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Quranic Wisdom

or that the ruler is the master of his subjects, or that the ruler
is great and others are not great. The ruler will be presented—
just like all other human beings—before God on the Day of
Judgement.
This concept of political rule makes the ruler extremely
serious in his official dealings. He must consider himself to be
the servant of God and, as such, has no option but to follow the
divine principles. The ruler is inherently bound to be modest
and a well-wisher of all of his subjects. He has to accept the fact
that he is not supreme. Only God Almighty is supreme and it
is for the ruler to obey His orders. This means that the ruler is
compelled to adopt a culture of simplicity rather than a royal
culture in his way of life. He has no time for royal entertainments.
He is not allowed to impose his whims as the law of the land. He
has only one option and that is to obey God’s commandments.
Otherwise he should step down from his throne.

The possession of political power does not mean that
the ruler is a superior person, or that the ruler is the
master of his subjects, or that the ruler is great and
others are not great.

For the exemplary ruler, rule is not a source of pride, rule
is not a source of superiority, rule is not a mandate to become
the master of the people. For him, rule is simply a service to his
people and nothing beyond that.

According to this concept, a ruler is the head of an
administration. He is a manager of his nation and not the
nation’s overlord. He has no right to exploit the people and he
cannot consider his territory to be his property, but rather, it has
been bestowed to him by God for the service of his people.

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