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Part
Twenty
In the last message I started discussing the relationship between the
Khalifah and the Ummah. This relationship was classified into
four cases, the first cases was discussed last message. In this message
I will discuss the second case.
>From the evidences cited in the last message the Muslims are obliged to
obey the rulers. What is the limit of this obedience?
II. There is no obedience if the Khalifah orders people to commit a
Ma'siah (sin).
The Quranic verse and Hadiths of the Prophet (pbuh) which were cited in
the last message indicate clearly that obedience
to the head of the state is an obligation whether his title is the
Khalifah, the Imam, the Amir of the believers or the person
in authority. He must be obeyed for he is the one in authority over the
Ummah. If the Shari'ah obliges Muslims to obey the
Khalifah his obedience would then be in matters he commands according to
Shari'ah. He is not to be obeyed in matters that are
sinful, nor in changing of the divine law at all. Here are some
evidences and details.
* The Muslims must obey as much as they can, Allah does not ask people
to do more than their ability.
Al-Bukhari reported on the authority of Jabir bin 'Abdullah:
I gave the Pledge of allegiance to the Prophet that I would listen and
obey, and he told me to add: 'As much as I can,and will give good advice
to every Muslim.'
* The Imam is given the bay'ah on the condition he is implementing
Islam.
Al-Bukhari reported on the authority of Abdullah bin Dinar:
When the people took the oath of allegiance to 'Abdul Malik, 'Abdullah
bin 'Umar wrote to him: "To Allah's Slave, 'Abdul Malik, Chief of the
believers, I give the Pledge of
allegiance that I will listen to and obey Allah's Slave,'Abdul Malik,
Chief of the believers, according to Allah's Laws and the Traditions of
His Apostle in whatever is
within my ability; and my sons too, give the same pledge."
* No obedience if the people are commanded with Ma'siyah (disobedience).
Al-Bukari, Abu Dawood, Ibnu Maja, Ahmad Ibnu Hanbal reported on the
authority of Abdullah Ibnu Umar:
The Prophet said, "A Muslim has to listen to and obey (the order of his
ruler) whether he likes it or not, as long as his orders involve not one
in disobedience (to Allah), but if an act of disobedience (to Allah) is
imposed one should not listen to it or obey it.
Muslim has narrated on the authority of Nafi3 on the authority of Ibn
Umar that the Prophet (SAW) said:
"Listening and obedience is a duty upon the muslims in what he likes and
dislikes unless he is commanded with disobedience" (Ma3siyah), which
means with a sin.
Al-Bukhari reported on the authority of Ali:
The Prophet sent a Sariya under the command of a man from the Ansar and
ordered the soldiers to obey him. He (i.e.the commander) became angry
and said "Didn't the Prophet order you to obey me!" They replied, "Yes."
He said, "Collect fire-wood for me." So they collected it. He said,"Make
a fire." When they made it, he said, "Enter it (i.e.the fire)." So they
intended to do that and started holding each other and saying, "We run
towards (i.e. take refuge with) the Prophet from the fire." They kept on
saying that till the fire was extinguished and the anger of the
commander abated. When that news reached the Prophet he said, "If they
had entered it (i.e. the fire), they would
not have come out of it till the Day of Resurrection. Obedience (to
somebody) is required when he enjoins what is
good."
Al Bukhari narrated on the authority of Abdullah Ibnu Masoud. He said
the Prophet (SAW) said:"You will see after me selfishness and matters
which you
will deny" They said: "What do you command us to do O Prophet of Allah?"
He said:"Give them their right, and ask Allah to give you your right".
When people see the selfishness and injustice what should they do? Next
message will discuss this point insha'allah.
Part Twenty
In the last message I started discussing the relationship between the
Khalifah and the Ummah. This relationship was classified into four
cases, the first cases was discussed last message. In this message I
will discuss the second case.
>From the evidences cited in the last message the Muslims are obliged to
obey the rulers. What is the limit of this obedience?
II. There is no obedience if the Khalifah orders people to commit a
Ma'siah (sin).
The Quranic verse and Hadiths of the Prophet (pbuh) which were cited in
the last message indicate clearly that obedience to the head of the
state is an obligation whether his title is the Khalifah, the Imam, the
Amir of the believers or the person in authority. He must be obeyed for
he is the one in authority
over the Ummah. If the Shari'ah obliges Muslims to obey the Khalifah his
obedience would then be in matters he commands according to Shari'ah. He
is not to be obeyed in matters that are sinful, nor in changing of the
divine law at all. Here are some evidences and details.
