Examining the protective dimensions and components in Nahj al-Balaghah's Letter 53

There is no doubt about the necessity of creating security for the entire population and the totality of society by the ruling political system. The claim of Islam and the progressive school of Shiite Islam about having practical program for all periods and acts and human needs, also necessitates the implementation of studies for exploiting security concepts and methods of creation and protection of it, so that the framework and guidelines for Islamic societies can be achieved. Most of the researches on religious texts take place in the field of jurisprudence and other dimensions are of lesser interest. Among them, it can be said that security and intelligence dimension has the least research interest in the religious heritage. Nahj al-Balaghah was not an exception to this rule as the legacy of Islam and Shiism and so far the vast majority of researches have focused on the ethical orders of Amir al-Mu'minin Ali (PBUH). This study employs descriptive-analytical method and by focusing on the letter of 53 Nahj al-Balaghah addressed to Malik bin Ashtar Nakha'i as the governor of Egypt, attempts to focus on the pure heritage of Islam and Shiite on the one hand and the study of the only era that the imams have been at the top of the political administration to explains the security and protective dimensions and components that Imam Ali (PBUH) describes as the behavioral characteristics of an Islamic ruler to his governor. The study results show that among the six protective dimensions, three dimensions of personnel security, document security and security of places are more emphasized in this letter of Imam Ali (PBUH). In this regard, personnel security with the most frequent components is at the top of the commands of the Imam and in the two other aspects, the main attention of the Imam is on the human factor and this can be a reason for showing the human making nature of the school of Imams (PBUH).