The appointing of the delegated assistant requires two conditions: The first is that He is given general supervision and the second is that He is a deputy. Therefore, the Khaleefah should say to him: ‘I assign to you what is to me so as to perform on my behalf,’ or any other words to that effect which include general supervision and deputation. If the assignment is not on these grounds, He would not become a Mu’awin and He would not enjoy the mandatory powers of Mu’awin until his appointment were to be made on these grounds.

The evidence for this is the reality of the assistant’s function, which is deputyship of the Khaleefah. Deputisation, in this context, is a contract (‘Aqd), and contracts will not be valid except through explicit words. Therefore, it is conditional in appointing the assistant that this appointment is carried out in terms that make of Him a deputy to the Khaleefah. Furthermore, the reality of the assistant is that He possesses all the mandatory powers, which the Khaleefah enjoys in ruling. Hence, the appointment must be general in everything, i.e. it must include a term that indicates the general consideration of matters. In other words, appointment should include a term that indicates that the assistant enjoys all the mandatory powers of ruling. This is done by saying to Him for example; “ I assigned to you what is to me so as to act on my behalf ”, or to say “I took you as a Wazir depending on your action on behalf of me”, or the like. However, giving Him the general consideration without stating ‘on behalf of me’ means to become an heir apparent (Wilayat ul- ’Ahd) not a contract of Wizara, and the heir apparent (Wilayat ul-’Ahd) post is invalid, so such a contract would be invalid as well. If the assignment was limited to deputisation, without explicitly mentioning its general consideration, then it would become an ambiguous deputisation in terms of generality or specification, execution or delegation and accordingly the Wizara would not be convened. If the Khaleefah also said to him, “represent me in judicial matters, or in the matters of policing, education or the like”, the Wizara would not be convened and He would not be a delegated assistant. This is because it is necessary in appointing the delegated assistant to use words or terms that indicate the reality of the assistant, which is the deputyship of the Khaleefah and the possession of his mandatory powers. In other words, in order that the contract of the Wizara be convened for the delegated assistant, it should include a term that indicates two conditions; the general delegation and the deputisation. If the term did not clearly cover these two conditions, the Wizara would not be convened to the delegated assistant. Since the assignment of the assistants is one of the Mubah matters, then the Khaleefah is allowed to appoint one or more assistants. If the Khaleefah appointed more than one Mu’awin, then each of them would be given the same general consideration that the Khaleefah has. It would not be allowed for the Khaleefah to appoint two Mu’awins who would share collectively the same general supervision, since the Wilayah of ruling is singular. Therefore, if He did so, then the assignment of both would not be allowed and void, for it is an appointment of an Ameer and this could only be to one individual. This is because the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,

“Let them appoint one from among themselves.” He (pbuh) also said:

“Without appointing one of them as an Ameer on them.” This singular appointment is therefore a condition in the validity of the Imara.