The Factors in People’s Betrayal of Islamic Rulers from Imam Ali’s Viewpoint in Nahjal-Balagha

Among the sensitive issues which stand out in Nahj al-Balagha, and, in spite of their sensitivity, are less paid attention to are the factors in betrayal that people consider justifiable against the ruler of Islamic society. Discussed in Nahj al-Balagha from different aspects, the factors, if not identified and removed from the direction in which society moves, will cause a great damage to the configuration of the Islamic system and people’s circumstances. Having an accurate understanding of those factors makes one prevent crisis outbreak and decadence of Islamic society in the age of the occultation of the Infallible, through precise recognition of the jurisconsult guardian (valī-yyifaqīh) as deputy the infallible Imam. Moral factors such as disharmony between words and action, political factors such as susceptibility to corrupt rulers and perverted social groups, and material factors pivoting on worldliness has been among the most important factors in people’s betrayal of the Islamic ruler. Initial data were collected with the library research method and processed and codified in an analytic-descriptive way.