He went on to say, “When authority is handed to those who are unfit for it, then await the Hour.” In other words, when people become corrupt and responsibilities are assigned to those who do not deserve them—legal verdicts entrusted to the ignorant, governorship granted to the foolish, management placed in the hands of one who knows nothing of administration, and the like—then expect the Hour, for it will be established over the vilest of creation. This ḥadīth therefore warns against betraying the trust and makes it obligatory to appoint to every position those who are truly qualified, for that is the very meaning of the trust.

As for the third ḥadīth: the Prophet ﷺ informed us that there will be leaders—that is, rulers—who lead the prayer for you. If they perform it well, the benefit is yours and theirs; if they perform it poorly, the benefit is still yours but the burden is upon them. Although the wording refers to rulers, it also includes the imams of the mosques who conduct the prayer: if they perfect the prayer and fulfill it as it ought to be, the reward is yours and theirs; if they fall short, the reward remains yours while the sin rests on them—you bear no blame for their shortcomings.

This points to the duty of showing patience toward those in authority even if they err in the prayer or fail to offer it at its prescribed time. We must not break away from them; rather, we delay our prayer as they delay theirs. In that case, our postponement from the earliest time is excused, for it is done to maintain the congregation and avoid splintering; in effect, it is as though we had prayed at the beginning of the time.

The passage likewise indicates that separating from the community, distancing oneself from the leaders, stirring the people against them, and publicizing their faults—all of this contradicts the way of Islam, for the religion