Praise be to Allah the Lord of the worlds, peace and blessing of Allah be upon His messenger Muhammad (pbuh), his family, his companions, and all those who follow on the Direct Way, till the end of this transitory world.
Allah says in Holy Quran:
"Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves".
(The Holy Quran, Surah 13. "The Thunder", verse 11)
Allah also says in Quran:
"O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you".
(The Holy Quran, Surah 4. "The Women", verse 59)
This verse of Holy Quran stresses that among Muslims there should be an Emir (Muslim Leader / Commander) and obedience to that Emir is fard (obligation) for each Muslim, as well as obedience to the Allah and His messenger (pbuh).
For election of an Emir, there are some instructions from the Messenger of the Allah (pbuh) and one of them is that we should never elect someone who strives for and thirsts after power, even if he has good aims to improve the state of his subordinates. And the proof for this we can find in the words of Messenger of Allah (pbuh):
"I swear by Allah, we do not assign the authority of ruling to those who ask for it, nor to those who are keen to have it".
(al-Bukhari and Muslim)
Also:
"O Abd ar-Rahman ibn Samurah, do not ask for the position of an Emir, for if you are given it after asking you will be left to discharge it yourself, but if you are given it without asking you will be helped to discharge it".
(al-Bukhari and Muslim)
It has been narrated on the authority of Abu Dharr who said: I said to the Holy Prophet (may peace be upon him): Messenger of Allah, will you not appoint me to a public office? He stroked my shoulder with his hand and said:
"O Abu Dharr, thou art weak and authority is a trust. And on the Day of Judgment it is a cause of humiliation and repentance except for one who fulfills its obligations and (properly) discharges the duties attendant thereon".
(Muslim)
And who were these, whom the Messenger of the Allah (pbuh) refused? They were Sahabas - noble companions of the Messenger of Allah and what to speak then about now!
Obeying Emir must be rendered in all matters that does not contradict the laws of Allah and His Messenger (pbuh), even if subordinates feel that their Caliph or Emir is unfair to them or they think he oppresses them. And if someone does not obey the Emir, for some personal dislike, or he considers him unworthy or even for some other personal reason not stipulated by the Sharia, then a sin (haram) lays on him!
And consequently, Emir, knowingly or not knowingly, might commit oppression. In some cases, the Emir may consider that his case is fair, and a subordinate considers that the case of Emir is an oppression. Obedience to Emir is obligatory both when he acts fairly and when Emir's actions seem as oppressive to subordinates.
Obedience is obligatory in both cases. A proof of that is a hadith, narrated by Hudhaifa b. al-Yaman from Messenger of Allah:
"...listen to him (Emir) and carry out his orders; even if your back is flogged and your wealth is snatched, you should listen and obey".
Obligatory of obedience to Emir remains in force, even when he beats or seizes wealth, and even when he oppresses (demanding or reprimanding).
And also the obedience to Emir is obligatory (vadjib) when there is a dispute on oppression (and it is impossible to prove the facts or existence of oppression).
One of examples of such obedience is the story from Ibn Ishaq narrated by al-Tabari:
"Umar, radiAllahu anhu, in his letter to Abu Ubaida about Khalid ibn Walid wrote: "Dismiss him and distribute his property to others". Khalid, upon hearing a content of that letter, immediately said: "I am not a man who refuses to obey Emir-ul-Mumineen, I obey, and do what you want". Abu Ubaida distributed property of Khalid, and even one of his shoes without its pair".
In narration of Ibn Kathir, it is said:
"Khalid, when his property was being distributed, repeated words: 'I listen to Emir-ul-Mumineen and I obey to him'".
They retell words of Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, who reported that he heard the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
"We are the last but will be the foremost." The Prophet added, "He who obeys me, obeys Allah, and he who disobeys me, disobeys Allah. He who obeys the Emir (ruler, leader), obeys me, and he who disobeys the Emir, disobeys me. The Emir is like a shelter for whose safety the Muslims should fight and where they should seek protection. If the Emir orders people with righteousness and rules justly, then he will be rewarded for that, and if he does the opposite, he will be responsible for that."
(al-Bukhari)
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) clearly indicated in the hadith that disobedience to the ruler is dangerous in its scope and equal to disobedience to Allah and His Messenger.
If subordinates do not agree with Emir in some opinion or decision, then they can give him an advice. But it is strongly restricted that they discredit his name, belittle respect to him, or have gathered against him and would try to remove him from the office. Because such acts deprive the Emir of influence, and weaken them and lower authority of Emir, and also Emir becomes useless to manage their affairs. All of these spoils the nature of their obedience, and facilitates the victory over their leaders or emirs. As a result, outer enemies become more resolute in war against Muslims.
