The chain of narration is authentic also and its meaning that those Ibadis, who were one of the groups of the Khawarij, came to Abu Mijlaz and sought to use this verse to do to takfir of the rulers of that time and he replied to them with a reply of the People of Knowledge, the reply of Ahl us-Sunnah, he said, "those rulers whom you do takfir of on account of his verse do what they do of sins and evils such as oppression, tyranny etc. they do these things and they know that they are sinful. So they do not make lawful their actions which they have fallen into from amongst those things that are in opposition to the rule of Allah, the Sublime the Most High.

So their affair is just like the affair of all the other Muslims, those who commit sins but without declaring them to be lawful for themselves.

So those Ibadis said to him, "you know that what we say is the truth, but you fear them," meaning wish to compromise with them and their actions etc.

And this is one of the mechanisms of the People of Desires that comes at the end of the narration, and this is that when the people of knowledge argue against them and refute their falsehood, they resort to the likes of these machinations, so they said to this scholar, you compromise, that you fear them etc. They said this when he replied to them whilst depending upon the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) .

However, the one who is firmly grounded in his knowledge is never shaken by these kind of ploys, but it only makes him firm upon what is evident to him that it is the truth from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) and he does not pay attention to the mischief of the troublemakers and those who cause agitation and sedition in the land.

When what has been stated by the Companions and the Salaf, may Allah be pleased with them and have mercy upon them concerning this verse has become clear and evident, then it is not permissible for a Muslim who believes in Allah and the Last day that he should adopt a saying that they never said and for which there is no proof, neither from the Book nor from the Sunnah.

For they, may Allah shower mercy upon them, are more knowledgeable than us about the Book of Allah the Lofty and Sublime and are more knowledgeable than us of the intent behind the [statements] in the Book of Allah the Lofty and Sublime.

And the one who uses the verses in Surah al-Ma’idah in order to perform takfir of the rulers of the Muslims, those who have fallen into things that oppose the Shari’ah such as working with interest and other similar things, then the one who uses these verses in order to perform takfir of them, then there is no doubt that he has adopted a root of the roots of the Khawarij and may Allah protect us and you from that.

And the Salaf, may Allah have mercy upon them, also agree that the Khawarij used to use these verses and others similar to them, in order to show the disbelief of the rulers on account of what occurred from them of sins, disobedience, ruling out of their desires and other such things.

Al-Ajurree reports from Sa’id bin Jubair that he said, "Of that which the Harooris follow from the mutashabih, is the saying of Allah, the Sublime and Lofty, "and whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed they are the disbelievers…" and they read along with this verse ".. then those who disbelieve in their Lord turn away (ya’diloon)". So when they see a ruler who has ruled by other than the truth, they say ‘He has disbelieved. And whoever disbelieves has turned away from his Lord and whoever turns away from his Lord has committed shirk, therefore those leaders are Mushriks’, and so they revolt and so they do what you can see because they make ta’weel of this verse."

Therefore using this verse in order to perform takfir of the rulers is not a new thing, it is a very ancient thing, which emerged at the time of the Khawarij and their appearance.

Shaikh ul-Islam in Minhaj us-Sunnah said about some of the verses of Allah and amongst them, " By your Lord they cannot be real believers until they make you judge in what disputes occur amongst them…." he said, "And this verse is amongst those that the khawarij use in order to perform takfir of wullat ul-amr (those in authority over the Muslims), those who do not judge by what Allah has revealed and then they claim/think that this belief of theirs is the rule of Allah itself."

And he mentioned this in the fifth volume on page 131.