Moreover, the scholars—jurists, theologians, devotees, worshippers, and ascetics—from the very first generation of this ummah down to our own day, have unanimously agreed that performing Jumuʿah, the two ʿĪd prayers, the rites at Minā and ʿArafāt, military campaigns, the pilgrimage, and the sacrificial offerings may all be carried out behind any ruler, whether righteous or corrupt. They likewise held that paying such rulers the land tax (kharāj), obligatory alms (zakāt), and tithes is permissible; that praying in the great mosques they have built, walking across the causeways and bridges they have constructed, and engaging in buying, selling, every other form of trade, agriculture, and craft in every age and under every ruler is lawful—so long as all of this is done in accordance with the Book and the Sunnah.

The wrongdoing of a tyrant and the injustice of an oppressor do not harm the person who safeguards his religion and clings to the Sunnah of his Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, provided his own actions conform to the Book and the Sunnah. Conversely, if someone were to buy and sell during the reign of a just ruler in a manner that violates the Book and the Sunnah, the ruler’s justice would not benefit him.

It is likewise permissible to litigate before such rulers’ judges, to have the prescribed penalties and retributions carried out, and to wrest rights from the hands of the oppressors through their governors and police. One must listen to and obey anyone they place in authority—even if he is an Abyssinian slave—except when obedience would entail disobedience to Allah, for there is no obedience to any created being in disobedience to the Creator.

After fulfilling all of this, one’s religious duty includes sincere counsel to the leaders and to the rest of the Muslim community in matters of religion and worldly life.