O you who believe obey God and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. If you should quarrel about anything refer it to God and the Messenger if you believe in God and the Last Day; that is better and more excellent in interpretation. He compares obedience to Him with obedience to the Messenger ﷺ hon- oring his affair and elevating his status. Those in authority ulū l-amr: In scholarly terms this means the [worldly] ruler sulṬān. According to the explanation of deeper knowl- edge maʿrifa the one who has deeper knowledge ʿārif has authority dhū l-amr over the one who is just starting out. The shaykh has authority over the aspirant murīd. The leader imām of each group has authority over [the members of the group]. It is said that the friend and guardian walī of the aspirant is better awlā for the aspirant than the aspirant [himself]. If you should quarrel about anything refer it to God: In scholarly lan- guage this means the Book and the sunna. [But] according to the explana- tion of God's unity bayān al-tawḥīd it is to commit and entrust knowledge of [the matter] to God سبحانه. When two conflicting inclinations arise in the heart of a believer and [the believer] has [access to] the reasoning provided by religious scholars he can contemplate what he understands from their understanding. A master of the heart [on the other hand] entrusts [the matter] to the Real سبحانه and pays heed to what is said to him in his inner- most self and what has been cast into his heart without any intermediary.
