الأهداف الاستراتيجيّة للحكومة في فكر الإمام عليّ(ع)

In the modern era, the state is regarded as the supreme—or even the foremost—political and social institution. Endowed with superior authority, it exercises power and organizes the various components of the political system in order to establish order and security while guiding society toward its objectives, thereby embodying the rationality of both society and the political system. From the perspective of political philosophy, the state is understood as the institution responsible for governing and directing society toward its goals and ultimate perfection. In different societies, according to their prevailing political philosophies, states pursue not only universal human objectives but also distinctive goals of their own. In Islamic political philosophy, the true purpose of human life is the realization of human perfection through the actualization of innate capacities within the framework of revealed knowledge. Accordingly, the state is expected to pursue objectives that correspond to the Islamic conception of human transcendence.
The central question of this study is: What fundamental and strategic objectives does Imam Ali (peace be upon him), as a divine sage, consider essential for government? Put differently, what strategic goals does he regard as necessary for enabling human beings to overcome the obstacles to perfection and attain spiritual and moral excellence? According to Imam Ali's political thought, these are objectives without which genuine human flourishing and transcendence cannot be achieved. The study argues that, based on Imam Ali's anthropological approach to the theory of the state, government is founded upon three fundamental objectives: order, justice, and salvation (felicity). These constitute the strategic goals of the state and are to be realized in a hierarchical and complementary relationship. By observing their proper priority and recognizing their mutual interaction and interdependence, the government integrates these objectives and thereby creates the conditions necessary for individuals and society to move beyond a condition marked by moral and social corruption toward human perfection and flourishing.
The method employed to analyze the data in this study is content analysis. By applying this method and examining the sermons and letters attributed to Imam Ali (A.S.), particularly those compiled in Nahj al-Balāghah, the researcher seeks to demonstrate the extent to which the three concepts of order, justice, and salvation were emphasized in Imam Ali's government and to explain the interactive and mutually influential relationship among them.
The assumptions that determine the nature of the relationship among the aforementioned concepts in Imam Ali’s (A.S.) theory of government are as follows:

In Imam Ali’s (A.S.) anthropological thought, the human being possesses a dual nature—animal and human, satanic and divine—and, in his actual existence and conduct, oscillates between animality and humanity.
In Imam Ali’s (A.S.) thought, the human being, by virtue of his exalted reality, enjoys the status and potential of being God’s vicegerent (khalīfat Allāh) in comparison with all other creatures.
Imam Ali (A.S.) regards the human being as inherently endowed with rights by virtue of his innate capacities for perfection, and he assumes government for the realization of those rights.
In Imam Ali’s (A.S.) thought, the legitimacy of government depends upon the attainment of its designated objectives. Accordingly, government must provide the grounds for spiritual and moral growth, establish justice, and guide society toward virtues, good deeds, righteousness, and prosperity in this world and the Hereafter, so that members of society may pursue the path of perfection.

The results of this argument are as follows:

In Imam Ali’s (A.S.) thought, order and security are regarded as primary and fundamental necessities of human life, and social life cannot endure or continue without them.
Order and security, beyond their outward forms, possess inner dimensions and levels.
Justice, for the purpose of ensuring the fair allocation of the rights of different classes and groups, is a matter of government. In order to achieve stable order and security, the government adopts justice as one of its objectives so that it may become internalized within individuals and social institutions. In Imam Ali’s thought, these two provide the grounds for human perfection and salvation, which constitute the third objective.
Salvation is the ultimate goal that individuals, social groups, and the government pursue in order to attain their ideals, purposes, and aspirations.
What guarantees and realizes salvation in the administration and leadership of the government is the existence and establishment of order, security, and justice.

The final conclusion is that, among the three objectives of the Alid government, justice is not merely an instrument for regulating and balancing social relations; rather, it is also a means of realizing human dignity and salvation. Such a conception of government indicates that, in Imam Ali’s thought, the state has no intrinsic value unless it is able, through the maintenance of order and security and the establishment of justice, to uphold the truth and lead the people toward perfection.