and each of you will be questioned. The leader placed over the people is a shepherd, and he will be held accountable for his flock.”

Muslim (142) also records, on the authority of Maʿqil ibn Yasār: “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, ‘No servant to whom Allah entrusts a flock, yet he fails to tend it with sincere counsel, will smell the fragrance of Paradise.’” The responsibility of those in authority is therefore extremely weighty, and their situation most grave.

3 – Yet the oppression of governors, their injustice, their shortcomings, and their preference of themselves over their subjects do not make it lawful to rise up against them, tear the bond of obedience, or display open hostility toward them. Al-Bukhārī relates from Anas that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Listen and obey, even if an Abyssinian slave is appointed over you whose head is like a raisin.”

Both Ṣaḥīḥs likewise transmit from ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit: “We pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to listen and obey in hardship and in ease, in what we like and what we dislike, even when others are preferred over us, and that we would not dispute the authority of its holders.” And in the two Ṣaḥīḥs from Ibn Masʿūd: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to us, “You will see after me self-seeking rulers and matters you will condemn.” They asked, “What do you command us, O Messenger of Allah?” He answered, “Give them their rights and ask Allah for yours.”

Thus the stance of the populace toward the ruler is one of hearing and obeying; for rebellion against the rulers—even if they are unjust—brings about evils and tribulations far greater than their injustice.

4 – If the community has no single imam to lead it, its affairs become unruly, its word divided, or every region appoints its own governor so that strife erupts and wars break out among them—this is the fitnah referenced in the ḥadīth under discussion, from which one must refrain, remain aloof, and not become involved. Muslim relates in his Ṣaḥīḥ from Abū Hurayrah: “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, ‘Whoever is killed under a banner of blind partisanship, calling to or supporting tribalism, dies the death of the Age of Ignorance.’ ”

The term ʿimiyyah (“blind partisanship”) is derived from ʿamāʾ—blindness, meaning misguidance. We ask Allah for safety.

Here ends the Book of Ḥudūd (Prescribed Penalties).