2 – The unequivocal warning and severe punishment fall upon those treacherous shepherds: if they die in that condition, Allah makes Paradise—eternal felicity—forbidden to them. They deceived their subjects only to secure their own worldly comfort, enslaving the people and forcing them to toil so that the rulers might enjoy ease in this life; therefore their recompense is to be barred from the true, everlasting happiness.
3 – Cheating takes many forms: wronging the populace by seizing their wealth through taxes and unlawful levies; usurping their private rights by the slightest stratagems, such as inventing indirect taxes; shutting themselves off from the people’s interests and needs; allowing corrupters to run rampant—looting and attacking—without enforcing the prescribed punishments or deterring criminals; and appointing governors, judges, and leaders who possess neither competence nor trustworthiness, choosing them merely because of kinship or personal ties.
4 – Numerous hadiths show that deception by those in authority is among the major sins, a transgression whose harm and evil extend far beyond the perpetrator. Ibn Baṭṭāl said: “This ḥadīth is a stern threat to oppressive leaders. Whoever neglects those Allah has placed under his care or betrays them will have the people’s claims brought against him on the Day of Resurrection—so how could he ever rid himself of the injustice he committed against so vast a community?”
5 – Shaykh al-Islām states in al-Siyāsah al-Sharʿīyah: “The Sunnah indicates that holding office is a trust that must be discharged.” Al-Bukhārī (59) reports from Abū Hurayrah that the Prophet ﷺ said, “When the trust is lost, anticipate the Hour.” He was asked, “How will it be lost?” He replied, “When authority is entrusted to those unqualified for it, anticipate the Hour.”
6 – He—may Allah have mercy on him—then said: “Rulers are Allah’s deputies over His servants and the people’s representatives on their own behalf. The aim of authority is to set right the religion of the creation—if they forfeit that, they incur manifest loss and whatever worldly pleasure they had will avail them nothing—and to set right those worldly affairs without which religion cannot stand…"