Caliphate in Islam

2. The word Khilafah
(Caliphate), came from the
Arabic root word, 'Khalifah,'
which means someone who
succeeds another person. It
also means: vicegerent,
progenitor, trustee, etc.

3. God Almighty made Adam
(PBUH) His vicegerent on
earth. We read in the Holy
Qur'an: Behold! when your
Lord said to the angels, "I
will create a vicegerent on
the earth." (2:30)

4. A caliph was always
elected by populace,
who most preferably
elected educated men to
represent them.

5. People, as Plato said: "are
susceptible to deception by
subtle and selfish men." To
emphasize democracy, as
well as shading lime light
on the process of voting,

6. Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) did not groom
anyone to succeed him; he
left the matter upon Muslims
to elect democratically
whomever they liked and
trusted.

7. Muslims were free to elect
someone whom they felt
was fair, capable,
competent and able to
deliver on his promises in
serving his religion as well
as his people.

8. The state consultative
council had full rights to
depose any caliph if he
happened to commit grave
mistakes and if it was
discovered he was not
competent for the job.

9. Also once they felt that he
was corrupt and did not deal
justly with people, then they
would exercise their right to
unseat him. In brief, a caliph
was a servant of the people
he ruled and not the vice
versa.

10. The role models to
Muslims after Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) are
his four immediate rightly-guided
companions.

11. The Prophet (PBUH)
mentioned that it was
imperative for any caliph
after him to emulate him in
the way he implemented
the Islamic Law as well as
ruling Muslims.

12. All Muslims are unanimous
in their recognition that
those four rightly-guided
caliphs are the best human-beings
after prophets and
messengers.

13. They set a good example
in leadership, adherence
to the tenets of Islam,
humbleness, etc.

14. Responsibilities of a Caliph

15. The caliph, in essence, is an
authorized representative or
trustee, whose authorization
can be declared "null and
void" at any given time if he
doesn't perform well enough
and is not sincere to God .

16. Based on this fact, we
observe that the caliph is a
man like any other. His
position or rank is one of
assignment and entrustment,
not of legislature like so
many are led to believe.

17. To support this fact, is the
knowledge that, on the Day
of Judgment, every man will
be held accountable for
himself except for the
caliph; for he will be held
accountable for himself as
well as the people he ruled.

18. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH),
when describing any kingdom,
said that it would be a source
of shame and regret to its
leader except for the person
who rightly took it and served
his subjects to the best of his
ability.

19. The first four rightly-guided
companions of Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH)
emulated him in the
following aspects as well
as others with regard to
leadership:

20. 1.They paid less attention to
worldly gains, despite the
riches of the state being at
their disposal.

21. 2.They were fair and just to
all human-beings in all
aspects of legal affairs.

22. 3.They feared to commit
oppression or tyranny and
made sure whatever they
did was accurate and
proper.

23. 4.They avoided claiming
leadership and when elected,
they abhorred arrogance. It is
noteworthy that of the four
rightly-guided companions of
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
three died as victims of murder
save Abu Baker.

24. The first responsibility of a
caliph is the judicature or
administration of justice. No
one can inherit the caliphate;
suitable religious people are
the ones elected meritoriously
to that sensitive high position.

26. A caliph should be adult,
knowledgeable, clever, fully
abiding by the Islamic Law,
endowed with a strong and
effective personality as well as
being wise, and so on and so
forth.

27. It is worthy mentioning that the
Islamic prescribed consultative
council is quite different from
today's version of the parliament
in that the former consists of
members who are among the
best in their community.

28. They are elected based on
their religious integrity,
honesty, trustworthiness, etc.
They are fully respected by
virtue of the aforementioned
qualities regardless of color,
race, social status and
ethnicity.

29. Whereas, people elected to a
parliament may be cunning and
subtle enough to employ illicit
methods to be elected. When
elected, such people turn out to
be representing themselves,
their immediate family
members, and henchmen;

30. their prime aim is to satisfy their
own whims and desires, not to
mention those of their henchmen.
Media coverage, wealth, social
status, etc. may also play a big
role in getting one elected to the
parliament or any high ranking
position, regardless of true
personal worth and ability.

31. In most cases, after someone
attains high rank, he blatantly
reneges on his promises thus
revealing his true personality.
In so doing, the trust invested
in him by his constituency, is
irretrievably lost.

32. Whereas the Islamic
version of the consultative
council elects its members
based on qualities such as:
religious affiliation,
trustworthiness, honesty,
modesty, leadership skills,
etc.

33. The Islamic History is replete with
illustrious names of caliphs and
leaders who did not enjoy any
remarkable social position
amongst their respective peoples,
yet they were elevated to the lofty
position of caliphate or emirate by
virtue of their closeness to Allah
and the high degree of their
attachment to Him.

34. Neither were they elected
due to their attachment to
a sultan nor did wealth
become a deciding factor
for them to be elected as
leaders or caliphs.

