpetrator. Muʿāwiya—may Allah be pleased with him—related that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “When a ruler seeks out grounds for suspicion among the people, he will all but corrupt them” (4).
(1) Recorded by Ibn al-Mundhir and Ibn Abī Hātim from Ibn ʿAbbās—may Allah be pleased with him and his father—as cited in *al-Durr al-Manthūr* (4:445).
(2) Recorded by al-Bukhārī (3029) and Muslim (1740) from Abū Hurayra. It was also recorded by al-Bukhārī (3030) and Muslim (1739) from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ansārī—may Allah be pleased with him.
(3) Abū al-Tayyib, *Dīwān* (p. 265). The original reads: *li-ʿabd marra balaghā…*
(4) Recorded by al-Bukhārī in *al-Adab al-Mufrad* (249), Abū Dāwūd (4888), Ibn Hibbān (5760), al-Tabarānī in *al-Kabīr* (19, no. 890), and others.
A corroborating report from al-Miqdām ibn al-Aswad and Abū Umāma was recorded by Ahmad (23815), Abū Dāwūd (4889), al-Hākim (4:378), and others.
The wording of the hadith in the original is *illā kāna* (“except that he was”), preceded by a blank space approximately one word long. The correct reading may be the one adopted in the text, since another version of the hadith reads: “If you seek out grounds for suspicion among the people, you will corrupt them, or nearly corrupt them.” The wording in the original may have been corrupted from this version.