In Pursuit Of Allah's Pleasure
Part Four: Our Aim
- Bringing Mankind to the worship of Allah alone.
- Establishing the Caliphate that follows the example of the Prophet .
Our aim is Allah's command: "Establish the religion."[1]
We aim to establish Allah's religion in its entirety, in every soul and upon every inch of this earth, in every home, institution and society. To achieve this, we must first succeed in:
- Bringing people to the worship of their Lord, and
- Establishing a Caliphate based upon the foundations laid down by the Prophet .
These are then the two objectives that we aspire to achieve in order that we may fulfill Allah's command to establish the religion of Islam.
We have said many times before that all human beings are the slaves of Allah and that the earth belongs to Him. Therefore, all people are required to enter the religion of Allah and the entire earth should be under the authority of Islam.
We aim therefore to return the wandering people who have strayed from the path of Allah back to their pure nature and bring them back to their senses. This is what we meant by 'bringing people back to the worship of their Lord'. That is in everything: their creed, rituals, conduct, dealings, judgements and customs.
This requires that the ruling political system which governs people and their communities should in turn be submissive to Allah. It should implement the Islamic laws and act upon them; a system which rules by Islam, safeguards the religion of the people and protects them against all the devils, be they human or jinn, who strive to take people outside the religion of Allah.
Living under a non-Islamic system means that people will not refer to Islam as a judge in their disputes and that they will not establish their religion in its entirety. This also means that there will be an authority which will divert people from the religion of Allah and absorb them into its own Jahiliyyah system, using all means at its disposal.
One of the foundations of establishing the religion is to bring into being a political system by which to rule the people and guide them, because religion can never be complete without such a system.
Ibn Taymeeyah said, "It should be known that ruling people and governing their affairs is one of the greatest obligations of Islam without which the religion can never be established.
"Therefore it is our aim to establish a Caliphate following the example of the Prophet . To this end, we are using all the ways and means that our religion taught us: Da'wah, enjoining good and forbidding evil and conducting Jihad in the way of Allah. Each one of these means has its role to play to achieve this objective. Each has its own field of action and legal rulings. A detailed discussion of these points is to be found in the chapter entitled 'Our Way'.
- Bringing people to the worship of their Lord
Worshipping Allah is the reason behind the creation of the Heavens and the Earth, the angels and human beings, the night and the day, as-Sirat and al-Meezaan, Paradise and Hell. The whole universe was not created in jest:
"We created not the heavens and the earth and all that is between the two, in play." [Surah Al-Anbiyaa (21), Ayah 16.]
Nor were human beings and the jinn created in vain:
"Did you then think that We had created you without purpose and that you would not be brought back to Us [for account]? Exalted then be Allah, the True King. There is no god but He, the Lord of the Glorious Throne. " [Surah Al-Mu'minoon (23), Ayat 115-116.]
They were not created without a reason and purpose:
"I have only created the jinn and the men but that they may worship Me." [Surah Az-Zariyat (51), Ayah 56.]
The only purpose for which they were created therefore is to worship Allah alone.
They were created to carry out their duty towards Allah. This duty was outlined by the Prophet when he called Mu'adh bin Jabal three times, asking him, "Do you know Allah's right upon His Servants?" Mu'adh replied, "Allah and His Messenger know best." The Prophet then said, "Allah's right upon His servants is that they should worship Him alone and associate none with Him in worship." [2]
This is the duty the servants must carry out towards Allah, mainly to worship Him with total submission, humility, love, reliance, piety, good conduct and fear, turning unto Him.
This is why Allah ( SWT ) sent messengers calling people to His worship:
"And indeed We sent Noah to his people, and he said, 'O my people, worship Allah. You have no other god but Him. Will you not then be afraid?'" [Surah Al-Mu'minoon (23), Ayat 23.]
"And [remember] Abraham when he said to his people, 'Worship Allah and fear Him. That will be better for you, if you understand. '" [Surah Al- Ankabut (29), Ayah 16.]
