Author: "Abu Aisha"
Mu’tazila (29th part)
Departure from the obedience of the Amir (Governer)
Can a person who enjoins good and forbids evil, if the king of the country and its head commits a sin and disobedience, can he stop obeying his emir and enter into a campaign with him or not? How long can the one who orders what is good and forbids what is bad be obedient to his Imam and Amir? Below, we express the views of the Mu’tazila and the Sunnis regarding this issue:
Mu’tazila’s point of view
Mu’tazila believe that it is obligatory to go out against a cruel king and fight with the sword if he has the power to do so. They believe that if the imam does not believe in the beliefs of the Mu’tazila, it is still necessary for him to leave. In this case, people can disobey him so that he stops his work and converts to their religion.
In the book Sharh al-Aqedah al-Tahawiyyah, written by Ibn Jibrin, it is written about the Mu’tazila’s view on enjoining the good and forbidding the evil and the issues they derive from it, one of these issues is giving up obedience to the Imam and disobeying the Amir. They place disobedience to imams as part of their principle. This group believes: when the Imam and Amir of Muslims commit sin and disobedience and insist on sin, even if the sin is minor, we do not accept him; rather, we disobey him and fight with him, and the Mu’tazila consider this to be an order for good and a prohibition for evil.
The fifth principle according to the Mu’tazila: Enjoining the good and forbidding the evil… The truth of this principle is that they are obliged to leave the ruler if he opposes or deviates from the right path.
The fifth principle of the Mu’tazila is enjoining good and forbidding evil. This principle has two parts: the first part: commanding the good, under which they hid its false meaning, and the second part: prohibition of evil, which also hid the false meaning in this part. By commanding the public, they bind the people to the opinions and ijtihad they have reached.