35. Following are the names of the first four caliphs:
1.Abu Baker Al-Siddique (632 – 634)
2.Omar bin Al-Khattab (634 – 644)
3.Uthman bin Affan (644 – 656)
4.Ali bin Abi Talib (656 – 661)

36. The First Caliph
Abu Baker Al-Siddiq, the first
caliph in Islam and prophet
Muhammad's closest
companion, was proclaimed
chief of the community, taking
the title of Khalifa. After Prophet
Muhammad's death, the
situation in Arabia was very
confused and tense.

37. Abu Baker was faced with many
oppositions, the most stubborn of
which was rebellion in Yamama
and peoples' recantation of faith.

38. After his death, Umar bin Al-Khattab
was elected to run the affairs of
Muslims as the second caliph in
Islam. During his reign, the
Islamic influence spread all over
different parts of the world. His
caliphate lasted 10 years.

39. It is noteworthy, that after Umar
was stabbed, his physician
requested him to appoint six
prominent companions of Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) from whom
his successor would be elected.

40. That physician chose the six
companions of the prophet
because they were among a batch
of 10 companions to whom
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had
given the glad tidings of entering
the Paradise without going through
the process of accountability on
the Day of Judgment.

41. Umar's cousin was among the 10
people promised Paradise but Umar
declined to include him among the
six candidates for the caliphate
because he feared being branded as
nepotistic. His son, Abdallah, was
also among the competent people to
succeed him, but he declined to
include his name for the same
reason mentioned earlier.

42. After Umar's death, Uthman was
elected as his successor who also
ruled for approximately 10 years.
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had
earlier prophesied that Uthman
would enter paradise by virtue of
patiently persevering after
incurring a severe catastrophe.

43. The catastrophe Prophet
Muhammad alluded to was the
former being wrongly
assassinated by Muslim
extremist dissidents. Following
is the story in detail:

44. A group of Muslim extremist
dissidents took advantage of the
Hajj season when the majority of
Muslims were busy carrying out
the acts of Hajj. They laid
Uthman's house under siege.

45. When it was brought to the
attention of Muslims, who were not
performing Hajj at the time, they
hurriedly came to rescue him as
well as protecting him from any
potential danger.

46. Uthman, fresh with the memory of
the prophet's prophesy, asked
them to vacate his compound in
order to avoid any bloodshed For
he did not want to be the cause of
any unrest amongst Muslims.

47. After his compound was vacated,
assailants broke into his house
and killed him. It is crystal-clear
from the incident that Uthman
sacrificed his life to avoid
carnage amongst Muslims.

48. The fourth among the rightly-guided
caliphs was Ali bin Abi
Talib, cousin and son-in-law of
Prophet Muhammad. He was
elected unopposed to fill the gap
left behind by Uthman. He was
among the bravest men in Islam;

49. he killed many strong pagans in
duels, which were opted for. He
was well trained and accustomed
to duels ever since he was a
teenager. He was famous for his
piety and knowledge, and was a
very devout Muslim.

50. Fairness and justice were
among his feats. Once he
quarreled with a Jew who took
the case to a judge. The judge
summoned Ali and the Jew.

51. In the court house of sorts, the
judge commanded both of them
to sit down – calling Ali by his
pet-name and the Jew by his
real name. Ali protested saying,
"You have done no justice to
him, not addressing him as you
addressed me."

52. The Last Caliph was Sultan
Abdul-Hamid, the second, who
was deposed and then died a
natural death at the beginning
of the 20th Century.

53. It should be noted that the
caliphate is a huge
responsibility and thus should
not be deemed as honor.
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
said: "The leader of a people
is really their servant."

54. Being aware of the
responsibilities that the
caliphate entailed, many of
our rightly –guided ancestors
declined to take it whenever
they were elected. They put
into consideration the
following tradition of Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH):

55. " Whoever is appointed a
judge should then realize
that he has been
slaughtered but without a
knife." Of course one couldn't
be a judge if he was not a
caliph.

56. Some Youths Taking Responsibility

57. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
delegated Muadh bin Jabal to
be his vicegerent in Yemen
when the latter was only 20
years old. He also nominated
Usama bin Zaid to lead a very
great army, which undertook a
very great responsibility to go to
the

58. Levant and fight against a
Byzantium army while the latter
was only 16 years old. Being a
son of a slave, did not deter him
from taking that painstaking
responsibility so long as he met
the requirements. These two
teenagers were tasked with their
respective

59. responsibilities based on the
qualities of religiosity, deep and
sound knowledge of Islam as
well having excellent awareness
of the affairs around which their
responsibilities revolved. They
were also wise and active in
many fronts.

60. As we have seen before, the
Islamic Caliphate and
leadership in general, were not
and should not be an exclusive
monopoly for the wealthy, those
at the top echelons of the
society, those deeply attached
and affiliated to kings or those
enjoying a high family status.

61. The yardstick in electing a
leader or a caliph was and
should be according to the
following verse: "… the most
honored of you in the sight
of God is (he who is) the
most righteous of you."
(49:13)

62. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
also said: "All of you are
descendants of Adam and
Adam was created from clay.
No Arab is superior to a non-
Arab neither is a non-Arab
superior to an Arab.

63. Neither is a white man
superior to a black man nor a
black man to a white man."
(Reported by Al-Bukhari and
Muslim)

64. Thanks