The Principles of Government Legitimacy as Envisaged by the Sunni and Shia Quran Interpreters

 Legitimacy is a trait in a ruling system by means of which the ruler regards his ruling correct and right, and people regard it their duty to obey the ruling power. In other words, legitimacy is an answer to the query as to why a certain group of people hold the right to rule and the rest must only obey them. Both Sunni and Shia interpreters of the Quran regard God as the source of the ruling legitimacy, hence they reason that as God is superior by far from having any material manifestation, He has certainly granted a level of His ruling legitimacy to certain people to undertake it. Like a great majority of Muslims, they also hold that God had granted this right to His messenger, the Prophet Muhammad, in his time. However, differences emerge on who should rule after the Prophet Muhammad. Shi'a interpreters of the Quran believe in the Divine legitimacy of ruling and the assignment of the Infallible Imam based on the explicit assertion indicated by God; nevertheless, Sunni interpreters hold that given the unestablished practice of nominating the imam, albeit its being proved, it may realize in a variety of ways, for instance, oath of allegiance (bay'ah), selection, election, nomination, succession, use of force, and domination. The last two ways are sometimes refuted.