AN-NAWAWI
(Abū Zakariyyā Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī)
Ummah is the community of Muslims. There is historical reluctance to engage in civil war even if rulers are terrible. The unwillingness to depose the Taliban in Afghanistan or Sadam Hussein in Iraq is more comprehensible to those of the Islamic tradition than to Westerners who are more accustomed to and comfortable with revolutions, impeachments, and regime changes. Many Muslims feel that it is their religious duty to put up with a poor leader rather than bring instability and produce conflict amongst Muslims. The only exception is the case where the leader does not fulfill his religious obligations and follow the laws of God and the Prophet. This is great part explains the extreme efforts of dictatorial regimes like Saudi Arabia to support its religious establishment. As long as they do not offend the clerics, their regime is safe regardless of how undemocratic or how unfair. An-Nawawi was not just a Muslim scholar stating his own views, but he compiled his 40 Hadiths which are the views of the Prophet and carry great religious and cultural weight.
Abū Zakariyyā Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī (Arabic: أبو زكريا يحيى بن شرف النووي; 1233–1277), popularly known as al-Nawawī or Imam Nawawī (631–676 A.H./1234–1277), was a Sunni Shafi'ite jurist and hadith scholar. He authored numerous and lengthy works ranging from hadith, to theology, biography, and jurisprudence. Al-Nawawi never married.