* The Muslims must obey as much as they can, Allah does not ask people
to do more than their ability.
Al-Bukhari reported on the authority of Jabir bin 'Abdullah:
I gave the Pledge of allegiance to the Prophet that I would listen and
obey, and he told me to add: 'As much as I can,
and will give good advice to every Muslim.'
* The Imam is given the bay'ah on the condition he is implementing
Islam.
Al-Bukhari reported on the authority of Abdullah bin Dinar:
When the people took the oath of allegiance to 'Abdul Malik, 'Abdullah
bin 'Umar wrote to him: "To Allah's Slave, 'Abdul Malik, Chief of the
believers, I give the Pledge of allegiance that I will listen to and
obey Allah's Slave, 'Abdul Malik, Chief of the believers, according to
Allah's Laws and the Traditions of His Apostle in whatever is
within my ability; and my sons too, give the same pledge."
* No obedience if the people are commanded with Ma'siyah (disobedience).
Al-Bukari, Abu Dawood, Ibnu Maja, Ahmad Ibnu Hanbal reported on the
authority of Abdullah Ibnu Umar:
The Prophet said, "A Muslim has to listen to and obey (the order of his
ruler) whether he likes it or not, as long as his orders involve not one
in disobedience (to Allah), but
if an act of disobedience (to Allah) is imposed one should not listen to
it or obey it.
Muslim has narrated on the authority of Nafi3 on the authority of Ibn
Umar that the Prophet (SAW) said: "Listening and obedience is a duty
upon the muslims in what
he likes and dislikes unless he is commanded with disobedience"
(Ma3siyah), which means with a sin.
Al-Bukhari reported on the authority of Ali:
The Prophet sent a Sariya under the command of a man from the Ansar and
ordered the soldiers to obey him. He (i.e.the commander) became angry
and said "Didn't the Prophet order you to obey me!" They replied, "Yes."
He said, "Collect fire-wood for me." So they collected it. He said,
"Make a fire." When they made it, he said, "Enter it (i.e. the fire)."
So they intended to do that and started holding each other and saying,
"We run towards (i.e. take refuge with) the Prophet from the fire." They
kept on saying that till the fire was extinguished and the anger of the
commander abated. When that news reached the Prophet he said, "If they
had entered it (i.e. the fire), they would
not have come out of it till the Day of Resurrection. Obedience (to
somebody) is required when he enjoins what is good."
Al Bukhari narrated on the authority of Abdullah Ibnu Masoud. He said
the Prophet (SAW) said: "You will see after me selfishness and matters
which you
will deny" They said: "What do you command us to do O Prophet of Allah?"
He said:"Give them their right, and ask Allah to give you your right".
When people see the selfishness and injustice what should they do? Next
message will discuss this point insha'allah.
Summary
In this message I will briefly write down the main conclusions of the
first part of the series of articles about the Khilafah. I appreciate
any comments, corrections or questions.
In this series of articles I discussed the following topics
I. What is the Khilafah?
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.
Main Conclusions:
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) sought to create
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.
Thus, the state is a necessity for the application of the laws of Islam
and it is the legitimate way specified by Allah (SWT) to apply Islam and
to carry it to the rest of the
mankind, (due to the fact that Islam is a universal deen -way of life).
Numerous verses and Hadiths dealing with the rule indicate that the
state is the responsible body for the implementation of these laws. If
that is true then would you imagine that Allah is asking us to implement
Islam without a state.
Allah (SWT) says in the translation of Quran: a. 5:48
"So judge between them by that which Allah has revealed,and follow not
their desires away from the truth."
b. 4:105
"Lo, we reveal to you the scripture with the truth, that you may judge
between mankind by that which Allah shows you."
c. 4:49
"So judge between them by that which Allah has revealed,and follow not
their desires, but beware of them lest they seduce you from just some
part of that which Allah has revealed to you."
d. 5:44
"Whoso judges not by that which Allah has revealed, such are
disbelievers (Kafir)."
e. 5:45
"Whoso judges not by that which Allah has revealed, such are the
wrongdoers (Dhallem)."
f. 5:47
"Whoso judges not by that which Allah has revealed, such are the evil
livers (Fasiq)."
g. 4:65
"But no, by the Lord, they will not believe (in truth) until they make
you judge of what is in dispute between them, And find in their souls No
resistance against Thy decisions, but accept Them with the fullest
conviction."
