To Qathm bin Abbas, his Governor of Mecca
My spy in the West has written to me, telling me some people of Syria have been sent for Hajj who are blind of heart, deaf of ears and devoid of eyesight. They seek right through wrong, obey men in disobeying Allah, claim the milk of the world in the name of religion, and trade in the pleasures of this world by forsaking the rewards of the virtuous and the God- fearing. No one achieves good except he who acts for it, and no one is awarded the recompense of evil except he who commits it. Therefore, behave yourself in your duties like an intelligent, experienced, well-wishing and wise man who follows his superior and is obedient to his Imam. You should avoid what you may have to explain. Do not rise up in riches nor lose courage in distress.
