Foremost among these is the readiness to confront the enemy with weapons and the necessary materiel; this is one of the greatest priorities.
Similarly important is spreading the Islamic call, broadcasting the Muhammadan message, and refuting the atheists—whether communists, Christian missionaries, Freemasons, or any of the other enemies of the faith.
This requires training callers to Islam at the highest level, publishing and authoring books, and activating the various media outlets so they can counter and combat such ideologies.
After that come the Muslims’ public interests in roads, bridges, schools, public housing, and establishing utilities that serve the community, along with seeking out needy Muslims and providing them with what will suffice them.
In all of this distribution, the public welfare and whatever benefits the Muslims in their religious and worldly affairs must be kept in view.
- Shaykh al-Islam, when discussing fayʾ, said: One begins with the most pressing needs of the Muslims and then the next. The ruler is not permitted to give anyone what he does not deserve out of personal inclination—be it kinship, affection, or the like. Nor may those in authority apportion these funds according to their own whims, as an owner divides his private property; rather, they are trustees, deputies, and agents.
The scholars have explicitly stated that, in the distribution of fayʾ, those engaged in public benefit must be given precedence. When the allocation is for the Muslims’ welfare, no attention is paid to whether the recipient’s intention is righteous or corrupt; the grant is determined solely by what serves the religion of Allah.
He (may Allah have mercy on him) also said: There is no doubt that striving to distinguish truth from falsehood and dispensing justice among people, as far as one is able, is among the finest—and indeed the most obligatory—duties of those in authority.