The Regulator of the Relationship Between the Ruler and the Ruled

Question:
What is the criterion, may Allah preserve you, regarding the relationship between the ruler and the ruled, and the relationship between the subjects and the shepherd?

Answer:
The relationship of the ruler with the rights of the people, and their obligation to obey him and not oppose him, and not to rebel against him until they see clear disbelief from him. The ruler must fear Allah in his dealings with them, and he must judge them by the truth, and he must establish the Shari'ah among them, and he must prevent them from what Allah has forbidden for them, and he must fear Allah in that, and he must choose a good inner circle of advisors. He has a right over them, and they have a right over him. Their right over him is that he chooses a good inner circle of advisors, and that he remains steadfast upon the command of Allah, and that he fears Allah in applying His Shari'ah, and in spreading justice and security, and in disciplining the delinquent with what Allah has prescribed of hudud and ta'zir, and so on.
And upon the community is to obey him in what is right, and to cooperate with him in righteousness and piety, and to cooperate with him in rectifying conditions, and to supplicate for him in public and in secret that Allah grants him success, guides him, and assists him, and that He rectifies his inner circle in secret and in public. And to call people to cooperate with the people of good, and to obey in what is right, and not to rebel in a way that causes fitnah and calamity, except if you see clear disbelief from them with proof from Allah, and if they have the power to change it. But if you see the disbelief but they do not have the power to break the stick, then advising them is sufficient.