In the name of Allah most
gracious most merciful,
Assalamualaikum wa rahmatuallahi wa barakatuhu
Part Eighteen
In this message I will briefly write down the main conclusions of the first part of this series of articles
about the Khilafah. I appreciate any comments, corrections or questions.
In this series of articles I discussed the following topics
II. The necessity of establishing the Khilafah.
III. An outline of the political system in Islam, the first three
principles of the Political of Islam have been discussed.
IV. The way to appoint the Khalifah was discussed through a
detailed study of the practice of the Sahabah.
1. Khilafah is the political system in Islam. It is responsible for implementing the Islamic system (be it social, economic, educational,
foreign policy,...) and maintaining its implementation.
It is also responsible for spreading the message of Islam to the world. Khilafah is the Islamic state which the Prophet (pbuh)
and worked for in Mecca, for a period of thirteen years, until he (pbuh) established it Medina.
2. The establishment of Khilafah is an Islamic duty. There is a consensus between Muslim scholars about this issue as
Al-Qurtubi said in his Tafseer. I quoted several scholars from different schools of thoughts in Islam (Sunnah, Shia,
Mu3tazilah,...), they all say it is Fard. Establishing the Khilafah is Fard Kifayah (collective duty) upon Muslims,
however all of them are in sin if they do not fulfil this duty.
3. The evidence for the duty of establishing the Khilafah is confirmed in the Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh),
the consensus of the Sahabah and Shariah principle. I quoted many Ayahs and Hadiths which proves this.
4. The claim that the Islamic form of government is not explicitly defined in Islam is not justified by any daleel.
It is true that the details of the Khilafah structure are not given in the Quran. But the Sunnah of the Prophet
(pbuh) explained the Khilafah structure with great details.
5. The ruling system in Islam is based on four principles:
a. The supremacy is to the Sharia and not to the Ummah.
b. The authority is to the Ummah
c. Appointing one Khalif is an obligation on all Muslims.
d. The Khalif has power to adopt the divine law.
6. The State system is built upon eight pillars:
b. The delegated assistants.
c. The executive assistants.
f. The governors of the provinces (Wilayat).
g. An administrative system.
h. The consultative assembly (majlis ash-shura).
7. There are four opinions among Muslim scholars regarding the
issue of choosing the Khalif.
a. By selection (bay'ah).
b. By nomination.
c. By force.
d. By divine text.
It was shown that the bay'ah is only legitimate method to appoint the Khalifah because Khilafah is a contract of
consent and selection. So the consent of the person who is given the bay'ah to hold the Khilafah and the consent of
those who give the bay'ah are essential. Thereupon, it is clear that nobody becomes a Khalif unless
the Ummah appoints him in this post, and he cannot have the authority of Khilafah unless he is contracted to it.
This method of appointing the Khalifah (bay'ah) is proven by the Quran, the Sunnah and the consensus of the Sahabah.
Regarding Nomination,if the people suggest the Khalifah to nominate and if he agrees then he can nominate and after
voting of people appoint.
whether few or selective or people of power as decided by Khalifah because he was given the right to establish ,
nominate and appoint Khalifah.
For Example the case of Umar.ra,as he was nominated by Khalifah Abu bakr r.a .
If the people suggest the Khalifah to nominate and if he disagrees to nominate but agrees to nominate selective people to
decide chose the Khalifah amongst themselves as all of them will be candidates.
Then the candidates must solve the issue by voting amidst.
8. The detailed study of the bay'ah of the first four Khulafah
gives us the outline for a method to choose the Khalifah in our contemporary times. First of all no one can become
Khalifah without the bay'ah (pledge) of the people. This bay'ah is valid if it is taken without any force.
The matter of bay'ah proceeds after debate to establish suitable candidates, then one of them is elected as a Khalifah,
then the bay'ah is taken for him from the people.
9. The issue of who are the Muslims who appoint the Khalifah was examined. It was shown that the divine rule is to
establish the Khalifah by any gathering whose appointment of the Khalifah achieves the consent of the Muslims by any
indication that proves this consent, wether this indication is the pledge of the majority of the influential people,
the majority of the representative Muslims, the silent acceptance of the Muslims regarding the group that give the
pledge, they carry to show obedience as a result of the pledge or by any similar means, as long as they were
provided with the full facility to freely express their opinions.
10. The actions occurring this century in elections, such as secret ballots, polling boxes and counting votes and the
like, all these are styles to perform the selection by consent. Therefore, these styles and means are not part of
what the divine laws are sought for. And they are treated as matters which the general text has permitted, and there
is no special evidence to forbid them, so they are mubah. So Muslims have the right to select these or other styles.
Any style which leads to enabling the Muslims to carry out the Fard of appointing the Khalifah by consent and
selection, Muslims are allowed to use, unless there is a divine evidence which prohibits it.
11. From the above we can choose the following manner in ourcontemporary time in appointing the Khalifah.
a. The Muslims members of the Majlis ash-Shura (who are the representative of the Ummah and are elected themselves by
the Ummah) check and determine the number of the candidatesto stand for election for the post of the Khalifah,
then elect the Khalifah.But all the people collectively do not elect the Khalifah as it was never practised by the early three
generations.
