And when they are told...

And when they are told, ‘Come to what Allah has sent down and [come] to the Apostle,’ you see the hypocrites keep away from you, aversely.” [^2] In these verses, the Qur`an expressly orders us to obey Allah (SWT), His Messenger (SAWW) and those who are ‘in authority amongst us’ and in times of dispute and differences, rather than referring to the despots, we must refer to Allah (SWT) and His Messenger (SAWW).

This means that we must be satisfied with the ruling given by the book of Allah (SWT) and the sunnah of the Prophet (SAWW). Thus, the responsibility of the Muslims is that they must submit to those who are put into authority over them. However, are those who are in authority (whom we are to obey) the despotic forces? Without a doubt, this is not the case since in the verse which follows, this has been forbidden!

Obey Allah and obey the Apostle and those vested with authority among you...” The meaning of ‘those who are charged with authority from amongst you’ are those people who follow the Qur`an and the Sunnah in relation to governance and judgment. In the second verse which we wish to look at (as was quoted above), we see that Allah (SWT) has stated that those who show satisfaction with the governance and judgment of the despotic forces have actually disbelieved in all of the Divinely revealed books!

… “Come to that which Allah has revealed and [come] to the Messenger.” From this verse, we understand that in the Qur`anic terminology, a despotic force refers to the person who judges contrary to the rulings of the Qur`an and the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAWW). Thus, the only person who is worthy of attaining the government is the one who judges by the Qur`an and the Sunnah!