—“The just rule of a sovereign for a single day is dearer to Allah than seventy years of worship.”

He also said, peace and blessings be upon him:

“When the Day of Resurrection arrives, no shade and no refuge will remain save the shade of Allah, and under it only seven kinds of people will be sheltered: a just ruler over his subjects; a youth who grew up in the worship of his Lord; a man who is in the market while his heart is in the mosque; two men who love one another for the sake of Allah; a man who remembers Allah in solitude and his eyes overflow with tears; a man whom a woman of beauty, charm, and wealth invites to herself, yet he says, ‘I fear Allah’; and a man who gives charity so secretly with his right hand that his left hand is unaware of it.”

He further said:

“The most beloved of people to Allah and the nearest to Him is the just ruler, and the most hated to Him and the furthest from Him is the tyrannical ruler.”

And he said:

“By Him in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, the deeds that are raised up to heaven on behalf of a just ruler equal the combined deeds of all his subjects, and every prayer he performs is worth seventy-thousand prayers.”

Since this is the case, no blessing is greater than for a servant to be granted the rank of sovereignty, whereby a single hour of his life can outweigh the entire lifetimes of others. Anyone who fails to recognize the value of this favor and instead busies himself with oppression and caprice is liable to be placed by Allah among His enemies.

The peril of authority is also shown by what Ibn ʿAbbās narrated: the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, once came and grasped the door-ring of the Kaʿbah while inside the House were some men of Quraysh. He said, “Leaders of Quraysh! Treat your subjects and followers with three things: when they ask you for mercy, have mercy on them; when they seek your judgment, judge them justly; and act according to what you say. Whoever does not do this is under the curse of Allah and His angels, and Allah will accept from him neither obligatory nor supererogatory worship.”

He also said: “Whoever judges between two people unjustly, upon him is the curse of Allah upon the wrongdoers.”

And he said: “Three types of people Allah will not so much as look at: a lying, tyrannical ruler; an elderly adulterer; and an arrogant pauper”—that is, one whose arrogance stems from greed.

On another day he said to the Companions: “A time will come when you will conquer both the eastern and western lands and they will be in your hands. Every governor over those territories will be in the Fire—except the one who fears Allah, follows the path of piety, and fulfills the trust.”

He also said: “No servant to whom Allah entrusts the affairs of a people …”