Elusive Rulers

Elusive Rulers

In a book written by Raghib Al-Isfahani, Maamun Bin Mehran said that he was with the
Caliph Umar Bin Abdul Aziz, who asked his guard, " Who is at the door? " The guard replied that it is a man who claims to be the son of Bilal, the son of the one who called for the prayers (Adhaan) for the messenger of Allah, Muhammad peace be upon him. The Caliph permitted him to enter and asked him to relate something of the Prophet.
Ibn Bilal said that his father related to him that he had heard the prophet peace be upon him say,
" Whoever is given authority in a matter that is related to the people and then creates a barrier
( referring to the guard) between him and them, Allah will place a barrier in front of him on the day of judgement. "

Umar immediately asked the guard to leave his post and return to his home. No one ever saw a guard at 'Umars door again. He stated that there couldn't be anything more unfavorable to the leadership of a people than the harshness of guards and the inaccessibility of the rulers themselves. The wicked acts of the citizens can only become more widespread in the land, knowing that a ruler is difficult to gain access to. It has been said that a leader prevents people from speaking to him because of the evil that is in him or out of sheer stinginess and pride.