What is meant by the Holders of Authority are those persons...

What is meant by the Holders of Authority are those persons to whom the ruling and governmental functions peculiar to the Prophet have been transferred to whom the leadership of Islamic society has been entrusted by God and His Messenger and who are the guardians of the religious and worldly affairs of the people. They are empowered to issue in the light of God's laws commands and ordinances for the administration of society and to oblige people to obey them.

The necessity of obeying the wishes of the Holders of Authority is then categorical and beyond all doubt; it is only in establishing the criteria for identifying the Holders of Authority that there can be any room for discussion or disagreement. Now let us see what the Qur'an means by the Holders of Authority (ulu 'l-amr).

Can the one who happens to head an Islamic government having seized power over society be regarded as one of the Holders of Authority in the sense that people are obliged to obey anyone who assigns himself the right to rule even if he spends his whole life sunken in the darkness of sin and the oblivion of ignorance; is utterly devoid of all spiritual brilliance; is utterly unaware of God's laws and commandments; sacrifices the rights of the people to his own ( 122 ) tyranny and lusts; and promotes oppressors and the workers of corruption to positions of power so that the cries of the oppressed are stifled and the overwhelming majority of Islamic society is imprisoned in the chains of humiliation?

If the expression Holders of Authority be interpreted in Such a sense it would be iii stark contradiction with the parts of the verse that precede and follow it. For if the ruler issues a command at variance with God's laws the first part of the verse affirms that those laws must necessarily be implemented and have priority over all else. Yet the verse proclaims too that the commands of the Holders of Authority are to be obeyed!

It is obvious that the Qur'an cannot enjoin at the same two contradictory things or both command and forbid the same thing simultaneously. In addition wisdom and intelligence cannot accept the notion that it is incumbent to submit to absolutely any ruler even if lie violates God's laws and attempts to banish them from society.