maintaining their sovereignty, even if it is without obeying them in cases that they oppose the intellect and Sharia, means maintaining their opposition to the intellect and Sharia, which is considered as providing help to it and, consequently, opposing the intellect and Sharia; as God Almighty has said: ﴿وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ ۚ﴾[1]; “And do not help one another in sin and transgression.” Therefore, it is fair to say that the prohibition of obeying oppressive rulers and maintaining their sovereignty is one of the self-evident truths of Islam, the imagination of which is sufficient to acknowledge it, to the extent that the belief that they are obligatory is equal to the belief that what is forbidden is obligatory; as the most knowledgeable, righteous, and advisory Muslims in their era were aware of this ruling and did not believe in the obligation of obeying oppressive rulers and maintaining their sovereignty, such as Husain ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib, who was the master of the youth of Heaven according to the mutawatir Hadith of the Prophet [2], and therefore, he sacrificed his life and that of his family to rise against the oppressive ruler in order to be a good example for Muslims, although most Muslims, who were followers of the Umayyads, never followed his belief in this regard.

[Consequences of obeying oppressive sovereigns]

In any case, it is evident that believing in the obligation of obeying oppressive rulers and maintaining them is one of the most ominous prevalent beliefs among Muslims, which has led to the weakening of Islam, the fall of Islamic civilization, and the spread of the impediments to cognition among Muslims; because oppressive rulers for many centuries, by abusing this baseless belief propagated by fools affiliated to them, have changed the beliefs and rulings of Islam one after another in their own favor