According to scholar Moojan Momen, "One of the key statements in the Qur'an around which much of the exegesis" on the issue of what Islamic doctrine says about who is in charge is based on the verse "O believers!
[8] According to the British historian and Orientalist scholar Bernard Lewis, this Quranic verse has been elaborated in a number of sayings attributed to Muhammad.
[9]According to the exegetical interpretation of the medieval Sunnī Muslim scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, for this verse "there is no obedience in sin"; that people should ignore the order of the ruler if it would disobey the divine law and shouldn't use this as excuse for revolution because it will spill Muslims' blood.
According to Ibn Taymiyyah, the saying "sixty years with an unjust imam is better than one night without a sultan" was confirmed by experience.
[13][14][15][16][17][18] Muhammad once sent him as a military leader of some sahabas, on the way he became furious and told them to make coils of fire, and to plunge into it.
[21] After returning from the expedition, the Islamic prophet Muhammad said, obedience to the leader is only wajib in those matters which Allah has permitted.
‘Abdullah, who was a man who liked to joke, said: “Do I not have the right that you should listen to me and obey?” They said: “Yes.” He said: “And if I command you to do something, will you not do it?” They said: “Of course.” He said: “Then I command you to jump into this fire.” Some people got up and got ready to jump, and when he saw that they were about to jump, he said: “Restrain yourselves, for I was joking with you.” When we came to Al-Madinah, they mentioned that to the Prophet (ﷺ), and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “Whoever among you commands you to do something that involves disobedience to Allah, do not obey him.”After Muhammad's death, the Verse of Obedience stipulates that disagreements or Ikhtilaf are to be arbitrated by referring to the Quran and Sunnah.
"[22] Lalani attributes to the Twelver Imam al-Baqir (d. c. 114/732) this argument,[23] which also appears in al-Jami' li-ahkam al-Quran by the Sunni al-Qurtubi (d. 671/1272).
[27][28][29][30] Societies whose cultures still rely heavily on Islamic teachings, such as Saudi Arabia, continue to preach the values of following the leadership of the religious authority figures.
[31] This has caused issues due to the clash between the traditionalist views of the ulu'l-amr and the progressive desires of the youth.