There are a few issues concerning the shari'ah which need to be distinguished:1) The legislative base [i.e. Only Allah can make law, and so the one who takes himself as legislator is kaafir and also the one who legislates one law contradicting the law of Allah and the one who denies the established laws of Allah]

2) The way the shari'ah is implemented. [This is related to decisions commands and action]Whoever changes the legislative base then he is a kaafir. This is clear he is a Taaghoot, also the one who makes haram halal or halal haram, as this again is emanting from the legislative base, i.e. that one has the right to change the status of things or actions.Now we come to how the shari'ah is applied. This will be applied by the judges, the Imaam himself and the governors and assistants through the commands of the Imaam and acting upon the Islamic laws and the constitution based on that if it exists. We see from this that the Imaam may command the Muslims to do something and they do it......the shari'ah has been commanded and it has been applied. The Imaam or Qaadi will refer to the criterion of Quran and Sunnah when he makes the judgement, then there will be a command issued for the application of that judgement, then there will be some people to enact the judgement physically. So here we see 'Judging' by shari'ah is first and 'applying' shari'ah is second. Maybe an Imaam failed to give a command to do something which the shari'ah requirtes, this does not mean he judged by kufr. Maybe the Imaam judged by shari'ah and then commanded by shari'ah but then failed to allocate the resources that were within his capability that were necessary to enact that command. Again in this case he did not judge by kufr nor did he command by kufr, but he failed to apply the shari'ah to its end result.However, we may have a situation where the shari'ah is not changed nor denied but the sufficient effort in its application is being neglected, if this is through refusal and denial then this is something else. However, this could be through laziness and personal corruption which has resulted in neglect of application of shari'ah rules.....I don't believe this to be kufr.This is because many of the shari'ah rules are effected by the amount of effort that is put into them e.g. Protecting the ummah, this is a rule from the shari'ah but its the efforts employed to implement may be diverse. An Imaam may send some army and make some organisation but his organisation was not sufficient and he did not put enough effort into viewing the situation, this may be a neglect of duty, but he did not change the law or reject the shari'ah but was maybe neglectful concerning its application.In Shari'ah the Non-Muslim citizens [Ahludh Dhimmah] and the Muslims have various rights which it is a duty of the Imaam to cater for, these include food, shelter and clothing for those who do not possess the means...... U'thmaan ibn A'ffaan reported that Nabi (saw) said "The son of Adam only has a right to three things - a house to live in, clothes to cover his nakedness and dry bread and water." (TIRMIDHI and he said 'hasan-saheeh') So these were among the human rights. And the fact that the Imaam is responsible for the needs of the people is included in the following hadeeth, Abu Maryam al Azdi reports that he said to Mua'wiyah...'I heard the Prophet (saw) say "If Allah gives someone any authority [imaarah] over the muslims and then he fails to meet their needs and remove their poverty, Allah will not fulfil his needs and not remove his poverty on Yawmil Qiyaamah" (ABU DAWOOD, TIRMIDHI also Riyaadus Saaliheen) So the umaraa' including the Imaam has a duty from the shari'ah of meeting the basic needs of the people.Now the case of neglect of shari'ah rights has been specifically addressed in the ahadeeth concerning Imaarah.i) In the hadeeth reported by Abu Hurayrah "Fulfill the baya'h to them, the first then the first and give them their rights and ask Allah for yours. For verily, Allah will ask them about what He entrusted them with." (MUSLIM kitaabu Imaarah [no.4543-4544], BUKHAARI [English version vol.4 no.661]) This hadeeth indicated that the Imaam will not be removed for neglect of rights.ii) A'lqama bin Waa'il al Hadrami reported from his father that Salama bin Yazeed al Ju'fi asked Nabi (saw) 'What do you think if we have umaraa' over us and they ask us their rights but they do not discharge our rights towards us? What do you command us to do?' Nabi (saw) avoided giving any answer. Then he asked again, it was the second or third time when Asha'th bin Qays pulled him aside and said 'Listen to them and obey them, for on them shall be their burden and on you shall be your burden.' And through another chain of narrators Simaak reported that when Asha'th bin Qays pulled him back Nabi (saw) said "Listen to them and obey them, for on them shall be their burden and on you shall be your burden." (MUSLIM kitaabul Imaarah) This hadeeth again made it crystal clear that Imaamah must continue and that the people must continue to maintain allegiance to the Imaam and obedience to him even when he is neglecting some of the rights towards them. iii) Umm Salamah reported that Nabi (saw) said "Ameers will be appointed over you and you will find them doing good as well as bad deeds. One who hates their bad deeds is absolved from blame, one who disapproves of their bad deeds is also safe. But one who approves of their bad deeds and imitates them (is not blameless)." People asked 'Rasool Allah! Shouldn't we fight against them?' He (saw) replied "No, as long as they pray ['laa maa salloo']." (MUSLIM kitaabul Imaarah [no.4570]) This hadeeth again would indicate some neglect, however this neglect must not extend to the neglect of establishing the salah, however, what is less than this then they should not be removed.iv) Auf bin Maalik reported that Nabi (saw) said "The best of your Imaams are those whom you love and who love you, who invoke Allah's blessings upon you and you invoke His blessings upon them. And the worst of your Imaams are those whom you hate and who hate you, and whom you curse and who curse you." It was asked 'Shouldn't we overthrow them with the sword?' He (saw) said "No, as long as they establish the Salah among you. If you then find anything detestable in them, you should hate their administration but do not withdraw your hand from their obedience." (MUSLIM kitaabul Imaarah [no.4573]) Again the indication is that they are neglectful of duties s otherwise they would not be deserving of curse and hatred. However, the minimum limit was establishing the salah among the people.v) Auf bin Maalik reported that Nabi (saw) said "The best of your Imaams are those whom you love and who love you, whom you pray for and who pray for you. And the worst of your Imaams are those whom you hate and who hate you and whom you curse and who curse you" They said 'O Rasool Allah, shouldn't we overthrow them due to that?' Nabi (saw) replied "No as long as they establish the salah among you, No as long as they establish the salah among you. Mind you, one who has a wali appointed over him and he sees that the wali engages in disobedience (ma'seeyah) to Allah, then he should hate the wali's disobedience to Allah but should not withdraw his hand from obedience." (MUSLIM kitaabul Imaarah [no.4574]) So from these two narrations it is clear from many indications that the Imaam who has been sinfully negligent is still to be obeyed in that which is ma'roof and this stresses the importance and necessity of the continuation of Imaamah. Even if we said that this neglect and sin was in their personal lives then this still would extend to the public duties and result in a neglect of that and this is because the Imaam should be exhausting his effort to serve the ummah and apply shari'ah as much as he is able as the hadeeth says "If I command you to do something, then do as much as you are able...." (BUKHAARI, MUSLIM from Abu Hurayrah) So it is not exhausting effort in applying shari'ah if this time is spent in disobedience to Allah.

So we see from all of these ahadeeth that it is possible that the Imaam is neglectful of some shari'ah duties such as giving the people their full rights, however, this does not mean he has abandoned the shari'ah, nor does it mean he has legislated any new law, nor does it mean he has adopted the right of legislation. Rather he is sinful due to his neglect and he will be accounted by Allah (swt) for that as the above ahadeeth confirm. As for the ummah in this situation they should then engage in naseehah [advice] to the Imaam and also in commanding ma'roof and forbidding munkar. If he denied the obligations then this is somthing else also refusal to implement is somthing else as well. In other words an Imaam might say 'I will fulfil the needs of the people'......However in practise he may be very negligent and occupied with less important or even sinful things, but we would not say he is kaafir for this. And Allah (swt) knows best.