When subordinates cannot agree with their leaders, they easily dismiss their leaders. When Muslims start to abuse it, as told in hadith of the Prophet (pbuh):
"There will be over you rulers whom you will hate and who will hate you, and only such (oppressors) can be kept over you".
A reasonable person should not forget the example of the history of Islamic Ummah: what grief has fallen upon heads of Muslims when some of them "hit to the ground" the authority of Caliph Usman, radiAllahu anhu.
Rulers or Emirs are the same people as we are, also it is necessary not to forget it, they also eat and drink as we do, feel wear and ill, be disappointed and can make mistakes, and then when they are mistaken, we should give advices and instructions instead of refusing and re-electing another one and finding various reasons that he would resign from the powers of his government.
The messenger of Allah (pbuh) told:
"All sons of Adam make mistakes. The best among them are those who do wrong and repent".
Very often, there are disagreements and disobediences to the rulers because of a wrong and short-sighted understanding of some Muslims. There are many different reasons, such as nationalism as it was during disintegration of the Ottoman Caliphate, when fitna (quarrel) took root and strife among Muslims was bred. Hypocrites, like devils, introduced a concept of nationalism, patriotism into the minds of Muslims, when to one of them they said:
"What for you need Turks, their power and their Caliph? When you have your own governors, rulers and provinces, when Muhammad came to your nation, you won against Turks, and now Turks govern among you".
And to other side they said:
"What for you need Arabs, you are Turks, you have your own Caliph, Sultan, authority, you are better them, separate from them, you do not need them, but they do need you" and so on. And this very strongly went into the minds of Muslims, became their concept, very strongly settled in them, that even to this day, after hundred years, these thoughts exist.
The messenger of the Allah (pbuh) said:
"He who calls to asabiyya (nationalism) is not from us, he who fights for asabiyya is not from us, and he who shows his anger because of asabiyya is not from us".
(Muslim)
And it also refer to those who do not obey to the Emir because of his nationality or that he is a black or white, a Tatar or Russian, a Chechen or an Arab and so on.
The messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
"Indeed, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a black has no superiority over white, nor a white has any superiority over black, except by piety and good action".
It also refers to a person who tries to sow discord among Muslims in relation to their Emir or plans conspiracies, it is necessary to get rid of such a person. Proceeding from the words of the messenger of the Allah (pbuh):
"If someone comes to you while your case is united around one person, and he wishes to split you and divide your group, then behead him!"
(Muslim)
The Imam Nawawi said:
"In this hadith the command to kill the one who came out against a ruler governor and wishes to divide Muslims, and if he after caution does not stop it is necessary to kill him".
The imam as-Sanani also said:
"These words (of the prophet) point that the one, who came out against the ruler around whom Muslims have gathered, is permitted to kill, to get rid of harm the slaves to the Allah".
He who creates similar discords among Muslims about his ruler was affected by fitna and instigation from Shaitan. Such fitna can touch anyone, both strong and weak. It is necessary to be cautious and to try to be careful against the instigations of Iblis, the Satan. (Laanatu Allah alayhi).
Almighty Allah says in the Holy Quran:
"Do the people think that they will be left to say, "We believe" and they will not be tried?"
(The Holy Quran, Surah 29. "The Spider", verse 2)
All that is specified above from Heavenly Texts gives a clear understanding that subordination to Emir is a duty of his subordinates. It is obligatory (vadjib), and insubordination to Emir is a forbidden action which causes anger of Almighty Allah.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, we should be careful about fitna or discord and instigations of Satan, should hold together and not be divided, as Allah says in the Quran:
"And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you - when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be guided".
(The Holy Quran, Surah 3. "The Family Of 'Imran", verse 103)
We should be one single Umma like a single body of a man. And let Almighty Allah damn those who sow discord among us, and destroy and weaken our enemies.
O Allah, help Mujahideen of the Caucasus and all over the world.
O Allah, save them from captivity and severe wounds.
O Allah, protect their families.
O Allah, keep ours rulers and our scholars.
O Allah, release from captivity our brothers and sisters.
O Allah, improve conditions of captured Muslims.
O Allah, destroy infidels and apostates fighting against us.
O Allah, destroy Putin, O Allah, destroy Medvedev,
O Allah, destroy Kadyrov, O Allah, destroy Yevkurov.
O Allah, destroy all leaders of infidelity!
O Allah, crash their intrigues, make useless their weapons.
O Allah, give us a close victory and martyrdom on Your Path because we are Muslims, and grant us the Gardens of Paradise!
Amen!
In conclusion, let us render praise to Allah the Lord of the Worlds, let peace and blessing of Allah be upon His messenger Muhammad, on his family and companions.
***
Prepared according to materials of Sheikh Abu Islam al Margilani, with some additions
Source: IslamDin
Kavkaz Center
Our button
print version
