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Home > History > Khalifa Ali > Judgements of Ali - The story of loaves
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1. Birth of Ali

2. Years of childhood

3. Ward of the Holy Prophet

4. Conversion to Islam

5. Battle Between the truth and falsehood

6. Social Boycott Of Banu Hashim

7. Year Of Sorrow

8. Farewell to Makkah

9. Early Days in Madina

10. Battle of Badr

11. Marriage of Ali

12. The Bani Qainuqa

13. The Battle of Uhud

14. Banu Nadeer

15. Battle of the Ditch

16. Campaign Against Banu Mustaliq

17. Banu Quraizah

18. Operations Against Banu Sa'ad

19. Treaty of Hudaibiya

20. Battle of Khyber

21. Conquest of Makkah

22. The Battle of Hunain

23. The Siege of Taif

24. Campaign Against Banu Tai

25. Christians Of Najran

26. Banu Zabada

27. Expedition To Tabuk

28. The Declaration of Discharge

29. Banu Ramla

30. Mission to Yemen

31. The Farewell Pilgrimage

32. Khum Ghadir

33. Death of the Holy Prophet

34. The Caliphate of Abu Bakr

35. Fatima Zahra

36. Ali's Oration on the Death of Abu Bakr

37. The Caliphate of Umar

38. Ali During the Caliphate of Othman

39. Election of Ali as the Caliph

40. The Caliphate Issue

41. Vengeance for the Blood of Othman

42. Deposition of Provincial Governors

43. Defiance of Muawiyah

44. Defection of Talha and Zubair

45. Ayesha

46. Ayesha's March to Basra

47. Battle for Basra

48. Ayesha's Occupation of Basra

49. Ali's March to Rabda

50. Ali's Missions to Kufa

51. Ali's March to Basra

52. Peace Parleys

53. The Battle of the Camel

54. Ali's Occupation of Basra

55. Kufa, the New Capital

56. Qais Bin Saad Ansari

57. Muawiyah

58. Amr Bin Al-Aas

59. In Quest of Peace with Muawiyah

60. Letters of Ali Addressed to Muawiyah

61. Ali's March to Syria

62. The Battle for Water

63. Months of Suspense

64. The Battle of Siffin

65. Arbitration Agreement

66. The Kharijites

67. Testament of Ali

68. The Arbitration

69. The Battle of Nahrawan

70. Ali's loss Egypt

71. Trouble in Basra

72. Revolt of Khurrit Bin Rashid

73. Raids of Muawiyah

74. Martyrdom of Ali-661 C.E.

75. Life of Ali, General Review

76. Ali, The Man

77. Distinctions of Ali

78. Ali in the Holy Quran

79. Ali, The Father of Sufism

80. Ali, The Gate of Knowledge

81. Ali The Poet

82. Ali, The Generous

83. Administrative Instructions of Ali

84. Judgements of Ali

85. Ali's Conduct of Wars

86. Social and Ethical Thought of Ali

87. Political Thought of Ali

88. Ali's concept of God

89. Ali on the Life of the World

90. Anecdotes of Ali

91. Similes of Ali

92. Sayings of Ali

93. Assessment of Ali by Eminent Muslims

94. Assessment of Ali by Western Scholars

Once two companions went on a journey. One of them had five loaves with him, and the other one had three loaves. On the way they were joined by a stranger who shared the loaves with them. On departure the stranger gave them an amount of eight dirhams. A dispute arose between the two companions about the division of the amount. The man who had five loaves wanted to keep five dirhams for himself and give three dirhams to his companion. His companion did not accept this decision and insisted that the amount should be divided equally between them, and that each one of them should get four dirhams. The men wanted Ali to decide their dispute. While entertaining the suit, Ali asked the man who had three loaves that he should accept what his friend offered him namely three dirhams. He did not accept the offer, and wanted that the matter should be adjudicated so that due justice was done. Ali asked whether at the time of the sharing of loaves all the three persons concerned had equal share. He was told that it was so. Ali thereupon gave the judgment that the man with three loaves was entitled to one dirham while the other man who had five loaves was entitled to seven dirhams. This bewildered the man with three loaves who would not accept even three dirhams. He wanted Ali to enlighten him as to the basis of his judgment. Ali explained the position thus: "You had three loaves and your companion had five loaves. There were thus 8 loaves in all. As all the loaves were shared equally between three persons, divide each loaf into three pieces. That would make 24 pieces. Your companion owned five loaves or fifteen pieces while you owned three loaves or nine pieces. As these 24 pieces were shared equally, this means that each one of you ate eight pieces. You had nine pieces, and out of these you ate eight pieces yourself. Thus the stranger ate only one piece from your loaves. Your companion had fifteen pieces. Out of these he ate eight pieces himself leaving seven pieces which were eaten by the stranger. Thus the stranger ate one piece from you and seven pieces from your companion. It is therefore plain arithmetic that for one piece you are entitled to one dirham and your companion is entitled to seven dirhams for seven pieces."

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