Establishing the Islamic State is a duty upon all Muslims

Allama Shaikh Taqiuddin An-Nabhani Rahimullah

The structure of the Islamic State is based on seven pillars which are the Khaleefah, the Assistants, the Walis, the Judges, the Administrative system, the Armed Forces and the Council of Ummah. The structure of the State would be complete if these seven elements were in place; if any of these elements were absent the structure would be incomplete, though the State would still remain Islamic, and any defect or shortage would not upset its status as long as the Khaleefah remained viable, since it is he who is the foundation of the State. As for the principles of the ruling system in the Islamic State, there are four:

1. The appointment of one Khaleefah.

2. The authority belongs to the Ummah.

3. The sovereignty belongs to the Shari’ah.

4. The Khaleefah alone reserves the right to adopt the Shari’ah rules, i.e. to enact them as laws.

If any of these principles were to be missing, the ruling system would become non-Islamic, therefore these four principles must be enforced. The basis of the Islamic State is the Khaleefah and anyone other than him is a deputy to him or an advisor for him; the Islamic State is a Khaleefah implementing Islam and the office of Khilafah or Imamah is to have full disposal over the affairs of the Muslims. It is not part of the doctrines (‘aqaid) of Islam, but part of the Shari’ah rules because it is part of the branches related to the humans’ actions.

The appointment of the Khaleefah is an obligation upon the Muslims, they are forbidden from spending more than two nights without giving a bay’ah to him. If the Muslims did not appoint a Khaleefah within three days they would all be sinful until they had appointed a Khaleefah. The sin would not fall until they had exhausted all their efforts to appoint a Khaleefah and continued to endeavour to appoint him. The obligation of appointing a Khaleefah has been confirmed by the Sunnah and the general consensus of the Sahabah. As for the Sunnah, the Messenger of Allah (saw) said, "He who died not knowing the Imam of his time has died a death of jahiliyyah (days of ignorance)."Ahmed and al-Tabarani extracted from the hadith of Mu’awiyah the following: The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, "Whoso dies while there was no bay’ah on his neck dies a death of jahiliyyah." Muslim reported in his Sahih on the authority of Ibn ‘Umar that he said, I heard the Messenger of Allah (saw) say, "Whoso takes off his hand from allegiance to Allah will meet Him on the Day of Resurrection without having any proof for him, and whoso dies while there was no bay’ah on his neck dies a death of jahiliyyah." Hisham reported on the authority of ‘Urwa, who reported on the authority of Abu Salih, who reported on the authority of Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said, "Leaders will take charge of you after me, where the pious one will lead with his piety and the impious with his impiety, so listen to them and obey them in everything which conforms with the truth. If they acted rightly it is to your credit, and if they acted wrongly it is counted for you and against them." As for the Ijma’ of the Sahabah, they made the appointment of a Khaleefah their top priority in the wake of the departure of the Messenger of Allah (saw); this is according to that which has been narrated in the two Sahihs about the events in the hall of Banu Sa’idah and also in the wake of the death of each subsequent Khaleefah. The general consensus of the Sahabah concerning the obligation of appointing a Khaleefah has been transmitted by way of khabar mutawatir (continuous report), the Sahabah agreed that it was the most important of all obligations. This is considered to be a conclusive evidence. It has also been confirmed by means of tawatur that the Ummah should at no time remain without a Khaleefah. It is obligatory on the whole Ummah to appoint a Khaleefah, i.e. to establish him in office to govern her affairs. The command is addressed to the entire Ummah; this took effect from the moment of his (saw) departure and will continue to the Day of Judgment.

The extent of the inevitable obligation to establish the Khaleefah and the extent of awareness about this obligation among the Sahabah, is clearly reflected in the actions which they performed at the time. They delayed the burial of the Messenger of Allah (saw) until a Khaleefah had been given the bay’ah to head the State. It is also reflected clearly in the action of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab - in the wake of his stabbing whilst the aagony of death neared - when the Muslims asked him to nominate a successor. At first he refused, when they persisted he nominated six candidates from which a Khaleefah was to be elected. He also set a deadline of three days for the six to reach an agreement. He gave instructions stating that in the case of the six not coming to an agreement within the three days, the one who opposed the decision should be killed. Indeed he ordered the killing of the one who sat in opposition despite the fact that the six were all people of Shura and senior Sahabah. The six were in fact ‘Ali, ‘Uthman, ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Auf, al-Zubayr ibn al-’Awwam, Talhah ibn ‘Ubaydullah and Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas. That one of these Sahabah could have been killed, should they have been unable to reach an agreement concerning the election of a Khaleefah, serves as a clear evidence that the appointment of a Khaleefah is compulsory.

