MAKOTA RADJA-RADJA;
OR,
THE CROWN OF KINGS
[Translated by Aristide Marre and C. C. Starkweather]
Kings who are of the true faith, who have wisdom and follow justice, cause men
worthy of their confidence to travel through their kingdom, to serve as their eyes
and ears, and to make reports on the state and condition of their subjects, so that,
knowing the cause, they may examine for themselves the conduct of the servants
of God. But there are kings who do not rest contented with the report of their
servants, and go themselves by night to see the condition and hear the
complaints of subjects. Then they make by day a thorough examination of the
matters thus come to their knowledge, in order to regulate them with justice and
equity.
A story will illustrate this. Zeyd Ibries Selam tells what follows: The prince of
the believers, the Caliph Omar (may God be satisfied with him!), judged the
servants of God with equity during the day, and after pronouncing his judgments
he went out of the city on the side toward the cemetery called Bakia-el-
Gharkada. There he cut stone to gain money enough for the maintenance of his
house, and when night had come he went through the city to know the good and
evil of the servants of God. One night, says Zeyd Ibries Selam, "I accompanied
the prince of the believers, Omar. When he was outside of Medina, he perceived
a fire in an out-of-the-way place, and turned his steps thither. Scarcely had he
arrived when he heard a woman with three children, and the latter were crying.
The woman said: 'O God the most high, I beseech thee, make Omar suffer what I
am suffering now. He sleeps satiated with food, while I and my children are