وَأَمَّا بَعْدُ! فَلَا تُطَوِّلَنَّ احْتِجَابَكَ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِكَ، فَإِنَّ احْتِجَابَ الْوُلَاةِ عَنِ الرَّعِيَّةِ شُعْبَةٌ مِنَ الضِّيقِ، وَقِلَّةُ عِلْمٍ بِالْأُمُورِ، وَالِاحْتِجَابُ مِنْهُمْ يَقْطَعُ عَنْهُمْ عِلْمَ مَا احْتَجَبُوا دُونَهُ فَيَصْغُرُ عِندَهُمْ الْكَبِيرُ، وَيَعْظُمُ الصَّغِيرُ، وَيَقْبُحُ الْحَسَنُ، وَيَحْسُنُ الْقَبِيحُ، وَيُشَابُ الْحَقُّ بِالْبَاطِلِ، وَإِنَّمَا الْوَالِي بَشَرٌ لَا يَعْرِفُ مَا تَوَارَى عَنْهُ النَّاسُ بِهِ مِنَ الْأُمُورِ، وَلَيْسَتْ عَلَى الْحَقِّ سِمَاتٌ تُعْرَفُ بِهَا ضُرُوبُ الصِّدْقِ مِنَ الْكَذِبِ،
(On the behaviour and action of a Ruler:) Then, do not keep yourself secluded from the people for a long time, because the seclusion of those in authority from the subjects is a kind of narrow-sightedness and causes ignorance about their affairs. Seclusion from them also prevents them from the knowledge of those things which they do not know and as a result they begin to regard big matters as small and small matters as big, good matters as bad and bad matters as good, while the truth becomes confused with falsehood. After all, a governor is a human being and cannot have knowledge of things which people keep hidden from him. There are no marks on the face of truth to differentiate its various expressions from falsehood.
