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Al Hamdulillahi Rabbil A'lameen. May the Peace & Blessings of Allah be upon Muhammad & his pure family

May Allah Guide us to the Truth, Protect us from Deviation & Forgive our Mistakes & Sins

The authority exclusive to Imaamah such as organisation of jihad and organizing the protection of the ummah are for the Imaam alone

It is a clear duty upon all Muslims to protect themselves, their families and other Muslims, Allah (swt) says "And fight in the way of Allah those who fight you…” (al Baqarah 2:190) and “And the believing men and the believing women are awliyaa’ [protectors, allies, friends, supporters] of one another..." (at Tawbah 9:71) and "Permission (to fight) is given to those against whom war is being wrongfully waged and, verily, Allah has indeed the power to help them." (al Hajj 22:39) These and many other ayaat however, do not mean that the existing system of Imaamah is to be bypassed while these commands are more completely and effectively fulfilled through it. Therefore, it is not for individuals, groups and scholars to free the people of the obligation of unity and leadership while directing them towards other obligations. If the Imaam was non-existent, it would be a priority for the Muslims to appoint one, and if the Imaam neglected his duty, then the people should account the Imaam and continue with their obligations but not call to a continuous independent authority unless the Imaam himself became invalid. If we take the example of the salah, we see that if people are not led by an Imaam then they still must pray and if the Imaam neglected to organise the salah for them he would be accounted and they would still have to pray and organise it themselves. Their performance of the salah however would not mean they are now free to be leaderless, rather if they neglected to cling to leadership or establish it if it had been nullified, then they would still be sinful, regardless of performing other duties. This principle is very clear as the ayah says, "O you who believe! Enter into submission completely and do not follow the footsteps of Shaytaan for he is a clear enemy to you." (al Baqarah 2:208) and “…Then is it only a part of the Book that ye believe in and do ye reject the rest? But what is the reward for those among you who behave like this but disgrace in this life? and on the Day of Judgment they shall be consigned to the most grievous penalty. For Allah is not unmindful of what ye do.” (al Baqarah 2:85)and "So have taqwa of Allah as much as you can and listen and obey…” (at Taghaabun 64:16) and Abu Hurayrah reported that nabi (saw) said, "If I command you to do something then do as much as you are able..." (BUKHAARI, MUSLIM)

The hadeeth ("Verily the Imaam is but a shield behind which the people fight and by which they protect themselves..." {BUKHAARI, MUSLIM from Abu Hurayrah}) also indicated the fact that the specific responsibilties of the Imaam are for him alone and that it is not allowed for anyone to take on these responsibilities without the Imaam’s permission or delegation. This is proven by the text itself according to its grammatical structure as well as its apparent meaning. The hadeeth says, “Verily, the Imaam is but a shield…” [Innamaa’l Imaamu Junnah..’] The word ‘Innamaa’ is like an emphatic exception, and it has the effect of meaning ‘Verily, only’ Another example of this is the ayah which says “Verily the believers are but a brotherhood” [‘Innamaa’l Mu’minoona ikhwa’] (al Hujuraat 49:10) This has the effect of emphasing the brotherhood in believers and restricting it to them. Similarly, in the hadeeth of Imaamah, the effective meaning is ‘verily the Imaam is the shield behind which the people fight and none other than him’ Also another important grammatical detail is that the hadeeth said “the Imaam” [‘al Imaam’] and the prefix ‘al’ [the] specifies the definite article, i.e. not any Imaam but “the” Imaam, that is, the greater Imaamah, the ameerul mu’mineen. This then refutes the idea of anyone appointing any leader or ameer to be head of the affair of jihad and protection of the ummah. This is also obvious of course due to the fact that if the hadeeth was talking about any lesser ameer that is appointed by the people then the information of fighting behind him as a duty and responsibility would become redundant as this would already be known and acted upon by those who chose him. i.e. the hadeeth is not saying ‘…an Imaam who you have appointed for yourselves for this particular jihad is for you to fight behind…’ as they know that already, as that is what they are doing. Rather it highlights the exclusive duties and benefits of the greater Imaamah.

