Verses and Translation
إِنَّمَا كَانَ قَوۡلَ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ إِذَا دُعُوٓاْ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ لِيَحۡكُمَ بَيۡنَهُمۡ أَن يَقُولُواْ سَمِعۡنَا وَأَطَعۡنَاۚ وَأُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ هُمُ ٱلۡمُفۡلِحُونَ (٥١) وَمَن يُطِعِ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ ۥ وَيَخۡشَ ٱللَّهَ وَيَتَّقۡهِ فَأُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ هُمُ ٱلۡفَآٮِٕزُونَ (٥٢)
“The only statement of the [true] believers when they are called to Allah and His Messenger to judge between them is that they say, “We hear and we obey.” And those are the successful. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger and fears Allah and is conscious of Him – it is those who are the attainers.”
Commentary
Qatadah said, “We were told that when Ubadah bin As-Samit, who had been present at Al-Aqabah and at Badr and was one of the leaders of the Ansar, was dying, he said to his nephew Junadah bin Abi Umayyah, “Shall I not tell you what you must do and what is your due?”
He said, “Yes.” He said, “You have to listen and obey when times are easy and when they are hard, when you feel energetic and when you do not want to, and when you feel selfish. You have to train your tongue to speak the truth. Do not go against those who are in authority, unless they openly command you to commit acts of disobedience to Allah. Whenever you are commanded to do something that goes against the Book of Allah, then follow the Book of Allah.”
Qatadah said, “We were told that Abu Ad-Darda said, “There is no Islam except through obedience to Allah, and no goodness except in Jama’ah. Sincerity is to Allah and His Messenger and to the Khalifah and all the believers.”
He said: “And we were told that Umar bin Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say, “The bonds of Islam are La ilaha illallah, establishing prayer, paying Zakah and obeying those whom Allah has given authority over the affairs of the Muslims.”
There are many hadiths and reports which state that it is obligatory to obey the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), the Rightly-Guided Khalifahs and the Imams when they command us to obey Allah. There are too many of these reports to quote them all here.
“fears Allah” means, for his past sins, “and has Taqwa of Him” regarding sins he may commit in the future.
“such are the successful” means those who will attain all goodness and be saved from all evil in this world and the Hereafter. [Ibn Kathir]