Sunday, October 28, 2007


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Islam Portal
Part of a series on the Islamic Jurisprudence – a discipline of Islamic studies
A caliphate (from the Arabic خلافة or khilāfah), is the Islamic form of government representing the political unity and leadership of the Muslim world. The head of state (Caliph) has a position based on the notion of a successor to Muhammad's political authority; according to Sunnis ideally elected by the people or their representatives,

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Political

  • Political Aspects
    Caliphate
    Imamah
    Wilayat al-faqih
    Bay'ah
    Dhimmi
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    Theological
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    Military History

    Main articles: Rashidun and Muslim conquests Rashidun

    Main article: Umayyad Umayyads, 7th-8th century

    Main article: Caliph of Córdoba The Caliphate in Spain

    Main article: Abbasid Abbasids, 8th-13th century
    1258 saw the conquest of Baghdad and the execution of Abbasid caliph al-Musta'sim by Mongol forces under Hulagu Khan. A surviving member of the Abbasid House was installed as Caliph at Cairo under the patronage of the Mamluk Sultanate three years later; however, the authority of this line of Caliphs was confined to ceremonial and religious matters, and later Muslim historians referred to it as a "shadow" Caliphate.

    Shadow Caliphate, 13th century

    Main article: Ottoman Caliphate Ottomans, 15th-20th century

    Main article: Khilafat Movement Khilafat Movement, 1920
    Further information: Atatürk's Reforms
    On March 3, 1924, the first President of the Turkish Republic, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, as part of his reforms, constitutionally abolished the institution of the Caliphate. Its powers within Turkey were transferred to the Turkish Grand National Assembly (parliament) of the newly formed Turkish Republic and the title has since been inactive. Though the Turkish Republic still retains the right to reinstate the Caliphate, it currently seems improbable that it will ever choose to do so.
    Scattered attempts to revive the Caliphate elsewhere in the Muslim World were made in the years immediately following its abandonment by Turkey, but none were successful. Hussein bin Ali, a former Ottoman governor of the Hejaz who aided the British during World War I and revolted against Istanbul, declared himself Caliph two days after Turkey relinquished the title. But his claim was largely ignored, and he was soon ousted and driven out of Arabia by the Saudis, a rival clan that had no interest in the Caliphate. The last Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI made a similar attempt to re-establish himself as Caliph in the Hejaz after leaving Turkey, but he was also unsuccessful. A summit was convened at Cairo in 1926 to discuss the revival of the Caliphate, but most Muslim countries did not participate and no action was taken to implement the summit's resolutions.
    Though the title Ameer al-Mumineen was adopted by the King of Morocco and Mullah Mohammed Omar, former head of the now-defunct Taliban regime of Afghanistan, neither claimed any legal standing or authority over Muslims outside the borders of their respective countries. The closest thing to a Caliphate in existence today is the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), an international organization with limited influence founded in 1969 consisting of the governments of most Muslim-majority countries.

    End of Caliphate, 1924
    Once the subject of intense conflict and rivalry amongst Muslim rulers, the caliphate has lain dormant and largely unclaimed since the 1920s. In recent years though, interest among Muslims in international unity and the Caliphate has grown. For many ordinary Muslims the caliph as leader of the community of believers, "is cherished both as memory and ideal", though "not an urgent concern" compared to issues such as Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
    Tight restrictions on political activity in many Muslim countries, coupled with the obstacles to uniting over 50 nation-states under a single institution, have prevented efforts to revive the caliphate. Popular apolitical Islamic movements such as the Tablighi Jamaat identify a lack of spirituality and decline in personal religious observance as the root cause of the Muslim world's problems, and claim that the caliphate cannot be successfully revived until these deficiencies are addressed. No attempts at rebuilding a power structure based on Islam were successful anywhere in the Muslim World until the Iranian Revolution in 1979, which was based on Shia principles and whose leaders did not outwardly call for the restoration of a global Caliphate.

    Reestablishment
    A number of Islamist political parties and Islamist guerrilla groups have called for the restoration of the caliphate by uniting Muslim nations, either through peaceful political action (e.g., Hizb ut-Tahrir) or through force (e.g., al-Qaeda).

    Islamist call
    United States President George W. Bush has warned repeatedly in speeches on the War on Terror that the Caliphate is at the heart of radical Islamic ideology. President Bush has said Iraq is a pivotal battleground in a larger conflict between advocates of freedom and radical Islamists.
    Bush said that Al Qaeda terrorists and those that share their ideology
    "hope to establish a violent political utopia across the Middle East, which they call caliphate, where all would be ruled according to their hateful ideology...This caliphate would be a totalitarian Islamic empire encompassing all current and former Muslim lands, stretching from Europe to North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia."

