Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 32589 — Reports on talk about rulers

It is narrated from Wahb bin Kaysan that when allegiance was pledged at the hand of Sayyiduna Abdullah bin al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him), a man from Iraq wrote him a letter: "Peace be upon you! I praise before you Allah Almighty, other than whom there is no god. To proceed: The obedient servants of Allah Almighty and the people of goodness have certain signs by which they are recognised, and which are seen in them: enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and carrying out obedience to Allah Almighty. And know that the likeness of the leader is that of a market: the same kind of people come to it as the kind of goods found in it. If he is of the people of goodness, righteous people come to him, and if he is wicked, the wicked and sinful come to him with their wickedness and sin."