"And to the 'Aad people [We sent] their brother Hud. He said, ` O my people, worship Allah [alone]. You have no god other than Him. ' " [Surah Hud (11), Ayah 50.]
"And to [the tribe of Thamud [we sent] their brother Salih. He said, `O my people, worship Allah; you have no god other than Him.'" [Surah Hud (11), Ayah 61.]
"And to the Madyan people [we sent] their brother Shu'aib. He said, `O my people, worship Allah; you have no god other than Him.'" [Surah Hud (11), Ayah 84.]
"And verily, We have sent among every Ummah a Messenger [proclaiming]:`Worship Allah [alone], and avoid at-Taghut (all false deities). ' " [Surah An-Nahl (16), Ayah 36.]
The Qur'an also recounts the saying of Jesus, the son of Mary to the Children of Israel:
"Surely, Allah is my Lord and your Lord. So worship Him [alone]; that is the right path." [Surah Maryam (19), Ayah 36.]
And this is the reason why the Prophet had been sent "so that Allah alone will be worshipped, without any partners."[3]
And this is the aim that the Sahabah understood from the Prophet . Rab'ee bin `Aamir said to Rustum when asked about the reason he had come to see him: "Allah has sent us to take the created [people] away from the worship of the created [false gods] and bring them to the worship of Allah, the One and Almighty."
Man must, by his very nature, be a servant, whether he likes it or not. This is an inherent characteristic of Man over which he has no control. He must experience submissiveness, love, fear, hope and reliance associated with slavery. If he does not direct these to Allah, the - true God, he will undoubtedly direct them to false deities which "...can create nothing but are themselves created, and which have no power to harm or benefit themselves, and they control neither death nor life nor resurrection." [Surah Al-Furqan (25), Ayah 3.]
People should realize this fact and understand it properly: if they keep away from the worship of Allah, they will undoubtedly worship false gods which can do neither harm nor good. This is one of the immutable laws that Allah ( SWT ) established in the universe.
The Christians worship Jesus Christ; the Jews worshipped the calf; the Arab polytheists worshipped idols made from pressed dates which they ate when they felt hungry. They ate the very gods to whom they were prostrating a few minutes before, supplicating to them, loving them, and asking them for food and drink. There are people today who still worship fire, cows, trees, the moon and the sun. Other people are slaves to their own whims and desires:
"Have you seen him who takes his own lust (vain desires) as his god, and Allah knowing [him as such], left him astray, and sealed his hearing and his heart, and put a cover on his sight. Who then will guide him after Allah [has withdrawn guidance]? Will you not then remember?" [Surah Al- Jaathiya (45), Ayah 23.]
Ibn `Abbas said, "Vain desire [in this verse] is [also] a god worshipped beside Allah." It is said that "There is nothing more evil in the sight of Allah than a vain desire [to which people are slaves]."
Ibn Al-Qayyim says about those who are slaves to their own whims and desires: "They worship other than Allah with love, fear, hope, glorification and humility. They love, hate, give and withhold for their desires' sake. Their desires are dearer and more beloved to them than Allah's Pleasure; desire is their leader, lust is their guide, ignorance is their driver, and negligence is their vehicle."
Some people are too proud to be slaves to Allah and instead become slaves to their wealth. The Prophet said, "Wretched is the slave of the dinar, the slave of the dirham and the slave of the bordered silk cloak. If he is given that, he is pleased, and if he is not given that, he is displeased, wretched and disappointed. And if he is pierced with a thorn, it cannot be extracted."[4]
Ibn Hajar said, "The slave of the dinar [in this Hadeeth] means the person who is eager to amass wealth and keep it as though he is its slave and servant."
There are others who are too proud to worship Allah and so they become slaves to rulers who legislate laws for them, as did the Jews and Christians when they worshipped their rabbis and monks besides Allah:
"They (Jews and Christians) took their rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides Allah." [Surah At-Taubah (9), Ayah 31.]
