God promises those of you who have faith and do wholesome deeds that He will surely make you vicegerents in the earth. The verse makes an allusion to leaders, those who are the pillars of the creed, the props of the sub- mission, and the counselors of God's religion. They are three sorts: One sort are the ulama and the jurists, those to whom reference is made in the sciences of the Shariah, such as acts of worship, transactions, and so on. They stand with the Real in their tawḤīd through the marks giving witness to their souls and their shares. They intervene in the secondary causes through the Real, but their souls, their shares, and their love for this world veil them from the realities of tawḤīd. The second sort are the folk of recognition and the companions of the realities. In the religion they are like the elect of a king. They are described by purity of desire, beauty of aim, and truthful- ness in intention. They stand with the Real along with what gives witness to their states and their desire. They act freely in all the secondary causes through the Real, but they are veiled from the disengagement of tawḤīd by seeing their own states and desires and the marks giving witness to their aims. The third sort are the elect of the elect because of their recognition. They stand with the Real contemplating the Real in the manner of the disengagement of tawḤīd and the realization of soli- tariness. Thus the religion is kept flourishing with these sorts, despite all their disagreement, until the Day of Resurrection. Know that the vicegerents in the earth to whom the Exalted Lord alludes in this verse are three groups. Each group has a known station in tawḤīd and a defined limit in making servanthood manifest. The first are the ulama of the religion of submission and the jurists of the Shariah, the guard- ians of the creed and the counselors of the community. Their limit in making servanthood manifest goes no further than hoping to recognize the Real and fearing punishment. The fruit of their tawḤīd is confined to safety in this world and well-being in that world. Their submission and faith are the Real's gentle favors and succor, but these are mixed with the contaminants of personal motives and the marks bearing witness to the soul's own shares.
