The Ruling on Restricting the Hadiths of Obedience to the General Commander of the Muslims
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His Eminence the Shaykh: What is your opinion of one who says: The hadiths regarding obedience to the rulers refer to the general commander who leads all the Muslims?
Our view is that this is not correct. Every ruler must be obeyed, even a man in his own household; his family must obey him as long as he does not order them to commit a sin. Even if three men travel and appoint one of them as their leader, they must obey him; this is due to the generality of the evidence regarding the obligation of obeying the prince.
Moreover, the era of a single caliph over the entire Ummah ended long ago. From the time the era of the four Rightly Guided Caliphs ended, the Ummah was fragmented. The Umayyads were in Sham and its surroundings, 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr was in the Hijaz and its surroundings, others were in the East and its surroundings, and others were in Yemen. The Ummah was fragmented, and yet all the scholars who speak about the obligation of obedience and submission speak about the obligation of obedience and submission in their own times despite their division. Every region or the like has a prince specific to it. And according to this defective, invalid opinion,Its meaning is: there is no Imam for the Ummah now, and the Ummah is now living in a state of ignorance. There is no Imam and no subjects, no authority and no one over whom authority is exercised.
Then we say to these people: If you are truthful, then find for us a general Imam for the entire Ummah. They cannot do so.
May Allah, Mighty and Majestic, decide the matter, unless the Mahdi comes.
Our view is that this is not correct. Every ruler must be obeyed, even a man in his own household; his family must obey him as long as he does not order them to commit a sin. Even if three men travel and appoint one of them as their leader, they must obey him; this is due to the generality of the evidence regarding the obligation of obeying the prince.
Moreover, the era of a single caliph over the entire Ummah ended long ago. From the time the era of the four Rightly Guided Caliphs ended, the Ummah was fragmented. The Umayyads were in Sham and its surroundings, 'Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr was in the Hijaz and its surroundings, others were in the East and its surroundings, and others were in Yemen. The Ummah was fragmented, and yet all the scholars who speak about the obligation of obedience and submission speak about the obligation of obedience and submission in their own times despite their division. Every region or the like has a prince specific to it. And according to this defective, invalid opinion,Its meaning is: there is no Imam for the Ummah now, and the Ummah is now living in a state of ignorance. There is no Imam and no subjects, no authority and no one over whom authority is exercised.
Then we say to these people: If you are truthful, then find for us a general Imam for the entire Ummah. They cannot do so.
May Allah, Mighty and Majestic, decide the matter, unless the Mahdi comes.