'Adee bin Hatim said to the Prophet ,"But they (the people) did not worship them ( the rabbis and monks), 0 Messenger of Allah. "The Prophet replied, "They forbade the lawful for them and made lawful what was forbidden, and the people obeyed them. This is how they worshipped them."[5]
Our duty is to shake people out of their slumber, make them aware of this fact and ask them:
"Are diverse lords better or Allah, the One, the Irresistible?" [Surah Yusuf (12), Ayah 39.]
We must shake them and say to them:
"O men, a similitude is set forth, so listen to it. Surely, those on whom you call besides Allah cannot create [even] a fly, though they combine together for the purpose. And if the fly should snatch away anything from them, they cannot recover it therefore. Weak indeed are [both] the seeker and the sought. They esteem not Allah with the estimation which is His due. Surely, Allah is All-Strong, All-Mighty." [Surah Al-Hajj (22), Ayah 73.]
We must say to them after shaking them:
"Allah sets forth a parable: a man belonging to many partners, disagreeing with one another, and a man belonging wholly to one master. Are they both equal in comparison?" [Surah Az-Zumar (39), Ayah 29.]
We shake them and say to them to choose either to worship Allah alone, or to worship many disagreeing gods which do no harm or good, nor provide or create, nor honor or disgrace, nor bring to life or cause death:
"And they have taken other gods besides Allah, that they might be helped. They are not able to help them, but they will be brought forward against those who worshipped them fat the time of Reckoning." [Surah Ya- Sin (36), Ayat 74-75.]
"And they have taken [other] gods besides Allah, that they may be [a source of] power for them. Not at all! They will reject their worship, and become their opponents." [Surah Maryam (19), Ayat 81-82.]
These `gods' will disown them on the Day of Judgement and surrender them to their fate. It is strange that people reject the worship of Allah which brings them honor and glory in this life and eternal bliss in the Hereafter. It is really strange that they turn their backs on this, only to fall in the `mire' of shirk and the worship of false gods. They exalt these false gods, loving them, and approaching them with total humility and submission. These `gods', which do not benefit them in any way in this life, nor do they provide for them or help them, while it is they who protect these false gods. Furthermore, on the Day of Judgement these false `gods' will not intercede for them but will instead become their opponents:
"And set not with Allah another god [for worship] lest you sit down disgraced [and] forsaken." [Surah Al-Israa' (17), Ayah 22.]
"And set not with Allah any other god [for worship] lest you be cast into Hell, condemned [and] rejected." [Surah Al-Israa' (17), Ayah 39.]
Someone may ask, "What is al-'Uboodiyyah (worship)? Is it restricted to prayers, supplications and remembrance of Allah?" The answer is that these are only a part of it. Al-'Uboodiyyah encompasses all life on this earth and all the conditions and situations of Mankind. The type of worship that Allah demands from His servants is for them to say, with both words and actions, what Prophet Abraham (as) said:
"I have submitted to the Lord of the Worlds." [Surah Al-Baqarah (2), Ayah 131.]
It is to say with their tongues and actions what Allah commanded the Prophet to say (which means):
"Say: "Truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are [all] for Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. He has no partner. And so am I commanded, and I am the first of those who submit." [Surah Al-An'am (6), Ayah 162.]
Al-'Uboodiyyah, which Allah has created us for, is that all our lives should be in accordance with what is pleasing to Him. That our day and night, our thoughts and words, our actions and movements, our life and our death are all for Allah, Lord of the Worlds.
Ibn Taymeeyah defined worship as follows: "Ibadah (serving Allah) is a term that comprises everything that Allah loves and approves of from apparent and hidden sayings and deeds. So as-Salah (prayer); az-Zakah (charity tax); as-Siyyam (fasting); al-Hajj (pilgrimage to the holy Ka'bah); speaking the truth; returning trusts; being kind to parents; keeping ties with relatives; fulfilling promises; enjoining the good and forbidding the evil; struggling and fighting against the non- believers and hypocrites; being kind towards the neighbors, the orphan, the poor, the wayfarer and the owned beings whether human or animal; supplications and remembrance of Allah; and recitation of the Qur'an and the like, all fall into the definition of Ibadah.
