“Whoever quits obedience to the Imām and divides a body of Muslims, dies like the people in ignorance; and whoever takes a part in an affray, without knowing the true from the false, does not fight to show his religion, but to aid oppression; and if he is slain, then he dies as the people of ignorance; and that person who shall draw his sword upon my people, and kill the virtuous and the vicious, and not fear the killing of Muslims or those protected by them, is not of me nor am I of him.”
“The Companions said, ‘O Prophet! when they are our enemies and we theirs, may we not fight with them?’ He said, ‘No, so long as they keep on foot the prayers amongst you’; this he repeated, ‘Beware! he who shall be constituted your prince, see if he does anything in disobedience to God; and if he does, hold it in displeasure, but do not withdraw yourselves from his obedience.’”
“He who forsakes obedience to the Imām, will come before God on the Day of Resurrection without a proof of his faith; and he who dies without having professed to the Imām, dies as the people of ignorance.”
“Prophets were the governors of the children of Israel; when one died, another supplied his place; and verily there is no prophet after me, and the time is near when there will be after me a great many K͟halīfahs. The Companions said, ‘Then what do you order us?’ The Prophet said, ‘Obey the K͟halīfah, and give him his due; for verily God will ask about the duty of the subject.’ ”
“Beware! you are all guardians, and you will all be asked about your subjects; then the Imām is the guardian of the subject, and he will be asked respecting the subject; and a man is as a shepherd to his own family, and will be asked how they behaved, and his conduct to them; and a wife is a guardian to her husband’s house and children, and will be interrogated about them; and a slave is a shepherd to his master’s property, and will be asked about it whether he took good care of it or not.”
“God never sent any prophet, nor ever made any K͟halīfah, but had two counsellors with him; one of them directing lawful deeds, and that is an angel, and the other, in sin, and that is the devil; and he is guarded from sin whom God has guarded.” (Mishkāt, book xvi. ch. i.)
I.—The K͟halīfahs of the Sunnīs, from the death of Muḥammad to the present time.
(1) The four rightly directed K͟halīfahs, and al-Ḥasan (at Makkah):—
1. Abū Bakr, A.H. 11 (A.D. 632).
(Collected the Qurʾān into one volume.)