This opinion was applied in those many revolts against the princes, in which the Kharijites and the Zaydis, in particular, participated, as did the Mu'tazilites and the People of the Sunnah. The difference between the two opinions was merely a result of the difference in estimating the benefit or harm that Muslims would incur. Whoever opted for prohibition estimated that the power and means of oppression held by the sultans would lead to great evil befalling Muslims if they revolted against them, an evil that might exceed the evil befalling them due to injustice. Whoever opted for permissibility estimated that the corruption and injustice of the sultan would lead to the complete disintegration of religion, as he is the one responsible for its implementation in the social life of the nation. The disintegration of religion is a corruption that cannot be matched by the corruption resulting from sedition when revolting against an unjust sultan.

For Al-Mahdi Ibn Tumart, the commandment of good and the prohibition of evil occupied a supreme position in his thought and conduct, to the extent that this principle can be considered the pivot of his life, in thought and action, from the beginning of his journey back to his homeland until his last days. It seems that Al-Mahdi absorbed, with increasing awareness and depth, the statement of his aforementioned teacher Al-Ghazali: "The commandment of good and the prohibition of evil is the greatest pillar of religion. If its carpet were rolled up and its knowledge neglected, prophecy would cease and religion would vanish." This statement resonated within him, and he returned to its origin in the Quran and the Sunnah, ultimately embracing it with the full depth of his intellectual conviction and his practical commitment, starting with changing the smallest evils in the streets of Mecca and Alexandria, and ending with fighting the Almoravid sultan in Marrakesh.

Al-Mahdi included the commandment of good and the prohibition of evil within a broader duty. Most Kharijite factions had revolts against the sultans of their time. We mention, for example, among the Zaydi revolts, the revolt of Zayd ibn Ali in 122 AH, and the movement of Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Nafs al-Zakiyya in 145 AH. (See: Fadhilat Abd al-Amir, History of the Zaydi Sect, and subsequent pages). Among the revolts in which the Mu'tazilites participated were the revolt of Yazid ibn al-Walid and the revolt of Muhammad and Ibrahim, sons of Abdullah ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib, against Al-Mansur. (See: Abd al-Majid al-Najjar, The Mu'tazilites between Thought and Action, and subsequent pages). Among the revolts of the People of the Sunnah was the revolt of Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr against the Umayyads. (See: Goldziher, Ibn Tumart, p. 85 and subsequent pages).