The Qur’an states:
And let there exist among you a group which calls people towards goodness, enjoining good and forbidding evil.

A hadith related by Bukhari and Muslim states that listening and obeying is obligatory on a Muslim whether it is pleasing or displeasing to him as long as he is not ordered about a sinful act. Whenever he is given an order about a sinful act, there is neither listening nor obeying.

The arabic words for obedience and discipline are Sama’a and Ta’at. Sama’a and Ta’at are when the workers listen to their leader’s commands and obey them in Ma’roof (righteousness). Those in a Jama’ah have to exhibit a distinctive attitude of listening and obeying. Their behavior should reflect the following verses in Surah Nisa, ayah 59.

O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Apostle and those in authority from among you; then if you quarrel about anything, refer it to Allah and the Apostle, if you believe in Allah and the last day; this is better and very good in the end.

An Islamic Jama’ah is a well-organized society of Muslims which is governed by the rule of Shari’ah under a Muslim Caliph and the Muslims as a whole agree to his authority and leadership. In such a situation there is no justification, whatsoever, for any Muslim to keep himself away from such a society. In the case where there is no such organization, the society must make a collective effort to form such a society, a Jama’ah.

In an Islamic Jama’ah striving for the establishment of the Islamic way of life, obedience to the lawful commands of the Jama’ah authorities is in fact in submission to Allah and the Prophet (S). Whosoever contributes his time and energy to this mission for Allah’s sake only, and who submits to the authority of his Ameer or Nazim in order to serve the cause of Allah, obeys Allah and the Prophet (S).

There are three stages of obedience. The first is to Allah. Obedience to Allah takes preference over all others. Any other will only be accepted if it is in accordance with the laws and commandments of Allah, otherwise it is condemned. The Prophet (S) said:

There is no obedience of the created in disobedience of the Creator.

After obedience to Allah, we are required to obey His Messenger, Rasul Allah (S). The reason for this is because we can only obey Allah (SWT) by obeying the Prophet (S). This was explained by the Prophet Muhammad in the following hadith: Whosoever obeys me, he in fact obeys Allah and whosoever disobeys me, he disobeys Allah.

The third and final stage of obedience is obedience to the one in authority from amongst us, as the Qur’an states. The concept of obeying the Ameer means that workers must obey the leaders in righteousness. This last type of obedience is limited with two important conditions. First, the one in authority must be Muslim and second, his or her commands must always be in accordance with the Qur’an and Sunnah.

A hadith, related by Bukhari and Muslim states: There is no obedience in transgression. Verily, obedience is in good deeds.

The greater the attachment to Allah and the Prophet (S), the stronger is the spirit of obedience in a person. Similarly the lesser the attachment the weaker is the spirit of obedience. Which sacrifice can be more valuable than that offered by you while obeying a person who has otherwise no authority over you, but you have accepted him as your Ameer only to work for the sake of Allah, and you carry out his orders without any grudge like a loyal subordinate an, even though his orders may sometimes go against your wishes and interest. As this sacrifice is for the cause of Allah, it’s reward also is very great with Allah. On the other hand, if the person feels hurt when ordered to do a thing and shows uneasiness or hesitation in complying with the orders that go against his own wishes or interest, practically proves that he has not yet surrendered to Allah and his own self still dominates his thoughts and actions.

Let’s now discuss why some have trouble obeying the leader. In some cases, people’s egos prevent them from listening to the Ameer. They can be in a position in which they haven’t yet submitted to the deen of Allah completely. It’s possible that they may not understand the principles of a Jama’ah in which the Ameer has certain rights over the Ummah. And also, one might not be able to control his or her nafs and therefore has a weak Iman. He may announce his opposition and seek to pull others to his side. People with uncontrollable egos pose a danger to the Jama’ah. They pollute peoples’ minds, make groups, and cause fitna in the Ummah.

Shaytaan hates to see a Jama’ah with a well knitted and fortified structure. This is why he makes disruptive actions attractive to some Islamic workers of the Jama’ah in the name of “freedom of speech”. Thus, some workers can become instruments of destruction for the Jama’ah.

Such elements are unfortunately present in most Islamic Jama’ah. Many of them only wish to have fun, pass their time in idle talk about da’wah, and criticize and ridicule those dedicated workers engaged in true Islamic struggle. They try to create divisions by all possible means, whether lying or slandering the Jama’ah, magnifying its small mistakes, and belittling its work. The Jama’ah must stop these conspiracies at the very onset to safeguard its integrity and the struggle. This leads us into discussing the remedy for this problem. We must keep in mind the two principles, which must be remembered by every Islamic Worker. The first of which is if any statement or action given by a person is contrary to the fundamental principles and requirements of the Jama’ah, it should be thrown back at that person. The second is that the status of the Islamic worker should be in accordance to the commitment and sacrifice in the form of deeds to achieve the goals and objectives of the Jama’ah.

We have to work with the Jama’ah and establish the rule of Allah and all our struggle and efforts should be devoted to achieve this goal only.

The Qur’an affirms:
And hold fast all of you together to this rope of Allah and do not separate. And remember Allah’s favor unto you how you were enemies and He made friendship between your hearts so that you became as brothers by His grace.

The rope of Allah is His deen, Islam. According to the Holy Qur’an, it is Islam that forms the basis of the unity and organization for Muslims. Anything else will only divide them into a number of factions instead of uniting and unifying them.

If a statement that someone makes casts doubts on the Jama’ah or weakens the confidence in it or its leadership or demoralizes the workers, or spreads dissention amongst them, then one should be alerted about hypocrisy. This is a grave crime and a terrible sin and it is compulsory to nip it in the bud by all means possible.

In this case, the person may have a good intention and doesn’t mean to cause any divisions, and it should be made clear to them that their statement leads to divisions and contradicts the concepts of the Jama’ah. If they listen and repent, then Allah (SWT) is Most Forgiving. If they persist, argue, and defend their statement with baseless arguments, then some action should be taken to protect the Jama’ah from this. Protecting the Jama’ah is a trust given to us and we can’t afford to be negligent of this trust.

The Holy Qur’an states:
By the token of time, man is surely in loss. Except those who believe and do righteous deeds and exhort one another to preach Truth and exhort one another to be steadfast.

It also states:
Cooperate with each other in good works of piety and God-fearing.

May Allah help us all to make these our goals. May Allah help us to realize the importance of listening and obeying. And may Allah help us all to have such a Jama’ah that will unite us all by the beautiful thing we all have in common, the deen of Islam. Aameen.