and they persisted in corruption, enslaving creation, and extinguishing religion, for they sought to demolish religion on earth, and in defiance and tyranny.

In this context, Ibn Tumart criticizes the opinion of those who do not permit rebellion against an unjust ruler. He severely criticizes the jurists who supported the Almoravids, who "called themselves scholars, attributed themselves to the Sunnah, adorned themselves with jurisprudence and religion, and clung to the infidels." This is because of what they called people to: obedience to the ruler, and what they said about the prohibition of rebelling against him.

In this, they did not act upon a truth they saw, but rather upon desire, deception, and trickery to preserve their worldly lives and achieve their desires. They said to the people: "Their obedience is binding [i.e., the obedience of the Almoravids], and submission to them is obligatory upon you." Despite knowing the oppressors' stubbornness against the truth and their deviation from the path. They said to them: "You must listen and obey in all that they command you," even though they knew that they commanded nothing but falsehood, corruption, and misguidance, and the destruction of crops and offspring. They said to them: "You are obligated to obey them in all of that, following the desires of the infidels and fabricating lies against God."

And since these jurists belonged to the people of the Sunnah, and their opinion in preventing the drawing of swords against rulers for fear of sedition was an extension of what most of the people of the Sunnah believed in this regard, as we have seen, their severe criticism of them is nothing but a criticism of the opinion of the people of the Sunnah, headed by Al-Ghazali. It is an indication from Ibn Tumart that the foundation of this opinion goes back to roots of inaction in giving, and the enjoyment of a life of ease and luxury. This is an accusation that also occurred to the Kharijites, the Mu'tazilites, and others who advocated rebellion.

The most severe of what was inflicted upon all Islamic sects, whether in terms of the spread of falsehood or in terms of their...

The Organized Message: Ibn Tumart (91) The same source: (92) The same source: (93)