Besides, numerous Shari’ah duties depend on the presence of the Khaleefah; such as the implementation of rules, the execution of the penal code, guarding the frontiers, training and equipping the Armed Forces, settling disputes and keeping law and order, in addition to looking after other matters and transactions which take place between individuals. Thus the appointment of a Khaleefah is compulsory.

Seeking the post of Khaleefah and competing for it is not undesirable, the Sahabah competed for the post in the saqeefah and the people of shura also competed for the office. Nobody condemned or disowned this action, on the contrary, the general consensus of the Sahabah regarding the competition for the post of Khaleefah, is clearly established, confirming that it is lawful and acceptable.

Muslims are forbidden from appointing more than one Khaleefah; Muslim reported on the authority of Abu Sa’id al-Khudry that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said, "If a bay’ah has been taken for two Khulafa’, kill the latter of them." In another hadith, he (saw) is reported to have said, "Whoso pledged allegiance to an Imam 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 with him you must strike the neck of that man." In another narration, the wording was as follows, "...strike him with the sword whoever he may be." The command to kill the other one would come into effect if he did not comply and retreat. If a group of people, who met all the requirements necessary for the post of Khilafah, were given the bay’ah then it would be the one with the majority of votes who would become Khaleefah - whoever opposed the majority would subsequently be considered a rebel. This would apply if the nominees were gathered together in person, but if the Khilafah had been contracted to one man who fulfilled the requirements of the Khilafah and the majority of the Muslims gave their bay’ah to another, then the first man should become Khaleefah and the second man should be turned down.

The requirements for the Khilafah office are Islam, manhood, maturity, sanity and justice, i.e. the candidate should be Muslim, male, mature, sane and just. As for the condition of being a Muslim, this follows because of Allah’s saying,

"Allah will not allow the Disbelievers to have a way (an authority) over the Believers " [TMQ 4:141]

As for the condition that the Khaleefah must be a man, it is derived from the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (saw) when he said, "How could a folk be successful if they are headed by a woman?" The conditions of maturity and sanity must be met because the insane and the minor need tutors and guardians to look after their welfare, therefore if one cannot rule one’s own affairs, evidently he is unable to run other people’s. As for justice, this must be fulfilled because the duty of the Khaleefah is to implement the rules of the deen, and if he could not implement them upon himself then he could not be trusted to implement them upon others - for one cannot give what one does not possess. Justice has been made a condition which the Khaleefah must fulfill because if he were fasiq then he would be unfit for the Khilafah and he could not remain in office. Trustworthy is a condition laid down in the contract and it must be observed throughout. These are the set conditions for the post of Khaleefah, as for the other conditions which the scholars have mentioned, such as bravery, knowledge and belonging to Quraysh or a descendant of Fatima among others, these are not necessary conditions for the contracting of the Khilafah and none of the evidences put forward to back such claims have proven to be reliable and therefore cannot be considered as conditions. Every male Muslim who is mature, sane, trustworthy, free and able is fit to be given the bay’ah by the other Muslims in order to become their Khaleefah and no other conditions are needed nor should be laid down.

Re-establishing the Islamic State, therefore, is a duty upon all the Muslims because this has been confirmed by the Sunnah and the general consensus of the Sahabah. Because the Muslims have submitted to the influence of Kufr over their land and the rules of Kufr are implemented on them, their homeland, which in the past had been an Islamic homeland, has become a Kufr homeland; in other words their citizenship has become non-Islamic even though their land is Islamic. It is obligatory upon them to live in an Islamic homeland and to have an Islamic citizenship, yet they cannot achieve this unless they establish an Islamic State. Thus the Muslims would remain sinful until they began to work towards re-establishing the Islamic State so that they could give their bay’ah to a Khaleefah who would implement Islam and carry its Message to the world.

Excerpt from "Dawlatul Islamiyyah," Taqiuddin An-Nabhani - Al-Khilafah Publications.

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