23 - The reformer says:

"After caliphate increased the power of the Ottoman rulers, sultans became sort of semigods in the eyes of the people. Upon one signal of them, wealth, honor and even life would be annihilated. This dictatorial torment was feared more than Allah's Hells were."

Islam's first article at the head of all its constitutions have been "Those commands which [are ordered for Muslims to commit what] Islam prohibits should not be obeyed." The rulers presiding Muslim countries, whether they be called a caliph, a sultan or some other, cannot go as far as to make their every wish done. They can never be semigods. Among the Ottoman rulers, none was seen to behave so excessively. There were very merciful ones, and the cause of their fall was not cruelty but mercy. This resulted not from the religion but from disobedience to the religion. The conditions and limits within which Islam put also the rulers were always known by all the Muslim nations. Long before Europeans' declaration of human rights, Islam had given it to Muslims not only as a right but also as a duty to disobey the despotic commands of rulers who would not follow Islam and act lawlessly.