In the name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful

Peace, blessings and mercy of Allah be upon you.

Dear Sheikh; there is a question that always irks me about Islam, and I do not find an answer to it, which is: Islam, the great religion, has organized people`s affairs and preserved for each one of them his/her full due rights. Hence, my pride being a Muslim, who believes in Allah the One and the Only alone. However, what embitters my life is why the ruler has the right to take my money and break my back, while I do not have the right to challenge him??!! I do not say to revolt against him. I know I have the right to suit him, as it happened at the time of Caliph Omar Ben Al-Khattaab, may Allah be content with him, but, what is the mechanism? Islam does not put a mechanism so as to be able to suit the ruler if he harms me, and I think that our history, unfortunately, past and present, is full of tyranny and injustice of the rulers, without a controller or an inspector!! The modern Western civilization has reserved for the cleaning worker the right to suit the Supreme Chief of the Armed Forces, while I can not suit the least governor in my country. You may say that justice is the essence of Islam, but the rulers do not apply it, therefore they violate the pledge of allegiance in my country, and hence they do not have the right to rule over us after that. I am sorry, dear Sheikh, for elaboration, but crying goes with the pitch of pain! Please, kindly recommend me to the related books that you would advise me for further reading in this subject. May Allah bless you and reward you with goodness. Jazakumu Allahu Khairan.
 
Answer
 

In the name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful

Peace, blessings and mercy of Allah be upon you.

Praise be to Allah, prayers and peace be upon His Messenger, family members, companions and followers until the Day of Judgment.

The mechanism is in the litigation to the law, because people do not revolt against the ruler unless he kills them, and takes their money, because armed revolting is corruptive and tempting and that would result in devastation and destruction of both the lands and the people, and would open up doors for the enemies from outside the Muslim Ummah to exploit the situation to harm it and its destinies, and this is must be avoided and warned against by all means. It is not prohibited to complain and seek the judicial justice which must be over all people, including the ruler himself. This is the mechanism with which the people work in the West, and which Islam established long ago. The story of Shurayh the Judge who made a ruling for a Jew against Caliph Ali, because the Jew owned the shield, the object of dispute, is the best example of what I would say to you, and in relation to the principle of separation of powers which is ruled by in the countries that you have mentioned. And if the caliph surpasses the judiciary system and makes corruption in the country, the people of power – when able – must remove him from power. Islam is not held responsible for tyranny in the history of Muslims, because it only calls for justice and consultation, and it is not to blame for that, and neither for the negligence of Muslims in all their religious duties and for committing all kinds of sins and disobediences as well.

The caliph is the Ummah`s deputy for the ruling, and he is not a king. The Ummah chooses him, as it happened at the times of the Righteous Caliphs, and it probates him, and punishes him, too. Allah says: "Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong: they are the ones to attain felicity", (Quran, 3:104). And the prophet, prayers and peace of Allah be upon him, said that: "By Allah, with Whose Hands lies my life! You have to enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, otherwise Allah would have to send torture and torment upon you from Him, and you pray to him and He would not answer your prayers", and he also said that: "The best of Jihad is a word of truth at a tyrant ruler`s", and he said, too: "The Master of the martyrs is Hamza Ben Abdul-Muttaleb, and a man who challenged a tyrant ruler and enjoined him for what is right and forbids him for what is wrong, and he killed him".

The caliph does not have the right to make legislations for the Ummah, because making legislations is the right for Allah Alone; for he says: "If not him, ye worship nothing but names which ye have named, ye and your fathers, for which God hath sent down no authority: the command is for none but God: he hath commanded that ye worship none but him: that is the right religion, but most men understand not", (Quran, 12:40). And the caliph is governed by this ruling, like all other people. And the Ummah does not obey him except in right deeds; for the prophet, prayers and peace of Allah be upon him, said that: "A Muslim must listen and obey in what he likes and dislikes, except he is ordered to commit a disobeying deed, and if he is ordered to do that, then he must neither listen nor obey". And Abou-Bakr, may Allah be content with him, when he was sworn in after being pledged for allegiance: "Obey me as long as I obey Allah in you, and if I disobey Him, then you must not obey me". Disobedience must not be armed, unless the ruler shows explicit disbelief, at which point the people of power must challenge him – with the ability to fight him – otherwise, they prepare the Ummah for that until they attain the capability. Abadah Ben Al-Ssamet narrated that: "The prophet, prayers and peace of Allah be upon him, called upon us and he pledged his allegiance for us, and among what he pledged for was that he obeyed us in what we like and what we dislike, in our hardships and in our welfares and that he never prefers other to us, and that we must not dispute with the rulers, and he said that: "Unless you see explicit disbelief that you have about it as a clear proof from Allah". He also said that: "There will come rulers, and you will know and deny; and whoever knows then he is cleared and whoever denied he is secured, but whoever accepted and followed", and the companions said: "Must not we fight them?", he said: "No, as long as they perform prayers".

The caliph maintains the consultation basis in his rule, and the prophet, prayers and peace of Allah be upon him, has consented to the opinion of the majority of his companions in going out to Auhud, and in Al-Taif siege, and when he consulted them in Badr, and he agreed to Al-Habbaab`s view in selecting the place of camping for the army, and to the opinions of the two companions from the Madinah, whose names were Sa`ad, in not giving the people from the tribe of Ghatafan from the Madinah`s crops or yields, as he has been inspired in his sleep about that opinion.

Among the honoring examples of rule in Islam is the following: Ben Sa`ad reported about `Attaa Ben Al-Saa`ib who said that when Abou-Bakr was elected and in the morning he put some garments on his arm and was heading towards the marketplace, and Omar said to him: "Where are you going?", and he said to him: "To the marketplace", and he said to him: "What for, and you have been elected to rule the Muslim Ummah?", he said: "From where to feed my kids?", and he said: "Go, let Abou-Obeidah appoint a salary for you", and they went to Abou-Obeidah, who said to him: "I appoint for you the like of food for an average man form the Emigrants (the Muhajereen), and clothes for the winter season and the like for the summer season, and what you wear out of clothes, you return it back and you would take another". And they appointed for him every day half a goat and covering clothes for his head and abdomen".

There are many examples in this respect but for space reasons we can not relate them here. Thus, this is Islam, and these are the noble people who are the pioneers in abiding by it. But my negligence and your negligence and the negligence of the majority of the Muslims have made us come to this condition in which we found ourselves in. Is it of justice, then, to blame our disgrace and our humiliation upon Islam? O, Allah! Please, make us come back beautifully to Your religion–Amen! Allah knows best.