Infact to elect Mahdi ,hadith narrates:
He will divide the property, and will govern the people by the Sunnah of the Prophet. He will remain seven years,
then die, and the Muslims will pray over him." (Abu Dawud)
"When the dark people come after the Arabs they will bedefeated and thrown into the lowest part of the earth.
While these circumstances exist, The Sufyaani will come with three hundred and sixty riders until he reaches Damascus.
After a month, he will be followed by thirty thousand from Kalb, so he will send an army to Iraq and kill a
hundred thousand in Az-Zawra Then they will go to Kufa and pillage.
When this occurs a banner will come from the east led by a man from Tamim called Shuayb,
the son of Salih who will restore what is in their handsfrom the captured people of Kufa and he will kill them.
Then, another army from The Sufyaani will go to Medina and pillage it for three days and thereafter proceed towards Mecca
until they find themselves in a desert. Then, Allah will send Gabriel and say to him, 'Chastise them!'So he will beat them
with his leg once and Allah will cause them to be swallowed up.
None will remain except two men who will return to The Sufyaani to inform him of the swallowing-up of his army,
but this will not scare him. Several men from the Quraysh will escape to Istanbul and The Sufyaani will send to the leader
of the Romans who will return them to him and he will slit their throats together with their followers. At that time a voice will
come from Heaven saying: 'O people, surely Allah prevents dictatorship, tyrants and their followers for you and gives leadership
to the best of the nation of Muhammad
So join him in Mecca --
he is the Mahdi!" Then, Hudhayfah asked: 'O Messenger of Allah, how shall we know him?' He replied:
"He is a man from my children, he looks like the men from the children of Israel, upon him are two white cloaks with
frayed edges. His face is like a colorful, glittering star, upon his right cheek there is a black mole and he is forty years old.
Al Abdal and those looking like them will come to him from Syria. An-Nujaba will come to him from the dwellers of
Egypt and groups of dwellers from the east, and those looking like them until they all gather together in Mecca and
so they will pledge their allegiance to him between Al Rukn and Al Makam.
Then he will direct himself towards Syria with Gabriel at his front and Michael at his middle and the dwellers
of Heaven and Earth will be joyful because of him. Water will be plentiful in his country and the river
will be spread and treasures found. When he reaches Syria he will slay The Sufyaani under the tree, the
branches of which grow in the direction of Lake Tiberias and he will kill Kalb. So the loser of that Day of Kalb
is he who does not gain even a rein."Hudhaybah asked: 'O Messenger of Allah, praise and peace be upon him,
how is it permitted to kill them when they believe in the Oneness?' The Messenger of Allah, praise
and peace be upon him, replied: "O Hudhayfah, they are at that time apostates, they claim that wine is
permitted and do not pray." (Narrated by Hudhayfah and are found in the references
of Abu Nuaym, At-Tabarani, and Abu Amru Ad Dani.)
'There will be a city called Zawra between the Tigris and the Euphrates. There will be a great battle
there. Women will be taken prisoner, and men will have their throats cut like sheep.' (Muntakhab Kanzul Ummal, vol. 5, p. 38)
b. The results of the election is to be announced and the person who has attained the majority of the votes by the shura is
to be announced to the Muslims.
c. The Muslims must hasten to give the bay'ah to the candidate via votes -who has attained the majority of the votes- as the
Khalifah to follow the Quran and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh).
d. Once the bay'ah has been accomplished, the name of the candidate who has become the Khalifah together with a
statement that he is qualified with all the agreement conditions necessary for holding the office of Khalifah is
announced to the people so that the news of his appointment reaches the whole of the Ummah.
12. The above mentioned manner to appoint the Khalifah can be applied if there is Khilafah. But if the there is no
Khalifah at all , as is the case in our present time, then every country in the Islamic world is eligible to elect a
Khalifah and thereby establish a Khilafah on condition that the country fulfils four criteria:
a. The authority in that country must be self determined depending on Muslims only, not on any disbeliever state
or disbeliever influence.
b. The security of Muslims in that country must be through the security of Islam and not the security of Kufr, i.e.
the protection of the country internally and externally must be in the name of Islam from the Muslims power in
its capacity as a purely Islamic power.
c. The country must commence immediate implementation of Islam completely, comprehensively and radically and also
engage in delivering the Islamic call.
d. The elected Khalifah should fulfil the conditions of the Khilafah contract, even if he is lacking the preferable
conditions, because what matters is the contract conditions.
Therefore, if that country has fulfilled these fourconditions, then the Khilafah has been established by the bay'ah of
that country alone and it was convened with it alone as well, even if this country does not represent the majority of the
influential people who represent the Islamic Ummah.
These are the main conclusions of the first part of this series of messages. In the coming messages I will insha'allah start
to address the relationship between the Khalifah and the Ummah and the responsibilities of both parties.