Hadiths:
a: Imam Muslim narrated from Abu Hazim who said: "I was with Abu
Hurairah for five years and I heard him narrate from the Prophet (pbuh)
that he said: The Prophets used to rule Ban Israel. Whenever a prophet
died another prophet succeeded him, but there will be no prophets after
me; instead there will be Khalifs and they will number many. They asked:
what then do you order us? He said: Fulfil allegiance to them one after
the other.Give them their dues. Verily Allah will ask them about what he
entrusted them with."This Hadith is a clear statement of the fact that
the form of government in Islam, after the Prophet (pbuh) is the
Khilafah.This understanding is supported by numerous other Hadith that
indicate the only system of government in Islam is the Khilafah.
b: Imam Muslim narrated from Abdullah bin Omar who said: "One who dies
without having bound himself by an oath of allegiance (to an Amir) will
die the death of one belonging to the days of ignorance (Jahilyah).
Thus the Prophet (SWA) made it compulsory that every Muslim should have
a pledge of allegiance (baya) on his or her neck. The pledge of
allegiance is not given to anyone except the Khalif.
c: Muslim narrated from Abdullah bin Amr bin Al-As who said the Prophet
(SWA) said:
"He who swears allegiance to a Khalif should give him the pledge of his
hand and the sincerity of his heart (i.e, submit to him both outwardly
as will as inwardly). He should obey him to the best of his capacity. If
another man comes forward (as a claimant to Khilafah) disputing his
authority, they (the Muslims) should
behead the latter".
The Hadiths inform us that those who run the affairs of Muslims are
Khalifs (some times Amir). Therefore, this is a command to establish or
appoint them. The Hadiths also include the prohibition upon Muslims
separating themselves from the authority, and consequently, an
obligation upon Muslims to establish an authority, i.e, ruling.
Furthermore the Prophet ordered the Muslims to obey the Khalifs and to
fight those who dispute their authority as Khalifs, which in turn means
a command to appoint a Khalif and to protect his Khilafah by fighting
who dispute his authority.
Many other Hadiths regulated the relationship between the Ummah and the
Khalif (or amir), when should they obey him and when they should not. He
also explained when he should be changed even by force.
Many more such verses show that it is obligatory to implement Islam.
Many other Hadiths show the same thing.Many other verses asks the
Muslims to have a certain
economic system, and a certain social system and... The question now is
what is the difference between these
verses and the one which says:
"Establish worship."? [24:56]
How can you say that Muslims are free to practice their religion in a
secular state by only practising the worship and not practising any
other thing.
This means asking the Muslims to believe in part of their religion and
disbelieve in the other part. This was described
in another verse in Qur'an. In the translation of the verse [2:85] Allah
says:
"Then is it only a part of the Book That you believe in,And do you
reject the rest? But what is the reward for those Among you who believe
like this But disgrace in this life? And on the Day of Judgement They
shall be consigned To the most grievous penalty. For God is not
unmindful Of what you do."
More evidences can be found in the full series of articles.
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:
a. The Khalif.
b. The delegated assistants.
c. The executive assistants.
d. The Amir of Jihad.
e. The Judges.
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.
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, their harry 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 our
contemporary 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 candidates to stand for election
for the post of the Khalifah, these names are subsequently announced and
the Muslims are asked to elect one person from this list of candidates.
b. The results of the election is to be announced and the person who has
attained the majority of the votes is to be announced to the Muslims.
c. The Muslims must hasten to give the bay'ah to the candidate -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 four conditions, 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 second part of this series of messages I am discussing
the relationship between the Khalifah and the Ummah and the
responsibilities of both parties and when the Ummah should obey the
rulers and when they should not, how can the Ummah perform
her duty of taking the Khalifah to task and when can they depose him and
how. This second part is still not ready but I already posted 5 messages
about it, from message "Khilafah 19" to "Khilafah 23". They can be found
on the gopher sites. I am more than pleased
to send theses articles to those who do not access to gopher.
Source with
Modifications.
Allah
Knows Best
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