    Position of George W. Bush

    Political system
    Fred M. Donner, in his book The Early Islamic Conquests (1981), argues that the standard Arabian practice during the early Caliphates was for the prominent men of a kinship group, or tribe, to gather after a leader's death and elect a leader from amongst themselves, although there was no specified procedure for this shura, or consultative assembly. Candidates were usually from the same lineage as the deceased leader, but they were not necessarily his sons. Capable men who would lead well were preferred over an ineffectual direct heir, as there was no basis in the majority Sunni view that the head of state or governor should be chosen based on lineage alone.
    This argument is advanced by Sunni Muslims, who believe that Muhammad's companion Abu Bakr was elected by the community and that this was the proper procedure. They further argue that a caliph is ideally chosen by election or community consensus, even though the caliphate soon became a hereditary office, or the prize of the strongest general.
    Al-Mawardi has written that the caliph should be Qurayshi. Abu Bakr Al-Baqillani has said that the leader of the Muslims simply should be from the majority. Abu Hanifa also wrote that the leader must come from the majority against Ali and that the 3 caliphs before ˤAlī were usurpers. ˤAlī and his descendents are believed to have been the only proper leaders, or imams regardless of Democracy and what the majority wanted, in the Shia's point of view. This matter is covered in much greater detail in the article Succession to Muhammad, and in the article on Shi'a Islam, although it is worth mentioning that ˤAlī himself did not rebel against the majority choosing Abu Bakr though he may have disagreed. Some shia's argue that in the absence of a Caliphate headed by their Imams, the system termed Vilayat-e Faqih suffices.
    Contrary to the Shia, Sunni Muslims believe that the caliph has always been a merely temporal political ruler, appointed to rule within the bounds of Islamic law (Shariah), and not necessarily the most qualified in Islamic law. The job of adjudicating orthodoxy and Islamic law (Shariah) was left to Islamic lawyers, judiciary, or specialists individually termed as Mujtahids and collectively named the Ulema. The first four caliphs are called the Rashidun meaning the Rightly Guided Caliphs, because they are believed to have followed the Qur'an and the sunnah (example) of Muhammad in all things.

    Electing or appointing a Caliph

    Main article: Shura Majlis al-Shura: Parliament
    Sunni Islamic lawyers have commented on when it is permissible to disobey, impeach or remove rulers in the Caliphate. This is usually when the rulers are not meeting public responsibilities obliged upon them under Islam.
    Al-Mawardi said that if the rulers meet their Islamic responsibilities to the public, the people must obey their laws, but if they become either unjust or severely ineffective then the Caliph or ruler must be impeached via the Majlis al-Shura. Similarly Al-Baghdadi believed that if the rulers do not uphold justice, the ummah via the majlis should give warning to them, and if unheeded then the Caliph can be impeached. Al-Juwayni argued that Islam is the goal of the ummah, so any ruler that deviates from this goal must be impeached. Al-Ghazali believed that oppression by a caliph is enough for impeachment. Rather than just relying on impeachment, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani obliged rebellion upon the people if the caliph began to act with no regard for Islamic law. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani said that to ignore such a situation is haraam, and those who cannot revolt inside the caliphate should launch a struggle from outside. Al-Asqalani used two ayahs from the Quran to justify this:
    "...And they (the sinners on qiyama) will say, 'Our Lord! We obeyed our leaders and our chiefs, and they misled us from the right path. Our Lord! Give them (the leaders) double the punishment you give us and curse them with a very great curse'...".

    Accountability of rulers
    The following hadith establishes the principle of rule of law in relation to nepotism and accountability
    Narrated 'Aisha: The people of Quraish worried about the lady from Bani Makhzum who had committed theft. They asked, "Who will intercede for her with Allah's Apostle?" Some said, "No one dare to do so except Usama bin Zaid the beloved one to Allah's Apostle." When Usama spoke about that to Allah's Apostle Allah's Apostle said: "Do you try to intercede for somebody in a case connected with Allah's Prescribed Punishments?" Then he got up and delivered a sermon saying, "What destroyed the nations preceding you, was that if a noble amongst them stole, they would forgive him, and if a poor person amongst them stole, they would inflict Allah's Legal punishment on him. By Allah, if Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad (my daughter) stole, I would cut off her hand.
    Various Islamic lawyers do however place multiple conditions, and stipulations e.g the poor cannot be penalised for stealing out of poverty, before executing such a law, making it very difficult to reach such a stage. It is well known during a time of drought in the Rashidun caliphate period, capital punishments were suspended until the effects of the drought passed.

    Rule of Law

    Main article: Islamic economics Economy and Banking
    The land that the Caliphate was at war with was referred to as Dar al-Harb (Arabic: دار الحرب "land of war") , and only the Caliph could declare war for Muslims if it was considered a just war, or Jihad. Only a Caliph, or one of the provincial governors in a caliphate, can declare an offensive jihad, in order to allow Islam to be practiced in foreign land, to stop persecution, or to protect the interests of Muslims there.