This exclusive responsibility of the greater leadership [Imaamatul Kubra] is brought out by much external evidence such as the following:-

• Mua’dh reported that Nabi (saw) said “Battle (ghazwa) is of two kinds: As for one who seeks the pleasure of Allah, obeys the Imaam, spends the best property, is easy with his partner and avoids corruption, everything - his sleep and his wakefulness is a reward. As for one who fights for riyaa (show) and disobeys the Imaam and spreads corruption in the land then he will not return with sufficiency” (ABU DAWOOD, NASAA’I) and Yahya ibn Sa’eed narrated that Mua’dh ibn Jabal said “The battle [ghazwa] is of two types. One is when there is generosity in spending, and ease with the partner and there is obedience to those possessing authority [amr] and where corruption [fasaad] is avoided. So that ghazwa is all good. And there is the ghazwa where there is no spending with generosity and no ease with the partner and no obedience to those possessing authority and no avoidance of corruption. So that ghazwa does not return its companion with sufficiency” (MAALIK Kitaabul Jihaad [no.1015]) So this hadeeth explained that the highest authority with regards to jihaad is the Imaam and that he is the one who is to be obeyed in these matters as opposed to others. Thus it is an explanation of the hadeeth “Verily, the Imaam is a shield behind which the people fight…”

• Abu Hurayrah reported that Nabi (saw) said “…whoever obeys the Imaam obeys me and whoever disobeys the Imaam disobeys me.” (IBN MAAJAH Kitaabul Jihaad vol.4 no.2859]) and in another version Abu Hurayrah reported that Nabi (saw) said “…Whoever obeys the ameer obeys me and whoever disobeys the ameer has disobeyed me” (BUKHAARI kitaabul Jihaad [vol.4 no.204] kitaabul Ahkaam [vol.9 no. 251] MUSLIM kitaabul Imaarah [no.4518-4523]) So it is prohibited to disobey the ameer and the Imaam is the ameerul mu’mineen (i.e. the one who has general command over the Muslim ummah) and to take his responsibilities without being delegated to do so would amount to disobedience to the Imaam.

• A'bdullah ibn U'mar reported that Nabi (saw) said "Beware, everyone of you is a guardian and everyone of you is accountable for his guardianship. So the Imaam over his people [naas] is a guardian and he is accountable for his guardianship and the man is a guardian over the people of his household [ahli baytihi] and he is accountable for his guardianship and the lady is a guardian over the people of the household [ahli baytihi] of her husband and his children and she is accountable for them and a slave [a'bd] of a man is guardian over the wealth of his master [sayyidihi] and he is accountable for it. Beware, because everyone of you is a guardian and everyone of you is accountable for his guardianship." (BUKHAARI kitaabul Ahkaam [vol.9 no.252]) and in another version A'bdullah (ibn U’mar) reported that Nabi (saw) "Everyone of you is a guardian and is accountable for his guardianship so the ameer over his people is a guardian and is accountable for them. And the lady is a guardian over the house and children and she is accountable for them and the slave [a'bdu] is a guardian over the wealth of his master [sayyidihi] and he is accountable for it so everyone of you is a guardian [raa'in] and everyone of you is accountable for your guardianship." (BUKHAARI [vol.3 no.730] This hadeeth was narrated with several different versions by BUKHAARI see [vol.3 no.592, 733] kitaabul Juma'h [vol.2 no.18] kitaabul Wasayyah [vol.4 no.14] kitaabun Nikah [vol.7 no.116,128] and similar was narrated by MUSLIM in his ‘Jaami’us Saheeh’ kitaabul Imaarah MUSLIM [no.4496-4499]) So this hadeeth showed that everyone has their own sphere of responsibilty and is accountable for that in the hereafter and is responsible for that sphere of guardianship in this life.

• Imaamah according to the Arabic language and the shari’ah is that there is one who is a leader and this leader is to be followed in his sphere of leadership, whether specific [Imaamah khass] such as the Imaam of the Salah in jama’ah or whether it is the general leadership [Imaamah A’mm] of the Imaam of the ummah (i.e. jama’atul Muslimeen) and Nabi (saw) is reported to have said corcerning the Imaamah of Salah “The Imaam is (appointed) to be followed…” (BUKHAARI from Anaas bin Maalik and Abu Hurayrah, MUSLIM [no.831]) And the same principle of course applies to the greater Imaamah as established by all the ahadeeth commanding obedience to him. Therefore, the Imaam is there to give the orders and to be followed and he is not there to follow those under his authority.

It should be understood that this is all not to elevate the Imaam, but rather to protect the system of Islam and the interests of the Muslims. This is because Imaamah and unity are sharia'h revealed methods for success of organization (as well as being rationally proven).