It is hereby understood that God is One in sovereignty over people; as He has said: ﴿وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ شَرِيكٌ فِي الْمُلْكِ﴾[1]; “And He has no partner in the dominion,” and therefore, people have no choice but to accept His sovereignty over them; because their lives are disrupted without a government, and His government is the only government that is in harmony with the intellect and can be accepted; as their achieving their perfection is contingent on the realization of justice, and the realization of justice is not possible except with the government of God, and the government of God, like any other government, will not be realized without people’s acceptance, and therefore, it is obligatory for people to accept the government of God, and it is done by accepting the government of one who rules on behalf of God; because God, like any other ruler, delegates His sovereignty over people to whomever of them He wills so that he will implement His rulings among them on His behalf; as He has said: ﴿وَاللَّهُ يُؤْتِي مُلْكَهُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ﴾[2]; “And God gives His dominion to whomever He wills,” and he, in view of his government on behalf of God, is considered His Caliph on the earth; as He has said: ﴿إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً﴾[3]; “Indeed, I am the Appointer of a Caliph on the earth”; as for example, He gave the government to Dawud on behalf of Himself and said: ﴿وَقَتَلَ دَاوُودُ جَالُوتَ وَآتَاهُ اللَّهُ الْمُلْكَ﴾[4]; “And Dawud killed Goliath, and God gave him the dominion,” and therefore, He considered him His Caliph on the earth and said: ﴿يَا دَاوُودُ إِنَّا جَعَلْنَاكَ خَلِيفَةً فِي الْأَرْضِ فَاحْكُمْ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ بِالْحَقِّ وَلَا تَتَّبِعِ الْهَوَى فَيُضِلَّكَ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ﴾[5]; “O Dawud! We appointed you as a Caliph on the earth, so rule rightly among people and do not follow your passions, for they will mislead you from the way of God.” Based on this, “the pledge of allegiance”[6] in the sense of accepting the sovereignty is not permissible except to a man whom God has appointed as His Caliph on the earth, such as Dawud , and pledging allegiance to such a man is considered pledging allegiance to God; because God has commanded pledging allegiance to him; also, for this reason, He has considered pledging allegiance to His Prophet as pledging allegiance to Himself and said: ﴿إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُبَايِعُونَكَ إِنَّمَا يُبَايِعُونَ اللَّهَ يَدُ اللَّهِ فَوْقَ أَيْدِيهِمْ﴾[7]; “Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you, they only pledge allegiance to God; the hand of God is over their hands,”