The religion of Islam requires that the sword be subordinate to the Book. When knowledge of the Book and the sunnah is manifest and the sword is subordinate to it, the affairs of Islam remain properly established. The people of Medina were foremost among the inhabitants of all cities in this regard. During the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, matters were indeed so; and after their time, the people of Medina still surpassed others in this regard. But when knowledge of the Book is deficient and the sword sometimes accords with the Book and sometimes opposes it, the religious condition of such people will vary accordingly…” This concludes the relevant passage from the words of Shaykh al-Islam (1).

• Ibn al-Qayyim—may Allah have mercy on him—said in Badā’i al-Fawā’id (3/1087–1095): “Ibn Aqil said: A discussion arose concerning the permissibility of employing discretionary policy in Sharia governance. Such policy is the essence of prudence, and no ruler can dispense with it.

A Shāfiʿī said, ‘No policy is valid unless it accords with the Sharia.’

Ibn Aqil said: Policy is any measure that brings people closer to righteousness and farther from corruption, even if the Messenger did not institute it and no revelation concerning it was sent down. If by saying, ‘unless it accords with the Sharia,’ you mean that it must not contradict what the Sharia has expressly declared, then that is correct. But if you mean that it must itself have been expressly declared by the Sharia, then this is mistaken and amounts to accusing the Companions of error. The Rightly Guided Caliphs carried out executions and exemplary punishments that no scholar versed in the sunnah can deny. Even if the only example were their burning of the Quran codices, that was a judgment they based on the public interest. There was also Ali’s burning of people in trenches, when he said:

Whenever I witness a reprehensible affair,
I kindle my fire and summon Qanbar.