So it contains the prescribed punishments...

So it contains the prescribed punishments, the government according to what Allah has revealed, enjoining the good, forbidding the evil, jihad in the way of Allah, protecting the religion, and other precepts one cannot establish without an Imam who undertakes carrying them out.

Ibn Taymiya says: "Surely the authority over the affairs of men is the greatest of all the religious duties; rather the religion cannot be established except through it; that is because Allah has made obligatory enjoining good, forbidding the evil, helping the oppressed; likewise the rest of that which Allah has made obligatory such as jihad, justice, administering the prescribed punishments, and (these things) are not put into effect except through force and authority."[1] Surely it is necessary for the Muslims to establish their political and religious entity through an Imam who undertakes their affairs, solves their problems according to the Book of Allah, and the Sunna of his Prophet, and treats them with justice and pure truth.

Surely the Imamate is one of the requirements of the Islamic life; man cannot function without it; through it man can achieve the great justice Allah desires on earth. The most important affairs require the Imamate are helping men know Allah and obey Him, supplying society with the essence of faith and piety, sending it far from the tendencies of evil and delusions.

Agreement on the Necessity of the Imamate The Muslims have unanimously agreed that the Imamate is required and necessary except the Kharijites who have said: "Imposing the Imamate is not required of people, but they should practice the truth among them."[2] This belief is false and invalid. For the narrations have been reported on a wide scale about the necessity of the Imamate.

It has been reported from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family, who has said: "He who dies and does not pledge an allegiance (to an Imam) dies like those who died in the pre-Islamic period of ignorance." He, may Allah bless him and his family, has said: "He who separates himself from the community dies like those who died in the pre-Islamic period of ignorance.

He who fights under the standard of fanaticism, sides with a group or summons (people) to a group or helps a group and is killed, then his death is like that of those who were killed in the pre-Islamic period of ignorance."[3] Ibn Khaldun has said: "Surely installing the Imam is required.