People's Legal Rights to Supervise their Own Government

People in the state of being rulers are prone to errors and when they rise to power, they will become corrupt politicians. External supervision over the ruling system can minimize rulers’ erroneous and corrupt acts. This rational strategy – which is also consistent with the appointed and absolute authority of the Muslim qualified jurists (faqihs) – has been ratified by the law-giver and recognized by Imam Ali (may peace be upon him) and taken to be a good example of taking care of the Muslims’ affairs. In addition to this, people are recognized by the law-giver to have rights whose enforcement requires people to have rights to supervise their own government. This supervision includes 1) maintaining justice, 2) reprimanding rulers, 3) self-defending, 4) giving advice to the leaders of Muslim communities and order them to enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, 5) praising the just rulers and reprimanding the wicked ones, 6) inviting people to disobey orders of rulers in case they order people to commit sins and 7) dismissing rulers from office. Having a truthful look at fiqh, it must be said that all these matters are among the legal rights of people and they are recognized to have the right to supervise their own ruling system.