How do we respond to those who restrict the meaning of Allah’s saying, “And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed—those are the disbelievers,” to rulers only?

The questioner : May Allah bless you. Some Islamic groups, such as the Tahrir Party, for example, interpret the saying of Allah, Glorious and Majestic is He: . There are other verses similar to this declaration of disbelief, such as and , for example. They interpret these verses in the sense that they apply only to the ruler, and not to anyone else who commits the same acts of open sinfulness and disobedience that the ruler commits. I ask you to clarify this, may Allah bless you, and may Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : Pardon me, it seems I need to clarify. Do they mean any ruler whatsoever, or do they mean by “ruler” the king or the caliph?

The questioner : Yes, that is what they mean: the king, the caliph, or the head of state.

The Shaykh : The head of state. For example, if someone like me is afflicted with taking on this position, and is asked about Allah’s ruling in a certain matter, and he contradicts Allah’s ruling while knowing it, does the ruling of the aforementioned verse apply to him in what you are quoting from them?

The questioner : In what I am quoting from them, it does not apply.

The Shaykh : It does not apply, but...

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : This is what I wanted to clarify. There is no doubt that restricting the verse, or restricting the indication of the verse, to kings, heads of state, and rulers of peoples and nations who rule by other than what Allah has revealed, there is no doubt that this restriction of the verse amounts to erasing and striking out the greater part of its meaning. That is because the verse, first of all in terms of its indication, includes every ruler, whether he is a head of state or a subordinate, whether he is a governor over the Muslims appointed by the Muslims, or a governor appointed by the king or this supreme imam, as is the case, for example, with judges in every time and place; they obey the command of the highest human ruler, who is the president, the king, or the caliph. So His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He: includes all these rulers, whether the highest or the lowest, first by the generality of the indication . And there is something stronger in indication than the generality of the text, which is the reason for the text’s revelation.