If they had allowed the government to retain its Islamic form and the people to live in the shelter of an Islamic government, perhaps all these misfortunes which afflict us in the present day would not have come about. The governor who was chosen by God, the Blessed and Exalted, to exercise rule over that Ummah was a person who, when he became ruler, when everyone gathered around him and swore allegiance to him, lived more frugally than the most impoverished of our religious students or grocers. His food was stale oaten bread, and it is said that at the end of his life the bread that he ate was so hard and dry that he had to break it with his knee and eat it with water. It is related that Imam `Ali used to say: "I am afraid that in some corner of my realm there is a hungry person and how can I sleep with a full stomach when one of my subjects goes hungry." This was what an Islamic system of government meant .
The greatest disaster that befell Islam was the usurpation of rule by Muawiyah from Imam Ali (a.s.). This disaster was even worse than the tragedy of Karbala, and the misfortunes that descended upon Imam Ali and Islam at that time were worse than those which befell Imam Hussain (a.s.). The greatest disaster of all at that time was that they did not allow the people to perceive the true meaning of Islam. Even today the people are unsure of what Islam really is, what an Islamic government is, what Islam requires and what programs Islam has for governance. Even today, Islam remains obscure. The people of Islam should mourn the usurpation of rule from Imam Ali and commemorate those five or six years when he governed, when even with all the problems he faced and all the troubles that were created for him he maintained a true Islamic system. They should commemorate his justice, the fact that he was at one with his people, that his standard of living was lower than that of others while his spirit rose ever higher above the horizons. They should commemorate God. They should commemorate a ruler who, when he hears that an anklet has been stolen from a non-Muslim woman living under the protection of Islam wishes to die of shame.
Sahifeh, vol. 2, Page: 371-372
Speech, June 22, 1971