The governors are those who direct the affairs of the Muslims, this governance is general as the presidency of a country, or specific, such as the presidency of an administration or a specific function. All have rights that must meet those who are under their command, just as they have rights over them.
The rights of the governed on the governors are that they must respect the responsibility entrusted to them by Allah and that He ordered them to take: to advise the governed, to move forward on the right path by which they will carry out the interests of this world and the hereafter, by following the path of believers, which is the path on which was the Messenger of Allah ﷺ because it contains success for them and for their governed. Therefore, they will manage to settle the governed and maintain a strong link between them, to subject them to their orders and preserve the responsibilities that they entrust them.
He who fears Allah, will be feared by others, and the one who pleases Allah, He will except him from people’s property and make them satisfied with him, because hearts are in the Hand of Allah and He turns them over as He wants to.
Rights of the Governor on the Governed
With respect to the rights of the governor on the governed, they advise them on matters entrusted to him, they remind him when he forgets, they invoke [Allah] in his favor if he moves away from the truth, they obey him in what is not a disobedience to Allah, because it maintains the order, and instead, contradict and disobey them would spread chaos and disorder. It is for this reason that Allah ordered to obey Himself, to obey His Messenger and the governors when He says,
{O you who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger and those of you who are in authority.} (Soorah an-Nisâ, 4 :59)
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ on The Rights of the Governor and the Governed
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, ‘It is obligatory upon a Muslim to listen (to the ruler) and obey whether he likes it or not, except when he is ordered to do a sinful thing; in such case, there is no obligation to listen or to obey’.
Abdullah ibn Umar (R.A) said, ‘We were traveling with the Prophet and we had to stop somewhere; it was then that the announcer of the Prophet called for common prayer. We came around the Prophet and he said, ‘No Prophet came before me without that it was a duty for him to guide the community towards the good, he knew for them; and for your community, the good has been placed at the start [the first generations], and its end [generations] will be affected by woes and things that you will disapprove of. Temptations will come and will follow each other. The temptation will come and the believer will say, ‘It is this one.’ So, anyone who wants to be saved from hell and enter paradise, may his death come while he believes in Allah and in the Last Day and may he behave with people as he likes to be treated. And the one who takes an oath of allegiance to an imam, and gives him the handshake and the commitment of the heart, that he obeys him if he can, and if another comes to challenge his command, hit the neck of the latter (kill him)’.
A man asked the Prophet (ﷺ), ‘O Prophet of Allah, what do you ordain us to do if we are ruled by governors who ask us to fulfill our duties towards them but who refuse our rights?’ The Prophet turned his back from him, and the man asked him again. The Messenger of Allah then said, ‘Listen and obey. They will answer for their sins and you will answer for yours’.
Among the rights of governors on the governed, there is the fact that the latter support them and help them to carry out the task entrusted to them, and that each one knows his place and his responsibility in society so that things are going as it should.
Indeed, if the governed do not help the governors in their responsibilities, things will not be performed as they should.
Interested in 100% free complete Islamic courses online with certificates?