Likewise, the love of Allah and His Messenger; fearing Allah; turning to Him in repentance; sincerity towards Him; patience with His Ordainment; gratefulness for His bounties; contentment with His Decree; dependence on Him; hope for His Mercy and fear of His Punishment, and the like, are also examples of Ibadah.[6]
Our aim is to bring people to the worship of Allah alone in all their affairs and conditions. The worshipper owes everything of himself and his life to his Lord. He has no option but to worship Him. If he does not, he is but a disobedient runaway. He does not have the choice of obeying some of Allah's commands and ignoring others, for in this case he will be like "a man belonging to many partners, disagreeing with one another." [Surah Az-Zumar (39), Ayah 29.]
Obedience must be in everything, great and small, so that he will be the like of "a man belonging wholly to one master."[Surah Az-Zumar (39), Ayah 29.]
Indeed it is the worship of Allah that most people lack and all societies need. Its absence is, undoubtedly, the reason behind the misery and suffering of many individuals, communities, governments and peoples. Just stop and ask yourself: "Why is Mankind suffering today?" The answer is simply that people direct true worship to other than Allah.
The Heavens and the Earth cannot function properly without having one single god to guide them:
"If there were in them (the Heavens and the Earth) other gods besides Allah, then surely both would have gone to ruin." [Surah Al-Anbiyaa (21), Ayah 22.]
The life of the world has become corrupted because people have taken other 'gods' besides Allah while others have rejected Allah altogether and taken other gods instead.
Ibn Al-Qayyim says: "As the Heavens and the Earth would be ruined and corrupted if there were in them other gods besides Allah, the same thing could happen to the heart. If there is within the heart a longing for a god other than Allah, this heart will become seriously diseased and corrupted. This disease will not be cured until this `false god' has-been removed from the heart and replaced with the true God who is the object of the heart's love, hope, fear, reliance, and turning to Him in repentance."
Indeed our condition will not be improved unless we remove everything else other than Allah from our hearts. People attempt to change their lives for the better, but their efforts will he to no avail unless they work towards bringing humanity back to the worship of Allah alone. As Muslims, we have enough insight not to be deceived by the hollow calls for reform which fill the world today. The most serious problem facing Mankind today is not the lack of resources, the suffocating oppression, the ravaging wars, the ill-distribution of resources, or the absence of democracy. The main problem is that people refuse to become slaves of Allah or that they are unaware of this issue altogether.
The correct starting point is to struggle continuously, seriously and intelligently in order to bring people to the worship of their Creator. Any other attempt will, without doubt, be a waste of time and effort. The real problem facing Muslims today is nothing other than their refusal to worship Allah and their blind emulation of stray nations in everything including worship of others than Allah. It is our duty to extend a helping hand to these Muslims and people of other nations, in order to bring them back to the Straight Path and teach them how to be obedient servants of Allah alone.
This requires that we should engage in Da'wah, guiding people and leading them to the Truth. Those who return to the true faith and become upright then they will be forgiven. As for those who stubbornly reject the truth, we will carry out our duty to rectify them or deter them either through Hisbah or Jihad, depending on the circumstances. People have the choice to return in obedience to their pure nature and worship Allah alone (who is their true Lord and Master). Or to step aside, taking with them their false beliefs and creeds, and leave the earth to be ruled by those who belong to this true religion: those who worship Allah alone with no associates. We cannot allow them to commit the sin of shirk and then impose it upon the land and the people, in legislation, way of life and government.
- Establishing a Caliphate following the guidance of the Prophet
Establishing the Caliphate is that great objective which has been lost due to the Muslims' ignorance and negligence. The mass of the Muslims do not know that there is an objective called as such. They think that it was an early period in the history of this Ummah which has long since vanished and will never be revived. Those who claim to work for Islam, on the other hand, either ignore it or neglect their duty to establish it.
