What are the conditions for a specific appointment?

The questioner : Regarding a specific appointment, what are the conditions required for it? Does the ignorant one assume it, or...? Knowledge is necessary; he must understand the matters of...?

The Shaykh : First, he must be a scholar.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : Second, he must be righteous. Third, he must be resolute, shrewd, and intelligent, capable of managing the affairs of the group. It is possible to be lenient regarding one of these qualities, namely knowledge, in that he may not be a scholar. I do not mean that it is permissible for him to be ignorant; rather, I mean that we may be lenient in the sense that he need not be a scholar in the Salafi sense, meaning a scholar of the Book and the Sunnah. It is possible to be lenient if the other qualities are present, such that he is not a scholar of the Book and the Sunnah, but he has someone who compensates for the knowledge he lacks, based on the Islamic principle: . Therefore, he does not proceed or act in managing the affairs of the group riding on his head and his ignorance, but rather through consultation.

The questioner : He says, if a scholar is found, and one below him, is it better to choose the scholar, or...?

The Shaykh : That he be a scholar and one below him, what do you mean?

The questioner : You mean below him in knowledge, an ordinary person who has these qualities, but there is a scholar?

The Shaykh : I have answered this, I think. Is there anything new in your question? I said that if the other qualities are present and the first quality, namely knowledge, is absent, then by consulting the scholars, he will be guided and complete the deficiency in him. But if he is not shrewd, not a manager, and so on, he is not fit to be an amir. For this reason, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, as in Sahih Muslim: . Abu Dharr was a scholar and a distinguished man, and so on, but he was weak; he did not have a personality, he did not have strong will, and so on. Therefore, he told him, "Do not be appointed over two." Yes.