Surah An-Nisaa (4) — Ayah 59

59. O you who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those in authority among you. Then if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger [91], if you truly believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is the best and most suitable way in the end.

[91]
The Four Principles of Islamic Government:

In this verse, four permanent foundations of an Islamic government have been mentioned:
1. In the Islamic system, the real authority belongs only to Allah Almighty. He alone is the Creator and Owner of the universe; therefore, all kinds of legal and political authority belong only to Allah. In today's language, it can be said that the Supreme Legal and Political Authority is only Allah Himself. The powers of legislation, declaring things lawful or unlawful, and issuing commands and prohibitions belong to Him alone. In all the political systems prevalent in the world today, the supreme authority is either a human being or an institution. Whereas in the Islamic system of Khilafah, the supreme authority can neither be a human nor an institution, but only Allah Almighty, and this very principle distinguishes this political system from all other systems.

Democracy is the Antithesis of Khilafah:

Nowadays, in most countries, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, the democratic political system is prevalent. In the democratic political system, the political supreme authority is the people. In other words, the source of power is the people, and the legal supreme authority is the parliament. The parliament has all-encompassing and vast legislative powers that cannot be challenged, and the role of the courts is merely to decide according to the laws made by the parliament. In this respect, this system is rejected and is the exact opposite of the system of Khilafah.
2. Obedience to the Messenger is necessary because we have no means of fulfilling Allah's commands according to His intent except through obedience to the Messenger. Therefore, obedience to the Messenger is, in reality, obedience to Allah Himself. In this respect, obedience to Allah and His Messenger is considered one and the same obedience. Furthermore, obedience to the Messenger also has an independent status. That is, where the Book of Allah is silent and the Messenger gives us a command—whether this command relates to law, i.e., to what is lawful or unlawful, or to commands and prohibitions—then accepting such a command is obligatory upon us just as obedience to Allah is. And since Allah Himself has commanded us to obey in such cases, this too falls under obedience to Allah.
3. The third obedience is to those rulers who are Muslims. The rulers in «اولي الامر» refer to all types of authorities who hold any responsible position, whether they belong to the administration, the judiciary, or the scholars and mujtahids. It should be remembered that obedience to Allah and His Messenger is unconditional, but obedience to those in authority is only when it does not go against the obedience to Allah and His Messenger. If it does, then such obedience will not be given.
4. And the fourth foundation is that if a dispute arises between a ruler and the subjects in any matter, then such a matter (during your life) will be referred to you, and (after your life) to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger. The status of judge will be that of the Book and Sunnah. And finally, it has been stated that if you fall short in any of these four principles, it will mean that you do not have faith in Allah and the Hereafter. And if your claim of faith in Allah and the Hereafter is true, then you must act upon these four principles, and as long as you adhere to these four matters, your morals and character will remain upright and your government will remain stable. How necessary is obedience to the leader or ruler, and in what circumstances is it necessary? For this, consider the following hadiths:
1.
The Importance and Limits of Obedience to the Leader:

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah ؓ says that the Prophet ﷺ said, "Whoever obeys me has obeyed Allah, and whoever disobeys me has disobeyed Allah."
[مسلم، کتاب الامارۃ۔ باب وجوب طاعۃ الامراء۔۔ بخاری، کتاب الاحکام۔ باب قولہ اطیعوا اللہ و اطیعوا الرسول۔۔]
2. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar ؓ narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said, "It is obligatory upon every person to listen to and obey the leader, whether he likes it or dislikes it, as long as he is not commanded to commit a sin. And if he is commanded to disobey Allah, then it is neither necessary to listen to such a command nor to obey it."
[بخاری، کتاب الاحکام، باب السمع والطاعۃ للامام مالم تکن معصیۃ]
3. Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah ؓ says that the Prophet ﷺ said, "Whoever separates from obedience to the leader and the community, and dies in that state, dies the death of ignorance. And whoever fights under a blind (banner), stirs up zealotry, calls towards zealotry, or helps for the sake of zealotry, and is killed, he too dies the death of ignorance."
[مسلم، کتاب الامارۃ۔ باب ملازمۃ المسلمین]
4. Sayyiduna Harith ؓ says that the Prophet ﷺ said, "I command you with five things which Allah has commanded me: listening to and obeying the leader, striving in jihad, migrating, and adhering to the community, for whoever separates from the community even by a handspan has thrown off the yoke of Islam from his neck, unless he returns."
[ترمذی ابواب الامثال]
5.
Dispute with the Leader:

