Sh. Fawzan's commentary on Barbahari's Sharh as-Sunnah (ch.2, p.42): cling to one jama'ah and Jama'ah needs 2 matters — (1) Qur'an/Sunnah methodology (2) a leader. With no unified Khalifah today, who is the 'leader' for Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah? a political ruler, or do scholars fulfill this role?

Imām Ibn ʿUthaymīn raḥimahullāhu taʿālā said: "The general principle in the Islamic sharīʿah is that Allah says: ﴿فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ﴾ "So fear Allah as much as you are able" — Sūrah al-Taghābun, 64:16 So if there is no khalīfah (caliph) for the Muslims in general, then whoever is a person of authority (walī amr) in a given region is the walī al-amr of that region. Otherwise — were we to adopt this misguided view (meaning the opposite view) — people today would have no khalīfah, and everyone would be dying the death of jāhiliyyah (pre-Islamic ignorance)… The Muslims have never ceased to hold that the pledge of allegiance (bayʿah) belongs to whoever holds authority in the place where he is; they give him the pledge and call him Amīr al-Muʾminīn (Commander of the Believers), and no one objects to that."