We are eager to achieve this objective, driven by the commands of Islam and filled with a longing for its past glories. We aim to re-establish the Islamic State and its political entity which had spread justice in the world, over a period of thirteen centuries, from China in the East to the Atlantic Ocean in the West, and from Central Europe in the North to Central Africa in the South. Islam also commands us to re- establish our Caliphate and choose a Caliph to rule it. The entire Muslim Ummah with all its different sects: the Sunnis, Shiite, Murji'ah and others, unanimously agree concerning the obligation of putting a Caliph in charge of the affairs of the Muslim Ummah.
As we set forth towards this noble objective we hear the hypocrites and those with diseased hearts say (which means),
"Their religion has deluded these [men]." [Surah Al-Anfal (8), Ayah 49.]
But we reply to them, saying (which means):
"And whoever puts his trust in Allah, then surely Allah is Mighty, Wise." [Surah Al-Anfal (8), Ayah 49.]
We go forward towards this noble aim, knowing that the splendour of the victory we are seeking is in proportion to the volume of sacrifices we intend to offer.
51 We only accept a Caliphate which follows the example of the Prophet and rules by Allah's laws. So, let our struggle and sacrifice rise to this level. Let our blood flow to cover every inch of the land we aspire to include under the Caliphate rule. Let us offer sacrifices as did the first generations of our Ummah who did not spare anything to establish the Caliphate. A Caliphate which ruled with justice over the majority of the world's population in its time, and whose capital moved from Madeenah to Kufa, Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, and Istanbul.
It is true that the Caliphate knew periods of weakness due to the negligence of Muslims, transgressions of its rulers and the plots of its enemies from within and from outside. In spite of all this, it remained a custodian of religion, a defender of its sanctity and protector of its peoples and lands. Many were the ferocious onslaughts it had to endure. Starting with the attack of the Qur'aish on the embryonic Islamic State in Madeenah, through the Christian Crusades in the West and the Mongol hoards from the East, to the final onslaught by the satanic alliance of Christians, Jews and apostate secularists, such as Kamal Ataturk. Satan managed to gather all his strength and deal the final blow to the Caliphate in October 1924, after 1340 years in power.
With its fall, the gates were flung wide open before our enemies, who descended upon us with the hatred of 1340 years of enmity boiling in their chests. They carved our Ummah up between them, occupying the vast majority of its land and controlling the mass of its people. This military onslaught went hand in hand with an equally fierce, determined and insidious intellectual attack. `Human wolves' from every sect and religion embarked on seizing the Muslim Ummah with their claws, targeting Muslims' hearts and minds. Successive Muslim generations fell easy prey to this cultural invasion. Their `Aqeedah was distorted and their faith shaken and weakened. Some abandoned Islam altogether. Those who remained Muslims forsook virtually all the values and principles of the faith.
This intellectual invasion assumed the form of an all out and relentless doctrinal war, calling Muslims to false ideologies such as secularism, nationalism, socialism and capitalism. Free rein was given to calls to libertinism and the so-called freedom which stripped our youth of the purity and decency of Islam, and left them to the mercy of fleeting whims and unfettered desires. The media and educational systems have been employed in this war, supported by organizations and institutions run by Jews and Christians, and protected by governments and their armies.
The military invasion aimed at destroying the Caliphate which represented a political system holding the Muslims together, and succeeded in achieving this aim. The intellectual invasion, on the other hand, which aimed at weakening Islam in the hearts and minds of its followers, succeeded to a large extent in distorting its meaning and shaking its foundations.
Our enemies knew well that removing the Caliphate from the political life of the Ummah is no guarantee in itself that it will disappear altogether. They have learned that as long as Islam, in its comprehensive, all-embracing sense, remained rooted in the hearts and minds of its followers, this concept will drive the believers to reinstate it to its full glory. History has seen this happen many times before and the enemy has had plenty of opportunities to learn the lesson. This is historically supported by the fact that the Caliphate capital knew different countries, ranging from the Hijaz, to Syria, to Iraq, to Egypt and finally to Turkey. This time they want to uproot the comprehensive concept of Islam from the minds of Muslims once and for all, so that once the Caliphate has fallen, nothing will be there to motivate Muslims so as to re- instate it.
