Between Scholars and Rulers

Among the points that must be underlined here is that the people capable of compelling the Muslim community to discharge what is incumbent upon it—whether personal duties or collective ones—are not the impassioned orators, nor the purely academic jurists. Rather, they are the rulers, in whose hands lie command, implementation, and the authority to bind and release. Nor are they the fervent youth or the emotionally driven preachers.

Accordingly, the khaṭībs, scholars, and callers must train the Muslims to accept and submit to Allah’s judgment, and then invite the rulers—by the fairest means leading to the most upright path—to enlist the help of the jurists and scholars. For these latter are, for the Muslims both collectively and individually, a light upon the way and a beacon along the road, whose guidance they follow. The scholars differ in the breadth of their knowledge and the variety of their expertise: the jurisprudence of the Qur’an and Sunnah, the science of the Arabic language, the study of universal norms, the discernment of current realities, and other indispensable fields—all of this in implementation of the great Islamic principle of shūrā (mutual consultation). When that takes place, affairs will be set aright and the believers will rejoice in Allah’s help: “But if they turn away, We have not sent you as a guardian over them.” (Ash-Shura 4)