him to his provincial governors were that they should be accessible at all hours of the day to those who had a complaint to make and that they should not keep a door-keeper who should prohibit people from approaching them. And further that they should accustom themselves to lead hard lives. The head of state carried on the administration with the help of ministers, all important state affairs being decided by a council.

Those entrusted with the work of government, including the head, were required to work for the good of the people: “There is not a man whom Allāh grants to rule people, then he does not manage their affairs for their good but he will not smell the sweet odour of paradise” (Bu. 94:8). They were required to be gentle to the people and were forbidden to do anything which might cause aversion (Bu. 64:62). They were enjoined to lead simple lives and to be easily accessible to those who needed their services (MM. 17:1), to be Godfearing, (Bu. 94:16), to tax the different classes of people according to their capacity, to provide for those who could not earn and to have as much regard for the rights of the non-Muslims as for those of the Muslims (Bu. 62:8). The state was not only required to maintain uncared for families but also to pay the unpaid debts which were contracted for a lawful need (Bu. 43:11).

The people’s responsibility to the state is to respect its laws and obey its orders as long as they do not involve disobedience to God and His Messenger. The first successor of the Holy Prophet, Abū Bakr, in his first address to those who had sworn allegiance to him, said: “Help me if I am in the right, set me right if I am in the wrong”. And again: “Obey me as long as I obey Allāh and His Messenger: in case I disobey Allāh and His Messenger, I have no right to obedience from you”. The law of the Holy Qur’ān was to be held supreme and it was the Holy Prophet who had laid down this rule of the supremacy of the law: “To hear and obey the authorities is binding, so long as one is not commanded to disobey God; when one is commanded to disobey God, he should not hear or obey”5 (Bu. 56:108). Thus while it was considered an act of great merit, “an excellent Jihād”, to speak out the truth in the presence of an unjust ruler (MM. 17), active opposition to constituted authority or rebellion against it was not allowed because the Holy Prophet had laid down the condition to hear and obey