It is for this reason that secularism has been promoted amongst Muslims as a new religion to replace Islam and to become the cultural and doctrinal alternative upon which many republics and sultanates in the Arab world are based, in order to supersede the Caliphate. By calling for the separation of state and religion, it aims to isolate Islam from legislation, politics and government. Religion, according to the new creed, should be confined to the mosque, used for preaching, permitted only in the form of rituals and acts of worship, and welcomed to festivities and state celebrations. It should never attempt to come anywhere near leadership and authority, for these areas are the preserve of the secularists. This new religion permits Islam to use only the pulpit, and nothing else. It refers to the state as being its prerogative while the mosque remains the only concern of Islam, and no-one should interfere with the affairs of the other.
Many a Muslim has adopted this new creed and many a state has been established on its basis. We have, as have our governments, lived for a long time under the oppressive burden of secularism as a creed, system and ideology. This creed, trumpeted by the media, covers all walks of life: the government, legislation, the judiciary, education and the media. It has also been forcefully implanted in our midst to spawn these ignorant regimes which have replaced the laws of Allah with those of Satan. These governments have given their loyalty completely to either the East or the West, instead of raising their voice with the saying of Allah (which means):
"Your [real] friend is Allah and His Messenger and the believers." [Surah Al-Ma'idah (5), Ayah 55.]
It calls to liberalism or socialism instead of responding to the truth:
"And judge between them by that which Allah has revealed, and follow not their vain desires." [Surah Al-Ma'idah (5), Ayah 49.]
It supports nationalism instead of Allah's saying (which means):
"The believers are but a single brotherhood." [Surah Al-Hujuraat (49), Ayah 10.]
It relinquishes our lands and dignity to our enemies instead of raising the banner of true 'Aqeedah:
"And fight them until there is no more persecution and the religion is wholly for Allah." [Surah Al-Anfal (8), Ayah 39.]
It moves Islam aside, derides its laws, fights those who call to it, kills its followers, neglects its set limits, makes the forbidden permissible and prohibits the permissible, destroys the religion and corrupts life.
The opinion of Islam concerning these regimes and governments is simply that they are disbelieving, ignorant and have no legal basis. They have no right to exist and should be removed in order to regain our Caliphate with a view to recovering our status and lands, establishing the religion, guarding it and ruling the world by its laws.
This is the objective which we strive hard to attain. We must stand up and say, "Here we are again, the followers of Muhammad . We have returned with the aim of re-establishing the Caliphate. As the scheming and intrigue of our enemies has continued unabated for thirteen centuries from the emigration of the Prophet to the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate, our struggle and Jihad will continue, by the will of Allah, until such a day when we regain our lost Islamic State. We suffer and sacrifice the same way our enemies do, but we are not like them: we seek from Allah reward and martyrdom which they do not, and our martyrs are in Paradise while their dead are in the Hell-Fire.
The Caliphate which we seek to establish cannot be compared with any man- made political system that humanity has ever known. The foundation upon which our Caliphate is based is that Allah ( SWT ) alone is the legislator and Muhammad is His Messenger who conveys His message to Mankind.
The right to legislate belongs neither to the Caliph, nor to his advisors, nor to the parliament, nor to a party, nor to anyone else; it is Allah's prerogative alone. Practicing Ijtihad to know Allah's judgement concerning new circumstances and issues which arise now and then, however, is not an act of legislation, but rather an attempt to know Allah's judgement concerning these circumstances through the methods which He approves:
"If they had only referred it to the Messenger and to those charged with authority among them, surely the proper investigators would have understood it from them [directly]." [Surah An-Nisa (4), Ayah 83.]
