Religion is sincerity I advise you to fear Allah, and to listen and obey even if a slave is appointed as your leader. Whosoever among you shall live after me will see much discord. So hold fast to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs We pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) to listen and obey at times of hardship and ease, energy and reluctance, and to endure if prejudice is held against us There shall be rulers in charge of you, and you will approve and disapprove. So anyone who approves (their good deeds) shall be absolved, and anyone who forbids (their bad deeds) shall be safe, except for those who are content and comply Religion is sincerity O Allah, treat harshly those who have any charge over my Ummah and treat them harshly, and treat gently those who have any charge over my Ummah and treat them gently There is no one whom Allah puts in a position of authority, and he dies on the day he dies while cheating those under his authority except that Allah will forbid Paradise for him Whoever gives up obedience and isolates from the community and dies has died a death like that of jāhiliyyah (the pre-Islamic era of ignorance) If someone comes to you seeking to undermine your solidarity or disrupt your unity when you have agreed on one man, kill him I advise you to fear Allah and to hear and obey, even if an Abyssinian slave. You will see after me great discord. So, hold fast to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided Caliphs He tells us to worship Allah alone and not associate anything with Him and to give up all what our ancestors said. He also commands us to perform prayers, speak the truth... There will be selfishness and other matters that you will disapprove of after me." They asked: What do you order us to do (in such circumstances), O Messenger of Allah? He said: '"Fulfill your duty (towards the ruler), and ask Allah for your rights They lead you in prayers. If they do well, then you will be rewarded; but if they make mistakes, then you will receive reward and the mistake will be theirs O Allah, treat harshly those who rule over my nation with harshness and treat gently those who rule over my nation with gentleness Be patient, for no time will come but will be followed by a worse one until you meet your Lord Listen and obey, for they are only responsible for their duty, and you are responsible for your duty Anyone pledges allegiance to a ruler, giving him the grasp of his hand and sincerity of his heart, he should obey him to the best of his capacity. If another man comes forward disputing his authority, then you should behead the latter If any of you is assigned by us to a position but conceals a needle or more from us, it will amount to misappropriation and he will be called upon to restore it on the Day of Judgment Every one of you is a guardian and responsible for his subjects It is obligatory upon you to listen and obey (the ruler) in times of your ease and of your difficulty, whether you feel energetically stimulated or you feel compelled, and even when someone else is given undue preference over you Whenever we gave the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) pledge of allegiance to listen and obey, he would say to us: To the best of your ability A Muslim person must listen and obey concerning what he likes and hates, unless he is ordered to commit a sin. If he is ordered to commit a sin, then he should neither listen nor obey Whoever insults the ruler, Allah will insult him Listen and obey, even if an Abyssinian slave, whose head is like a raisin, was appointed a ruler over you Whoever obeys me has obeyed Allah, and whoever disobeys me has disobeyed Allah; and whoever obeys the leader has obeyed me, and whoever disobeys the leader has disobeyed me The best of your leaders are those whom you love and who love you, and who invoke Allah's blessings upon you and you invoke His blessings upon them. And the worst of your leaders are those whom you hate and they hate you, and whom you curse and they curse you You will eagerly seek out a position of authority, but it will be a source of regret on the Day of Judgment. How excellent is the wet nurse, and how evil is the weaning one Had they entered it, they would never have come out of it until the Day of Judgment. Obedience is only in what is right There will be rulers who tell lies and oppress; whoever believes their lies and assists them in their oppression does not belong to me, and I do not belong to him O ‘Abdur-Rahmān ibn Samurah, do not ask for a position of authority, for if you were granted such authority upon your request, you would be left (to manage it) unaided. If Allah wills to do good to a ruler, He appoints for him a truthful adviser, who will remind him if he forgets and help him if he remembers. And if Allah wills otherwise for him, He appoints for him a bad adviser who will not remind him if he forgets, nor will he help him if he remembers. Allah never sent any prophet nor did He invest anyone with authority except that he has two entourages: one entourage enjoins him to do good and encourages him to carry it out; another entourage enjoins him to do evil and incites him to carry it out. O Abu Dharr, I see that you are weak and I love for you what I love for myself. Do not rule over two persons and do not manage an orphan's property O Abu Dharr, you are weak and it is a trust. It will be a cause of disgrace and remorse on the Day of Resurrection, except for the one who takes it up with a full sense of responsibility and fulfills what is entrusted to him I remembered a gold nugget in my house which I didn't want to distract me, so I ordered it to be distributed (in charity) By Allah! We do not entrust this post to anyone who seeks it or is keen to attain it O son, I heard the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) say: The worst of shepherds is the harsh one, so beware of being one of them Do not be importunate in asking (for something), for by Allah, if one of you asked me for something and I gave it to him while I am reluctant, there will be no blessing in what I gave him I was walking with the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and he was wearing a Najrāni cloak with a thick hem. A Bedouin approached him and pulled him violently by his cloak By Allah, no one of you takes anything unlawfully except that he will meet Allah carrying it on the Day of Judgment The Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) used to stick to the rear while traveling, urging the weak to walk quickly, letting some ride behind him, and making supplication for them When we enter upon our rulers, we say to them things contrary to what we say when we leave them. He said: We used to consider this hypocrisy during the Prophet's lifetime A people who make a woman their leader will never succeed If Allah, the Exalted, puts anyone in the position of authority over the affairs of Muslims and he secludes himself, not meeting their needs, deficiencies, and poverty; Allah will keep Himself away from him, not fulfilling his needs, deficiencies, and poverty When the revenues of Bahrain arrive, I shall give you this much and this much and this much O Commander of the Believers! Allah said to His Prophet: {Show forgiveness, enjoin what is good, and turn away from the ignorants} [Al-A‘rāf: 199]. Indeed, this one is from the ignorants People were judged by the divine revelation during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) but the divine revelation has ceased. Now, we only judge you by what is apparent to us from your deeds. Whoever appears to be good, we trust and honor him, and what he does in secret is no concern of ours, for Allah will judge him for what he does in secret. Whoever appears to be evil, we will not trust or believe him. The people of Kufa complained to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb about their governor Sa‘d. He dismissed him and appointed ‘Ammār as their governor ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb (may Allah be pleased with him) allocated a sum of four thousand dirhams for each of the early Muhājirūn The best number of companions is four; the best detachment is (that made up of) four hundred; and the best army is (that made up of) four thousand; and an army of twelve thousand will never be defeated because of their small numbers We will not appoint for our affairs anyone who seeks that position. But O Abu Mūsa! You go to Yemen Verily Allah sent Muhammad (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) with the truth and sent the Book down to him. Part of what was revealed to him was the verse on stoning. We recited, understood, and comprehended it. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) did administer stoning and we administered it after his death Indeed, there will be trials. There will come a trial in which the one sitting in it will be better than the one walking towards it, and the one walking towards it will be better than the one rushing to it