Brief notes on Khilafat after Republican Period

The Republican period of Islam ended with Hazrat Ali. The Rulers of the Ummayyid and Abbasid period did not, however, adopt the title of King nor was the heriditary principle of Kingship ever fully accepted.

Although each nominated his successoi trom amongst his family members, the rule of primogeniture was not strictly adhered to. Out of the fourteen rulers of the Ummayyic

Dynasty, only four had their sons as successors. The practice was to nominate the eldest and fittest member of the royal family.

The principle of election of the Khalifa was adhered to right up to the days of the Ottomans, even though it was reduced to a mere formality.

The Ottomans, even though they had adopted the title of Sultan, preserved the idea of free election.

Each Sultan was solemnly elected by the Ulema and divines of Constantinople, who claimed to act in the capacity of representatives of the Ummah.

Thus, theocratically, at least, the broad characteristics of free election were all along maintained, till Ataturk, after the first World War, 1914-1919, abolished the institution of Khilafat.

The conclusion that emerges from the above is that election of the head of the State is the recognised principle but since he has to be a person of high qualification, the election is preceded by a preliminary selection and nomination by a recognised body of knowledgeable persons.

It is for this reason that in the early period, only the prominent companions of the Holy Prophet, who were from among the Muhajirs of Quresh, were considered suitable but this was not an essential condition, because, if that had been so, Hazrat Umar would not have taken the name of Salim, a liberated slave, in connection with this high office.

Justice Hamood Ur Rehman is thoroughly convinced that the first Islamic state as an ideological state was set up by the free will of the people in a constitutional manner.

It followed the demo­cratic principles of decision making in which every citizen had an equal right to participate and government was a trust which had to be discharged with due regard to the principles of justice, equality, liberty and fraternity enunciated in the Holy Book.

This was a unique welfare state for which no parallel can be found in the history of the world.

In this state, government was really a social service designed for evolving a polity based on social justice under whom there was no difference between even the head of the state and an ordinary citizen.

They were both equally subject to the same laws, burdened with the same obliga­tion and shared the same simple and frugal life.

The Madina state was truly Islamic in the sense that it fully reflected the pristine teachings of both the Quran and the Prophet’s Sunnah, and was as yet unburdened by later day theological accretions and specula­tions.

Effort to realize the spiritual in a human organisation, as Allama Iqbal maintains, and then it is not an end in itself, but only a means to an end.

The Right guided Caliphate was a most glorious beginning of Islamic statecraft, never excelled, or even continued, in all the centuries that followed it: but it was, for all that, beginning only.

From the moment of Abu Bakar’s succession to the moment of Ali’s death, the Islamic commonwealth was, from the structural point of view, in a permanent state of change, organically growing and developing with each successive conquest and with each new administrative experience.

Within a generation, it expanded from the confine of Arabia to an enormous dominion stretching from North Africa deep into Central Asia.

A state which in the life time of the Prophet embraced only agricultural and pastoral com­munities, with simple needs and comparatively static problems suddenly became the heir to the most complicated Byzantine and Sassanian civilizations.

At a time when almost all the energies of the government had to be directed towards military consolidation and ensuring the minimum of administrative efficiency.

New stag­gering problems were arising every day in the sphere of politics and economics. Government decisions had often to be made on the spurt of the moment and thus of necessity, many of them were purely experimental.

To stop at that first splendid experiment and to contemplate, thirteen centuries after the Right-guided Caliphs.

The organisation of an Islamic state in exactly the same forms in which their state was manifested would not be an act of true piety; it would be rather a betrayal of the companions’ creative endeavours.

They were pioneers and faith finders, and if we truly wish to emulate them, we take up their unfinished work and continue it in the same creative spirit.

In sum, system of government, based on Islamic injunctions must observe, the following thirteen principles:

(a) No one has the right to govern the nation except by its appointment and consent. The Ummah has the right and power to appointment and removal.

(b) He who takes over such a responsibility should be the most efficient.

(c) He who takes over the government should not be con­sidered better than the people of his Ummah except by his deeds and performance.

(d) The Ummah has the right to supervise the rulers, since it is the source of their power.

(e) The ruler has the right to demand support from his people as long as he is just.

(f) The ruler has the right to be well-advised by his people.

(g) The Ummah has the right to question and hold the rulers accountable for what they do. The rulers should also follow the will of the Umma.

(h) He who rules the Umma should provide his programme or plan in order that it may be aware of what he is doing.

(i) The Umma should not be ruled except by the laws that it accepts for itself. The rulers are only implementors of the will of the Umma. Liberty and sovereignty are thus the right of every individual.

(j) All people are equal before law with no difference between the powerful and the weak.

(k) All rights of all people are to be preserved irrespective of their power or weakness.

(1) Balance should be maintained between the classes of the Umma. Rights are to be taken from the rich and given to the poor without being harsh or doing injustice to either. .

(m) There should be common feeling between the rulers and the ruled regarding their responsibility towards each other and towards society, always doing their best to improve its conditions and be aware that God is watching them.

Institutions of Islamic State

The most important institution introduced was an Advisory Council or Majlis-e-Shoora to meet the Quranic injunctions of acting after consultation.

Although the members of the Shoora were chosen by the Khalifa from amongst both the Muhajirs and Ansars, the constitution of the Shoora did not change the Khalifa as the selection was based on no other consideration.

This made the Shoora a very important body, more or less, of permanent nature. It was in no way subordinates or subservient to the Khalifa. It appears that proceedings for the impeachment of the Khalifa could also be taken by the Shoora.

All matters of administration had to be placed before the Shoora which decided by a majority of votes after full discussion.

The voting was not on any party basis but each member tried to convine the other by the sheer force of his arguments supported by Quranic injunctions and Hadith.

The endeavour was always to attain unanimity which was more often than not obtained because, all acted with a sense of collective responsibility and with an open mind free from any bias or prejudice.

The Shoora in effect was also the legislature of Islam. However, no law could be framed which was opposed to the Quran and Sunnah.

In fact, no law making was possible unless approved by the Shoora. In reaching a decision, the Shoora followed the democratic method of majority vote.

The Significance of

This is the principle later developed into the doctrine of Ijma which is now unanimously accepted as one of the sources of Islamic law.

Originally, it was a referendum of the entire Muslim polity but subsequently it came to be confined to the consensus of the Juris-consults or “fuqha” after the end of the Republican era.

This was done on the pretext that once that limits of the state had spread far and wide, the Referendum of the entire polity had ceased to be a practical proposition. The learned Jurists claimed to act as representatives of the Muslim world.