    Foreign policy and Jihad

    Main article: List of caliphs Further reading

    Primary Islamic evidence
    To Govern by Islam in the Quran
    Some Sunnis argue that to govern a state by Islamic law (Shariah) is, by definition, to rule via the Caliphate, and use the following verses to sustain their claim.
    "So govern between the people by that which God has revealed (Islam), and follow not their vain desires, beware of them in case they seduce you from just some part of that which God has revealed to you"

    The Quran
    It is reported that Abu Huraira narrated that Muhammad said;
    "Beware! every one of you is a shepherd and every one is answerable with regards to his flock. The Caliph is a shepherd over the people and shall be questioned about his subjects (as to how he conducted their affairs). A man is a guardian over the members of his family and shall be questioned about them (as to how he looked after their physical and moral well-being). A woman is a guardian over the household of her husband and his children and shall be questioned about them (as to how she managed the household and brought up the children)..."
    Nafi'a reported saying:
    Umar said to me that he heard [Muhammad] saying: Whoever takes away his hand from allegiance to God will meet Him on the Day of Resurrection without having any proof for him, and whoever dies whilst there was no baya'a on his neck (to a Caliph), he dies a death in the days of ignorance (Jahilliya).
    Hisham ibn Urwa reported on the authority of Abu Saleh on the authority of Abu Hurairah that Muhammad said:
    Leaders will take charge of you after me, where the pious (one) will lead you with his piety and the impious (one) with his impiety, so only listen to them and obey them in everything which conforms with the truth (Islam). If they act rightly it is for your credit, and if they acted wrongly it is counted for you and against them.
    Muslim narrated on the authority of al-A'araj, on the authority of Abu Hurairah, that Muhammad said:
    Behold, the Imam (Caliph) is but a shield from behind whom the people fight and by whom they defend themselves.
    Muslim reported on the authority of Abu Hazim, who said,
    I accompanied Abu Hurairah for five years and heard him talking of Muhammad's saying: The Prophets ruled over the children of Israel, whenever a Prophet died another Prophet succeeded him, but there will be no Prophet after me. There will be Khalifahs and they will number many. They asked: What then do you order us? He said: Fulfil the baya'a to them one after the other and give them their due. Surely God will ask them about what He entrusted them with.
    Ibn 'Abbas narrated that Muhammad said,
    If anyone sees in his Emir something that displeases him let him remain patient, for behold, he who separates himself from the sultan (authority of Islam) by even so much as a hand span and dies thereupon, has died a death of the days of ignorance (jahilliyah).
    Muslim reported that Muhammad said,
    "Whoever pledged allegiance to a leader (Caliph) giving him the clasp of his hand and the fruit of his heart shall obey him as long as he can, and if another comes to dispute his authority (cause division of the nation) you have to strike the neck of that man.
    Imam Ahmed reported on the authority of Abdullah Ibnu Amru that Muhammad said in a Sahih narration,
    It is forbiden even for three persons to be together in a place without appointing one of them as their Emir.

    Sayings of Muhammad
    All of Muhammad's disciples agreed (Ijma as-Sahaba) upon the necessity to establish a successor (Caliph) to the his political authority after his death, and they all eventually accepted Abu Bakr, then Umar, Uthman, and Ali after the death of each one of them.
    This consensus manifested itself emphatically when they delayed the burial of Muhammad after his death whilst engaged in appointing a successor to him, despite the speedy burial of the dead being an Islamic obligation (Fard). Sunni lawyers argued this would not be legitimate unless the Caliphate was a higher obligation (Fard) than the burial of the dead, especially for such a man of importance such as their prophet.
    Although they disagreed upon the person to elect as a Caliph, they never disagreed upon the need for appointment.
    Al-Habbab Ibn ul-Munthir said when the Sahaba met in the wake of the death of Muhammad at the Saqifah hall:
    "Let there be one Amir from us and one Amir from you (meaning one from the Ansar and one from the Mohajireen)".
    Upon this Abu Bakr replied:
    "It is forbidden for Muslims to have two Amirs (rulers)..."
    Then he got up and addressed the Muslims.

    The consensus of the Sahaba (Companions)
    Al-Mawardi says::
    There is consensus that appointing a Caliph is obligatory. The difference of opinion is on whether the appointment must be by Allah or by his servants, and whether the basis (for appointment) is textual evidence or rational proof. The adoption is that it is obligatory upon the servants by textual evidence because of the saying of the Messenger, "Whoever dies not having known the Imam of his time, dies the death of the days of ignorance." Also, the Ummah agreed that this was the most important duty following the death of the Messenger, so important in fact that they considered it more important than the matter of his burial, and so also has it been after the death of each Imam.

    See also

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