Part Nineteen
The issue of appointing the Khalifah was discussed in details. I have shown that Islam has a well-defined method to
choose the Khalifah. This method is the bay'ah which is based on consent and choice of the Ummah. In the following few messages
I will examine the relationship between the Ummah and the Khalifah and whether Islam prescribed a way to depose the
Khalifah or not if the need arise. If yes then when can this be done and who has the authority to do it?
As I have shown in this series of messages the supremacy in the Islamic state is to the Sharia for the Khalifah is not given
the pledge by the Ummah merely to be a hired man, executing what the Ummah decides, he is given the pledge of allegiance by the
Ummah to execute the rules of the Holly Quran and the Sunnah of the Messenger (SAW), i.e, to execute the Sharia laws and nothing
else.
I have also shown that the authority belongs to the Ummah,so the Ummah appoints the Khalifah. However, the Ummah is not
empowered to dismiss him after he has legitimately attained the bay'ah as long as he is doing his duty and implementing Islam.
Thus, there is no limitation on the Khalifah period in office, as long as he abides by the divine law, implements its rules and
is able to manage the state's affairs. If the Khalifah situation changes in such a way as to discharge him from the office he is
to be dismissed immediately.
The Ummah has the right to take the Khalifah into task and to make sure that he is implementing Islam properly. How should
the Ummah do this duty? This is explained well in the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh). This will be the subject of the following few
messages.
The first three principles of the Islamic Ruling system were discussed in a previous article "Khilafah 3". The rest of the
messages discussed different issues related to the third principle. I will continue now with the fourth principle.
The fourth Principle is:
The Khalifah has the power to adopt the divine law.
This principle is derived rom the Quran, Sunnah and Ijma'Sahabah; it can be extracted form three different angles:
First. Obedience to the Khalifah is an obligation on Ummah.
Second. Looking after the affairs of the Ummah is an obligation on the Khalifah.
Third. The Khalifah is the decision maker after consultation.
For detailed discussion of this principle see Qawa'id Nizham Al-Mukm fi Al-Islam (The Principles of the Ruling system in Islam) by
Mahmoud Al-Khalidi, p 323-371.
The above mentioned three points will be discussed in details in the subsequent messages.
First. Obedience to the Khalifah is an obligation on the Ummah.
This has been clearly confirmed in many Quranic verses and Ahadith to the point where the Shari'ah considered the obedience
to the ruler as part of the obedience to Allah (SWT) and his Messenger (pbuh), therefore obeying a ruler entails a reward
and disobedience entails punishment. However, there are cases where obedience becomes Haram, and the people should take the
ruler into task and question and, under some restricted conditions, should fight the rulers. This needs more
clarifications.
Muslim reported on the authority of Awf ibn Malik:
The Messenger of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: The best of your rulers are those whom you love and who love you,
who invoke God's blessings upon you and you invoke His blessings upon them. And the worst of your rulers are those
whom you hate and who hate you and whom you curse and who curse you. It was asked (by those present): Shouldn't we
overthrow them with the help of the sword? He said: No, as long as they establish prayer among you. If you then find
anything detestable in them, you should hate their administration, but do not withdraw yourselves from their
obedience.
This Hadith gives a brief description of the relationship between the Ummah and the rulers:
I. The ideal relationship is that based on love and blessings between the Ummah and the rulers. This happens if the
rulers are implementing Islam and they are just. In this case the people must obey their rulers.
II. If the rulers are not just and they do not implement Islam properly the relationship changes to hate and distrust
between the Ummah and the rulers. In this case there is no obedience if the people are ordered with Ma'siyah (sin).
III. Calling upon the rulers to account for their actions is both a right and Fard Kifayah (collective duty) upon them.
When the rulers becomes unjust or mis-implements Islam the Muslims have to take them into task and try to remove this
Munkar.
IV. The Muslims can not use force against them except if they see Kufr Bawah (Clear Kufr).
I will start with the first case.
I. The Khalifah is deputised by the Ummah with the authority for enactment of the divine law. The bay'ah is given to him
with the condition that he should implement Islam. The Ummah should obey him as much as they can. This is derived
from the following evidences.
Allah (SWT) said:
"O ye who believe, obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you. If ye differ in
anything among yourselves, refer it to Allah and his Messenger if ye believe in Allah and the Last day: That is
the best, and most suitable for final determination." (Al- Nisa: 59)
Al-Bukhari, Muslims, Abu Dawood, Al-Nisa'i and Ibnu Maja reported on the authority of Aby Hurayra that he heard the Prophet (pbuh)
said: "Whoever obeyed me he obeyed Allah; whoever disobeyed me, he disobeyed Allah, whoever obeyed the Amir, he obeyed me
and whoever disobeyed him disobeyed me."
Al Bukhari narrated on the authority of Ibn Abbas, he said; The Prophet said (SAW):
"Whoever of you dislikes a matter from his Amir, let him be patient on that, because anyone of you who goes outside the
authority of his Amir, even in the measure of a hand-span, and he died therewith, he would die the death of Jahaliya
(ignorance)".
From the above evidences the Muslims are obliged to obey the rulers. What is the limit of this obedience? This is the subject
of next message insha'allah.
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