100 years after the fall of the last caliphate, the Chairman of Executive Committee of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, Dr Abdul Wahid sits down with Salman for a very special podcast to discuss all things Khilafah.
They speak about its historical context and what caused it to be abolished, did the Muslim ummah get too big for one leader, how would a Khilafah operate today in the global digital age and much, much more.
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Source: www.islam21c.com
The caliphate ended with Selim I capturing the caliph of the Muslims and his death in 1543 (950 AH) in Istanbul. The caliphate ended 480 years ago, i.e. 494 Hijri years!
In Dr. Uthman Lateef’s khilafah series, he mentioned that it is a ‘human’ project. The key word is ‘human’ as the khilafah is not a system to be implemented on angels by angels. In fact, when Allah Ta’ala mentions in Surah al-Baqarah that He will place on Earth a khaleefah, the initial response of the angels showed that they believed that placing humans on Earth would cause bloodshed. Muslim scholars have discussed how they could know this and some have suggested that it could have come from their experience of dealing with the jinn, who they, the angels, fought wars against.
Also, in Surah al-Hujurat ayah 9, Allah Ta’ala talks about two groups among the believers fighting, so it is clear from the beginning that fighting and bloodshed among humans and even believers is to be expected.
The companions of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) are the best group of people after the prophets. They are the best examples of how fallible humans dealt with an imperfect world. I’ve mentioned this before but the trouble between Ali (ra) and Muawiyah (ra) is a perfect example of how we should deal with our current conflicts. They were both ‘believing’ groups but Ali (ra) showed us that as he was the one who was not of the transgressing group then it was correct for him to continue on his path regardless of all the people opposing him. Muwaiyah’s (ra) harsh response to a Roman general who sought to use the discord between them to cause further division showed us that despite having disagreements with your fellow Muslims you must NEVER ally with those who disbelieve in Allah and His final messenger against your brothers in Islam.
Ultimately, Allah Ta’ala created death and life to test which of us would be best in deed (Qur’an 67:2) and we were never promised paradise on Earth. Rather, our response to the trials and difficulties on Earth is a means for us to achieve the paradise that we have been promised: the paradise of the Hereafter.
If the Rashidun Khalif’s reign were the ‘Gold standard’, how does anyone explain the multiple civil wars, clan infighting and assassination of 3 of the 4 Kaliph of that period? That seems far away from a gold standard to aspire to.