The hadith regarding rulers who bring the wicked close and keep the righteous at a distance, in which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade a Muslim from being a neighborhood head, a tax collector, or a police officer with them

The questioner : The hadith recorded in the Sahih describing rulers who bring the wicked close and keep the righteous at a distance states that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade being a neighborhood head, a tax collector, or a police officer for them. Now, regarding the rulers of this era who possess these characteristics, does this prohibition forbid us from these specific positions, or does it cover all positions with them?

The Shaykh : It is that and its equivalents, and I do not say "it and all others" because it is very clear that the reason for this prohibition is that these rulers do not adopt the system of Islam as their methodology and system. However, it should not be said that it covers all positions in this state, because we know that there are some positions where it is not necessary for the employee to support the ruler in ruling by other than what Allah has revealed. Let us take the simplest example: the mu'adhdhin, the imam, and the mosque attendant, and the like. It is not possible to imagine that these positions involve supporting the corrupt system, for which the prohibition specifically mentioned those positions, because doing so would be assisting a system that rules by other than what Allah has revealed. As for the example I mentioned earlier, such as teaching children to recite the Qur'an and the Shari'ah of Islam and its principles, it is not possible to include these in the positions for which the prohibition came in the hadith you asked about earlier.