Essence of Obedience and Submission

‘O ye who believe! obey Allah, and obey His Messenger and those who are in authority over you. And if you differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger if you are believers in Allah and the Last Day. That is best and most commendable in the end.’ (4:60)

This verse cites a principle for true believers to follow. That is, they have to stress upon being obedient and have to excel at it, be it obedience of God, His Messenger or of those in authority. If those in authority or the government directs you to do something which is against a clear commandment of God and His Messenger, then the commandment of God and His Messenger takes precedence. However, if there is freedom of religion then whether those in authority are Muslim or non-Muslim, they are to be obeyed.

The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) said: The Holy Qur’an commands: ‘…obey Allah, and obey His Messenger and those who are in authority over you…’. Here it is clearly commanded to obey those in authority and it would be definitely incorrect for someone to say that the government is not included in ‘those in authority over you’. Whatever the government says in line with Shariah includes it in ‘those in authority over you’. Whoever does not oppose us is among us. It is manifestly proven from the Holy Qur’an that the government should be obeyed and whatever it says should be accepted.’ (Journal Al Andaz, p. 69 – Tafseer Hazrat Masih e Maud, Vol. II, p. 246))

Thus the Arbiter (حکم ) and Judge (عدل ) of the age has clearly stated that with the exception of something contrary to what God and His Messenger say law of the land should be completely obeyed. If Muslims were to adopt this principle the disorder in many Muslim countries could considerably lessen.

A long extract from the writings of the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) was presented which covered the points: what should be the standards of obedience, the significance of obedience, harm in not being obedient and the role obedience played in the spread of Islam. In this current age only Ahmadis can portray real obedience and can demonstrate to the world how dignity of Muslims can be established. However, first and foremost we have to raise our own standard of obedience.

The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) wrote: ‘That is, obey Allah and His Messenger and your rulers. If obedience is adopted with sincerity the heart finds luminosity and the soul finds bliss and light. Spiritual exercise is not needed as much as obedience is needed, though obedience has to be sincere and that is the difficult aspect. It becomes necessary to crush your self-centredness in obedience because it is not possible to be obedient without this. And self-centredness is an emotion that can create idols even in hearts of great big adherents of Unity of God. How blessed were the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) that they were a community wholly devoted in their obedience of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him). It is true that a community cannot be a community and cannot have the spirit of nationhood and concord unless it adopts the principles of obedience. If difference of opinion and discord is prevalent then consider these as signs of misfortune and decline. Along with various other reasons, mutual disagreements and internal conflicts are also behind the weak state and decline of Muslims. If difference of opinion is abandoned and only one person is obeyed, whose obedience is commanded by Allah the Exalted, success is achieved in everything. The hand of Allah the Exalted is on the community; therein lies the secret.

Allah the Exalted likes oneness and unity cannot be established unless obedience is practiced. In the time of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) the Companions were learned and had the ability to make judgments. God had thus created them that