All religious offices—such as leadership of the believers and the offices beneath it, including kingship, ministerial office, and administrative posts, whether concerned with official correspondence or accounting for revenues collected and funds disbursed as stipends to soldiers or others; likewise military command, the judiciary, oversight of public conduct, and the subordinate branches of these offices—were instituted solely to enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong.

In his city of Medina, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) personally undertook all the duties of those in authority, while appointing officials in places distant from him. Thus, he appointed ‘Attāb ibn Asīd over Mecca, ‘Uthmān ibn Abī al-‘Ās over al-Tā’if, and Khālid ibn Sa‘īd ibn al-‘Ās over the villages of ‘Urayna. He also sent ‘Alī, Mu‘ādh, and Abū Mūsā to Yemen.

He likewise appointed commanders over military expeditions and sent collectors to collect zakat. They would collect it from those obliged to pay it and distribute it to the eligible recipients whom Allah named in the Quran. A collector would then return to Medina with nothing but his whip, bringing nothing to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) if he had found eligible recipients among whom to distribute it.

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also required his officials to render a full account, examining what they had collected and what they had disbursed. Thus, in the two Sahīh collections, Abū Humayd al-Sā‘idī reported:

“The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) appointed a man from al-Azd, called Ibn al-Lutbiyya, to collect zakat. When he returned, the Prophet called him to account. The man said, ‘This is for you