Finding out Allah's judgement rests with the qualified scholars who, in so doing, do not legislate for the Ummah, but merely infer Allah's judgement concerning the various matters and issues that arise now and then. Also; in carrying out Ijtihad, they adhere to the Islamic Law, its principles, rules and regulations and do not part from it an inch.
Our Caliphate does not put anything above Allah and His Messenger , be it a word, an action, a command, a prohibition or a legislation.
Our Caliphate refers all matters to Allah and His Messenger :
"And in whatever they differ, the decision thereof is with Allah (He is the Ruling Judge)." [Surah Ash-Shura (42), Ayah 10.]
"If you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger." [Surah An-Nisa (4), Ayah 59.]
Our Caliphate establishes Islam in its entirety amongst its subjects and on all its lands. Islam also determines its relations with the rest of the world in matters of peace, war, alliance and treaties.
The Caliph simply carries out the commands of Allah and His Messenger. His chief duty is to safeguard the religion, protect it, disseminate it and rule by it in all worldly matters. Imam al-Maawardee said, "The Imamate is there to succeed Prophethood, by safeguarding religion and administering the affairs of the life of the Muslims."
Mutual consultation is one of the traits of the Muslim Caliph's rule:
"And those who answer the Call of their Lord and establish prayers perfectly, and who [conduct] their affairs by mutual consultation."[Surah Ash-Shura (42). Ayah 38.]
Justice is also a characteristic of his rule:
"And that when you judge between men, you judge with justice." [Surah An-Nisa (4), Ayah 58.]
Justice is what Allah and His Messenger have commanded. The Caliph's judgement in any case or his ruling in any issue is either directly derived from the judgements of Allah and Ills Messenger, or reached through a process of Ijtihad. The Ulama stipulate that a Caliph should possess the knowledge of the Deen that would enable him to practise Ijtihad concerning new issues and cases.
The appointment of the Caliph can be reached through the following methods:
- Al-Istikhlaaf, in which case the existing Caliph appoints as his successor either a man or a group of men who will then appoint the new Caliph from their midst.
- Bai'ah(or Pledge of allegiance) given by the influential people who are in power (Ahlul- Halli wal-`Aqd) to a man who meets the conditions required of a Caliph.
- Al-Isteelaa', or what is known as Imaaratul-Mutaghallib, in which case the position of the Caliph passes on to a new man by force.
Details of these issues are to be found in books of jurisprudence and legal politics. As for the conditions which the Caliph has to meet, then Al-Mawardi has mentioned seven:
- Justice with all its comprehensive conditions.
- Knowledge that enables him to practise Ijtihad when new circumstances and cases arise.
- Sound hearing, seeing, and speaking.
- Freedom from physical disabilities.
- Sound opinion and judgement to manage the subjects' matters and conduct other services.
- Courage and readiness to protect the land of Islam and its people and to fight the enemy.
- Descent from the Qur'aish tribe, due to the Hadeeth evidence and the consensus of Muslim scholars.
Obedience to the Caliph is obligatory and is an act of obedience to Allah and His Messenger . All his commands must be obeyed, unless he calls for a transgression against the laws of Allah, in which case it becomes forbidden to obey that command.
If the Caliph commits an act of Fisq or oppression, he is not to be rebelled against unless his transgressions are repeated, in which case he should be removed from power if the `evil' of removing him is lesser than the `evil' of leaving him in office. However, this issue is the subject of heated debate among the Ulama of our Ummah.
55 If the Caliph, Allah forbid, becomes a disbeliever, then it becomes obligatory to replace him with a just Muslim ruler, even if this leads to taking up arms to do so.
The Caliph remains in office until his death, resignation or until such a time when he is unable to discharge his duties satisfactorily.
The Caliphate state is the correct implementation of Islam. It is the only political entity in which Islam can find full expression, and through which the laws of Allah can be fully established.
It is Islam, as we have said earlier, which has made it obligatory to establish the Caliphate in order to protect the faith and govern the affairs in this world. It is also Islam which has set its objectives, ideology and laws. Therefore, it is not permissible for any human being, whoever he may be, to change any of those rules; otherwise the state would become an ignorant, oppressive rule which must be removed.
