Public and Private Domains in the Thought and Conduct of Imam  Ali ( A)

The public domain is a prerequisite for political action. On the one hand, as their common world this realm connects human beings and on the other hand, separates them at the same time. It is in fact the sphere in which political action takes place. The unity of human beings is realized only through the public domain with a collection of political institutions. Membership in the public domain is not based on ethnic, religious or racial grounds rather as Islam and Imam ‘Ali’s conduct both demonstrate it is only based on human criterions. The evaluation of Imam ‘Ali’s political stances and thought in the context of the theory of public and private domains leads us to the highly exalted nature of this great man’s thought. Aside from the absolute concepts and definitions of this theory, this evaluation shows the vitality of Imam ‘Ali’s thought and also of the pure Islamic approach towards man, and the adoption of various political, social, cultural and economic positions vis-a-vis different issues in the Muslim community of that period.