Sayyiduna Ali ؓ says that the Prophet ﷺ dispatched an army and appointed an Ansari (Abdullah bin Hudhafah) as its leader and ordered the army to obey him. The leader became angry with them over something and asked, "Did not the Messenger of Allah ﷺ command you to obey me?" They replied, "Yes, indeed." The leader said, "Then gather firewood and light a fire and enter it." They gathered wood and lit a fire, and when they intended to enter, they began to look at one another. Someone said, "We have obeyed the Messenger of Allah ﷺ only to save ourselves from the fire, so should we now enter it?" Meanwhile, the fire went out and the leader's anger cooled. When this was mentioned to the Prophet ﷺ, he said, "If you had entered it, you would never have come out. Obedience is only in what is right." And according to the narration of Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ said, "There is no obedience to anyone in disobedience to Allah. Obedience is only in what is right."
[بخاری، کتاب الاحکام۔ باب السمع والطاعۃ للامام مالم تکن معصیۃ۔۔ مسلم، کتاب الامارۃ، باب وجوب طاعۃ الامراء فی غیر معصیۃ]
6. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Soon there will be tribulations and corruption, so whoever causes division in the affairs of this Ummah while it is united... And in another narration: if the community is united upon one person and someone seeks to break your unity, then kill him, whoever he may be."
[مسلم، کتاب الامارۃ۔ باب من فرق امر المومنین و ہو مجتمع]
These were the rulings related to obedience to the leader. Now, regarding the issue of dispute with the leader, when Sayyiduna Umar ؓ intended to expand the Prophet's Mosque during his caliphate, the house of Sayyiduna Ubayy bin Ka'b ؓ was an obstacle. Sayyiduna Umar ؓ asked Ubayy bin Ka'b ؓ, even compelled him, to give up the house for a fair price, but Ubayy bin Ka'b ؓ was not willing to sell the house. The dispute escalated, so both parties—the claimant being the government of the time or the Commander of the Faithful, Sayyiduna Umar ؓ, and the defendant being Sayyiduna Ubayy bin Ka'b ؓ—agreed to appoint Sayyiduna Zayd bin Thabit ؓ as their arbitrator (or judge). The issue to be clarified was to what extent Islam protects individual ownership and whether individual interests can be sacrificed for collective benefit or not. Accordingly, in light of the Book and Sunnah, Sayyiduna Zayd bin Thabit ؓ decided the case against Sayyiduna Umar ؓ. When Sayyiduna Ubayy bin Ka'b ؓ won the case, he gave the house for the mosque's expansion without any price. This clearly shows that the dispute was not really about the sale of the house, but about stubbornness and the investigation of rights between the leader and his subjects. When Sayyiduna Umar ؓ compelled Ubayy bin Ka'b ؓ to sell the house, and Ubayy bin Ka'b ؓ, knowing he was right and that the owner of something has full authority to sell or not sell it, stood firm for the sake of upholding the truth, and the arbitrator decided in his favor.

Political Disputes and Their Solution:

The second type of disputes are those that occur between two groups, two nations, or two countries, which we can call political disputes, and such disputes have torn apart the unity of the Muslim Ummah. The Ummah that you (the Prophet ﷺ) formed included Abyssinians, Romans, Persians, Arabs, white and black, Muhajir and Ansar—all were fundamentally equal. If anyone had superiority or excellence, it was only on the basis of piety, and this was the teaching of the Quran. But today, the greatest blow to this unity has been dealt by the current concept of nation and homeland. In his famous Farewell Sermon, the Prophet ﷺ said, "O people! Indeed, your Lord is one, your father is one. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab over an Arab, nor a red over a black, nor a black over a red, except by piety. You are all the children of Adam, and Adam was created from dust." The separate formation of nations on the basis of homeland, region, or language is a curse created by Europe. Nationalism, regionalism, linguistic pride, and racism are the greatest idols of today, for which people quarrel and kill each other. These very things have divided the Muslim Ummah into dozens of countries and then into further subdivisions, humiliating and degrading it and pushing it into the hell of destruction and ruin. Salvation from this hell is only possible if the Book and Sunnah are accepted as the judge and we mold ourselves according to the teachings of the Book and Sunnah.

Religious Disputes and Their Solution:

The third major type of disputes and differences are jurisprudential and religious differences. Our scholars and jurists also fall under the category of "those in authority among you." Nowadays, we have four schools of jurisprudence or four madhhabs, each clinging to its own jurisprudence, and such prejudice has developed that each sect considers itself right and others wrong. Whereas the reality is that the Quran is one for all, and the Sunnah is also one, but there are four schools of jurisprudence, and if we include the Shia school of Ja'fari fiqh, then there are five.

Fiqh or Qiyas is Not the Foundation of Religion:

This clearly means that no school of jurisprudence is the foundation of religion, nor is it obligatory to insist on any one particular school. Another result is that if five schools already exist, then, keeping in view the needs of the present time, if a sixth school is formulated through ijtihad, there is nothing wrong with it. But, alas, prejudice and blind devotion have given birth to the blameworthy tradition of personal imitation (taqlid shakhsi). Not only was it born, but it was also declared obligatory, and the door of ijtihad for the future was closed. The only solution to such disputes is that every jurisprudential issue should be presented before the Book and Sunnah, and, setting aside prejudice, whichever ijtihadi issue is in accordance with or closer to the Book and Sunnah should be accepted, and the rest should be left aside.

The Foundation of All Systems and Sects is Some Innovative Belief or Practice:

It should be clear that all religious sects have some innovative (bid'ah) belief included, and until or unless some innovative belief is included, no new sect can come into existence. For example, among the four madhhabs, the only innovative belief is the imitation of their own Imam, the obligation of personal imitation, and keeping the door of ijtihad closed until the Day of Judgment. The greatest innovative belief of the Shia is the appointment of twelve Imams, considering them infallible, and accepting only their statements. The innovative belief of the "naturalists" (nechriyyah) is the denial of supernatural matters and miracles, etc. The same is the case with political systems. The innovative belief of democracy is considering the supremacy of the people instead of Allah Almighty and regarding them as the source of power. The innovative belief of communism is the usurpation of individual ownership and denial of the existence of Allah Almighty. In short, all sects, whether religious or political, have some belief or practice that is contrary to the Book and Sunnah.

General Disputes:

The fourth type of disputes are personal and individual matters, and there can be many other types of disputes besides these. Whether they are related to «اولي الامر» or not, whatever kind of disputes they may be, the only solution is to present them before the Book and Sunnah, and, setting aside one's beliefs and prejudices, to accept and comply with them wholeheartedly.