There is one situation excluded from the general rule concerning the obligation of obedience to the ruler. This is the case of commanding people to perform a sin. Similarly there is one situation excluded from the general rule concerning the prohibition of rebellion against the ruler and taking up arms against him, which is when He commits an act of flagrant disbelief. In this case He should be fought against, for there are texts related to this situation. ‘Awf Ibnu Malik Al-Ashja’i said; “I heard the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) say; ‘The best of your Imams are those whom you love and they love you and whom you pray for and they pray for you, and the worst of your Imams are those whom you hate and they hate you and you curse them and they curse you.’We asked: ‘O Messenger of Allah, shall we not then declare war on them?’ He said; ‘No, as long as they establish the prayer among you.’” [Narrated by Muslim] Establishing the prayer means to rule by Islam, that is to implement the rules of Shari’ah. This is because naming part of it denotes the whole of Islam here. This is common in Arabic, for instance Allah (swt) says; “To free a neck” [TMQ An-Nisa’: 92] which means to free the slave i.e. all of Him and not just his neck. In this Hadith He (pbuh) said; “As long as they establish the prayer among you.” This means the establishment of all the rules not just the prayer and is a figurative form where basically the part is mentioned to refer to the whole. Muslim reported on the authority of Umm Salama that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said; “Ameers will be appointed over you, you recognise some of what they do and you disown some. Whoever recognised He is absolved from blame. Whoever disapproved (of their bad deeds) He is safe, but whoever consented and followed them (he is doomed.)’ They said; ‘Should we not fight against them?’ He (pbuh) replied: ‘No, as long as they prayed.’” This means the establishment of all the rules not just the prayer and is a figurative form where basically the part is mentioned to refer to the whole. ‘Ubadah Ibnus-Samit reported: