مسلمان حاکم

It is narrated from Hazrat Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) that she heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) say in this house of hers: "O Allah! Whoever takes charge of any affair of my Ummah and then puts them to hardship, be hard upon him too; and whoever takes charge of any affair of my Ummah and then is gentle with them, be gentle with him too."

How fortunate is the ruler who, by providing the people with justice and fairness, becomes deserving of the special supplication of the Prophet (peace be upon him); and by the same measure how unfortunate is the ruler who, by committing injustice against the people, makes himself deserving of the Prophet's supplication against him. This blessed hadith encourages ruling with justice and fairness and stresses avoiding oppression and wrongdoing against the people.
Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), as was his habit, was once on patrol at night when he heard the sound of someone weeping from one of the quarters of Medina. When he reached it, he learned that a villager who had come to ask the Commander of the Faithful for some help had his wife inside a tent about to give birth. The villager did not recognise Sayyiduna Umar and so behaved somewhat harshly. The Commander of the Faithful immediately went back home and, together with his wife Umm Kulthum, brought necessary items and some food back to the villager. He sent his wife into the tent and himself sat with the villager, lit the fire and began preparing the food. During this the child was born. Umm Kulthum called out from inside: "O Commander of the Faithful, give your friend the good news of the birth of a son." When the villager heard that the Commander of the Faithful was standing beside him he became afraid and, collecting himself, began to edge away from Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). The Commander of the Faithful said to him: "Stay seated just as you are, at ease." He cooked the food himself and told Umm Kulthum to feed it to the new mother, and when she had eaten, he placed the rest before the villager and said: "Eat; you have spent the whole night awake and endured hardship." After that the Commander of the Faithful said to him: "Come to us tomorrow; we will issue orders to fulfil your needs." When the man arrived in the morning, a stipend was fixed for his child and he too was favoured with a gift.
Can history present any such example, that the head of state should give up his sleep and go out to learn the condition of the people; and when he learns that a pregnant woman is in the pangs of labour and has no helper, that he should return home, take his wife with him, himself carry the food and drink, and that his wife, who in our present-day term is the First Lady, should set off carrying clothes and other necessities? And that on arriving there the First Lady should do the work of a servant and the head of state should become a cook and busy himself in "the service of his people"? By God, the whole of human history is unable to present so bright and splendid an incident, and this is a splendid aspect of the history of us Muslims, one that places our civilisation at the head of all the civilisations of human history. And yet Umar at that time was that great holder of power who had prevailed over the two great empires of the age; despite this he did work that even an ordinary officer of today would not do.
Another thing this incident makes clear is that the most powerful person of his time went out from his house like an ordinary man, with no guard and no clamour of "make way, make way." Just consider the state of today's heads of state, on whose protection and on keeping the people away from them millions are spent. This difference exists only because Umar did justice, while today's rulers have taken up the burden of injustice.
This example is not some solitary example in our history; rather the Muslim Ummah has produced many rulers like Umar. The example of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr is before us, who, despite being caliph, would come to those girls of Medina whose fathers had been martyred in the battles and would milk their goats. Likewise the lives of Sayyiduna Uthman, Sayyiduna Ali, and among later rulers Hazrat Umar bin Abd al-Aziz, Salah al-Din Ayyubi, and many other Muslim rulers, scholars and leaders of the Ummah were also full of mercy and compassion toward their subjects and filled with service to them.
All these people completed their time and went to meet their Lord, but on this face of the earth, whichever Muslim you ask, you will find their hearts brimming with love and reverence for them. Against them stand those rulers too who, on the basis of false propaganda, gained a temporary popularity for themselves; but does even a single Muslim today pray for good for them?