To Masqalah bin Hubayrah ash-Shaybani, the Governor of Ardashir Khurrah (Iran).
I have come to know concerning you a matter which if you have done it you have displeased your Allah and disobeyed your Imam. You are distributing among the Arabs (Bedouins) of your kin who tend towards you the property of the Muslims which they collected by dint of their spears and horses and on which their blood was shed. By Allah Who germinated the seed and created living beings, if this is true you will be humbled in my view and you will become light in weight. Therefore, do not treat lightly the obligations of your Lord and do not reform your world by ruining your religion, since then you will be among losers by the way of (your) actions. Know that the right of those Muslims who are around you and those who are around me in this property is equal. For that reason they come to me and take from it.
