In The Name Of Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful
Assalaamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatuallahi wa barakatuhu

 

The fuzzy alternative

 

   By  Sharique Naeem

 

Inspite of the fact, that the heads of the Western superpowers, like Bush, Blair, and those in their ruling factions, like Charles Clarke, Donald Rumsfled etc, have repeated and categorically spoken of the threats of Islamic Caliphate in the past few months, many people still find hard to believe in the reemergence of such an entity, a 'Muslim super state'.

Perhaps the main reason that the idea of Islam as a system frightens many people, Muslims and non Muslims alike, today is because the present generation of Muslims is the only one who has never lived under Islamic rule. After all, the Ottoman Caliphate fell in 1924. Consequently, many in the Muslim world find it difficult to picture life under Islamic rule. And the only image they are able to form about the Islamic rule, is that of one under Talibans. They, therefore rush to the existing systems and ideas simply because the alternative seems too fuzzy.

However, the Islamic superstate was a reality for about 1300 years, and the fact that none of the scholars of the past ever mentioned in their books of Fiqh the methodology for re-establishing the Islamic state, goes to show that they never imagined themselves living in the abyence of the Islamic system.

As such, the idea of re-establishing the Islamic systems never materialized. The idea of establishing the Islamic state only existed during the time of the Sahabah (ra), after which Islam remained established as a superpower for thirteen centuries. Its only now, after 1400 years, that this idea of a Muslim super state is reviving again, and naturally it will take time for the Muslims to absorb such a concept that was never discussed for such a long time.