[1]In Sunni Islam, "those in authority" (Arabic: أولي الأمر, romanized: ulil amr) in this verse variously refers to Caliphs Abu Bakr and Umar, the (military) commanders of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, his companions, or religious scholars, though the prevalent Sunni view identifies those in authority as the rulers of the Muslim communities.
In Sunni Islam, the verse is linked to Muhammad's appointment of Abd Allah ibn Hudhafa to command a detachment in the Muslim army.
[3] Some of the hadiths reported by Ibn Kathir (d. 774/1373), al-Tabari, and al-Wahidi (d. 468/1076) identify those in authority as Muhammad's (military) commanders.
"[7] He includes another hadith, also attributed to Muhammad, "Any one who rises up when the people have an imam, seeking thereby to create sedition and disunity, you must kill him."
[10] The twelfth Imam is the eschatological Muhammad al-Mahdi, who is expected to reappear from occultation (874-present) in the end of time to fill the earth with peace and justice.
[14] A Sunni hadith asserts that a Muslim would be rewarded for obeying those in authority regardless of their virtue, as reported by Ibn Kathir and al-Tabari.
[15] As noted by Mavani, the Shia criticism of this view is that the consensus of Muslims is invalid for selecting a successor to Muhammad.
[15] This view is elaborated by Madelung who writes that the succession of prophets is a matter that is settled in the Quran by divine selection and not by the community.
"[21] Lalani attributes to the Twelver Imam al-Baqir (d. c. 114/732) this argument,[22] which also appears in al-Jami' li-ahkam al-Quran by the Sunni al-Qurtubi (d. 671/1272).