Is it possible for a political leader who only leads the...

Is it possible for a political leader who only leads the people in matters of politics; or those who are experts in the matters of economics and who are in charge of the economic and business affairs of the entire country be placed in these positions if they do not possess a series of moral and ethical values that would permit them to occupy such important positions? Can such people be placed within the framework of the political and economic affairs of a community?

The divinely appointed Messengers are true leaders of the people in all matters of their lives and thus they must possess the noble and grand qualities which would reflect their competence in the mission of leading the people and which would give the people a reason to follow them. Thus, we can summarize the traits and qualities that the Messengers of Allah must possess as follows: Comprehensive knowledge and understanding.

By this we mean that the Prophets of Allah must have complete and precise knowledge in relation to all matters that they have been commanded to convey to the people, such that not a single ruling from amongst the rulings of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) should be hidden or concealed from them. In addition, there should also be no question asked to them in relation to the religion that they would not be able to answer.

They must be protected from committing sins and going against the commandments of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) at all times in their lives – whether this be before their official appointment or after their official appointment (to the station of Prophethood). They must be protected from committing any sort of mistake or error in relation to the propagation of the religion and the application of its’ practical rulings.

They must be purified from all sorts of negative spiritual traits and physical defects which (if they possessed) may lead the people to develop an aversion and dislike for them. This would make the people keep their distance from them which would in turn lead to the Prophets and Messengers not being successful in their mission of conveying the message (of Allah) to the people.

In order to stress the importance of each of these points, the scholars of Islam and the specialists in Theology have gathered clear proofs and evidence[^1] of which, to keep this discussion concise, we do not mention here.