What is your opinion of those who made the issue of ruling and rulers the most important issue in religion and creed?

The student : Our Shaykh, what is your opinion of those who made the issue of ruling and rulers the most important issue in religion and creed?

The Shaykh : This actually reminds me of what someone said:
"This difference between us is enough for you *** For every vessel emits what is in it"
This is the difference between the true people of the Sunnah and some of the callers to Islam in the present age. They have occupied themselves with the rulers and forgotten the ruled. They see shirk (associating partners with Allah) doing its work in the very heart of their homes and among their followers and supporters, yet they do not dwell on it by explaining the Shari'ah ruling. And by that I mean: tawhid (the oneness of Allah) in its three types, especially tawhid al-uluhiyyah (oneness of worship) or tawhid al-asma' wa al-sifat (oneness of the names and attributes). This is a ruling that the majority of Muslims are ignorant of. Among its effects are the shirk practices that are widespread among the masses of Muslims, in both their actions and their speech. How often you hear among people, even the righteous and the learned, that they do not circumambulate graves, nor make vows to anyone other than Allah, nor slaughter for them, nor swear by the head of their father, nor swear by their son, and so on. The people who fight the rulers and declare them disbelievers are deaf, dumb, and blind; they do not understand. It is as if the only thing that concerns them regarding the Muslims is the rulers, and they have not reached the point of guiding them or leading them to the right path. Meanwhile, those who are expected to be guided to the truth, because what is with them is this stubbornness and arrogance, and they are the majority of the Muslims, are not concerned with educating them or guiding them. Therefore, we believe that the concern of these young people with what is called today "al-hakimiyyah li-Allah" (sovereignty belongs to Allah) (Mighty and Majestic is He)—this is a word of truth, but falsehood is intended by it. What is intended by it is only to restrict tawhid to fighting these rulers and neglecting the tawhid that benefits all mankind, and they do not care about it. This is the least that can be said; they do not care about it practically, and perhaps they do not care about it intellectually either, and this is what we observe among these claimants. On this occasion, I recall what happened to me in Damascus one day. We prayed in a mosque, and a very enthusiastic young man from this group gave the sermon. His entire sermon was: "Sovereignty belongs to Allah." After the prayer ended, I approached him and drew his attention to his deviation from the Sunnah in some of what he did. He immediately replied to me, "I am a Hanafi." I said, "And the sermon you gave was 'Sovereignty belongs to Allah,' and is that only regarding the rulers?" This is the reality of this group. Therefore, they innovated this term, even though we do not deny that the ruling belongs to Allah (Mighty and Majestic is He). I was asked recently, about a week ago, by one of our brothers in Kuwait, saying that so-and-so wrote a treatise that "Sovereignty belongs to Allah." What is your opinion of it? I said: "By Allah, I have not looked into it, but I will say a comprehensive word: If the man does not intend by this declaration and his treatise anything more than what is known among Muslims, that the ruling belongs to Allah only, then we do not contradict him in this. But if he intends a dimension beyond that, then there arises a disagreement between us and him. The point is that their reality indicates that they do not intend only to guide all people to rule by the Shari'ah of Islam, whether they are rulers or ruled. And I say on this occasion: Rulers are of two types, and they mean only one type, which is the smaller one. It is supposed that the entire Islamic world should have one ruler, the Caliph. In reality today, unfortunately, the Muslims have divided into twenty or thirty states or more than that. So we have thirty rulers, and we only dwell on these thirty: , but we have rulers, every one of whom is a ruler in his home, as he (peace be upon him) said: This topic is completely overlooked. Therefore, you enter the homes of Muslims and do not find the ruling of the Lord of the Worlds established. Who is responsible for the ruling in the house? Is it this ruler whom they have declared their enmity and declared a disbeliever, rightly or wrongly? The responsible one is this shepherd, the shepherd of the house, but he is not in this valley. He may deliver loud, resonant sermons in fighting these rulers who rule by other than what Allah has revealed, and then he forgets himself and his family. What is the verse that says: !
The student : .

The Shaykh : These are the ignorant ones themselves.