all servants of Allah, and it is not lawful for you to disobey Allah.
Third: If those in authority command something about which the Law contains neither a directive nor a prohibition, you are under an unequivocal obligation to obey them. Should you refuse, you incur sin, and they have the right to reprimand and discipline you in whatever manner they deem appropriate, because by refusing you have contravened Allah’s command to obey them. For this reason the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “A Muslim must listen and obey in matters he likes and in matters he dislikes, so long as he is not ordered to commit a sin; but if he is ordered to commit a sin, then there is no listening and no obedience.”
More serious still is the stance of someone who does not acknowledge any pledge of allegiance to the Imam and says, “I have not pledged allegiance to the Imam, and no pledge is binding on me.” The implication of such words is that he owes the Imam neither hearing, nor obedience, nor loyalty. This is a grave and reprehensible attitude, for the Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him—informed us that whoever dies without a pledge of allegiance and without an Imam dies the death of pre-Islamic ignorance; that is, not the death of a Muslim but of the people of ignorance—Allah’s refuge is sought. Such a person will find his recompense with Allah Almighty.
Therefore each person must hold the conviction that he has an Imam, an emir to whom he owes obedience in everything that is not sinful. If someone says, “I will not pledge allegiance,” we reply: The pledge is not required of the riff-raff and the ordinary populace; it is undertaken by the people of resolution and authority (ahl al-ḥall wa-l-ʿaqd).
Hence we ask: Did every single person pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān and ʿAlī? Did every infant, every elderly person, every woman secluded in her chamber come forward to pledge? Never. The people of Mecca did not travel to pledge to Abu Bakr, nor the people of Ṭāʾif or others. Rather, the pledge was given by the people of resolution and authority in Medina, and once they had pledged, the allegiance was complete.
Thus the pledge is not incumbent upon every individual to go and render personally, nor could that even be possible.