The Muslim Caliphate is the ideal and only solution to the predicaments and problems from which Muslims suffer today. It is the remedy to the economic underdevelopment which led to our political dependence on an atheist East and West. It is the solution to the scientific and technological backwardness from which the so- called Muslim countries are suffering today. It is the only solution to the military weakness which left us unable to defend our lands and sanctuaries. It is the only solution to the widespread injustice and oppression between Muslims. It is the solution to the moral bankruptcy into which the Muslims have fallen, and the solution to the state of apathy and defeatism to which we have been reduced.
The Muslim Caliphate, therefore, provides a panacea for all our ills. The evidence of this is that it was only during the periods of weakness of the Caliphate that we suffered from those ills. And once the Caliphate fell those afflictions mounted and took on catastrophic and chronic dimensions. May Allah have mercy upon Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal who said, "Fitnah sets in when there is no Imam (i.e. Caliph) to manage the Muslims' affairs."
Indeed, the Caliphate is the ideal and only sure remedy to all the types of injustice, deprivation and enormous social differences from which Mankind is suffering today. Only a fifth of the world's population are enslaving and exploiting people in order to achieve affluence and form forces of oppression. The ruling regimes and prevalent ideologies in the so-called `developed' and `civilized' countries have managed to enrich themselves and boost their power and influence to the detriment of the rest of the peoples of the world.
Reality indicates the failure of all these ruling regimes, even in the most affluent and powerful countries, to work out a political, doctrinal and intellectual framework that could cast a benevolent: shadow of security over the international community, giving the less fortunate nations the chance to reach the prosperity and establish justice everywhere.
Ironically, they have established injustice and impoverished all the earth's peoples in return for their own prosperity and influence. However, when the Caliphate was in power, it managed to achieve justice and opulence in all its lands (which exceeded half the earth), without doing injustice to anyone.
The Laws governing the universe remain a stumbling-block in the face of any creed or ideology other than the religion of Islam. They serve to prevent man-made laws from realizing prosperity and establishing justice the world over, but grant this right only to the Islamic political system which implements and rules by the religion of Allah. Therefore, the Caliphate remains the only political system which can bring about prosperity, justice and security to the benefit of all societies of the world.
This is the nature of our Caliphate which fell more than 60 years ago and which we are striving hard today to revive as another objective along with the other aim of bringing people to the worship of Allah alone, in obedience to the command of Allah ( SWT ) (which means): "Establish the Religion." [Surah Ash-Shura (42), Ayah 13.]
Many people will not believe us when we say that our Caliphate will certainly return to govern the entire world. They will say that it is but an unrealistic dream or an unattainable ideal, but we will not be disheartened no matter what people say, because the Prophet made a true promise to us when he said, "Allah drew the ends of the world near one another for my sake and I have seen its eastern and western ends. The dominion of my Ummah will reach those ends which have been drawn near for me."[7]
The Prophet also said: "Prophethood will be in your midst for as long as Allah wishes it to be, and when He wishes, He will withdraw it. Then you will have a Caliphate, that follows the example of the Prophet, for as long as Allah wishes it to be, and when He wishes, He will withdraw it. Then you will have tyrannical rulers for as long as Allah wishes, and when He wishes, He will withdraw them. Then you will have rulers imposed and maintained by force for as long as Allah wishes it to be, and when He wishes, He will lift them from you."
Indeed, the Prophet spoke the truth, and we repeat his words: "Then you will have a Caliphate that follows the example of the Prophet which will fill the earth." [8]
[1] Surah Ash-Shura (42), Ayah 13.
[2] Bukhari and Muslim.
[3] Bukhari.
[4] Bukhari.
[5] Tirmidhi and Ahmad.
[6] Ibn Taymeeyah, Al-`Uboodiyyah, Al-Maktab Al-lslaami edition, p. 38.
[7] Bukhari and Muslim.
[8] Reported by Imam Ahmad.