THE OBLIGATION OF WORKING FOR THE KHILAFAH: A RESPONSE TO YASIR QADHI THE DEVIANT
The Muslim Ummah has been in dire straits for a long time now. It is suffering from immense problems of various types and varying degrees. It is essential to adopt a useful course of action that will take it out from this terrible indescribable condition, and that will be of benefit in bringing them to an overpowering level once again. If the Muslim Ummah will not adopt this plan of action, then they will not be able to come out of this condition until the day of Qiyāmah. In fact, their wounds are increasing. They face new conditions, others want to wipe them out, and turn them into a target of oppression and torture.
Therefore, it is the duty of every individual of the
Muslim Ummah to massage the wounds of the Muslims and try to their level best degree
to practice on the proposed plan of action for the upliftment of Islām. At this time, it is
binding on every Muslim to try as best as possible to make effort on the
following two points, and to spend their wealth, time, and lives for it.
The first is to turn to Allāh Ta’ālā. The first foundational point is to turn to Allāh Ta’ālā. After the khayr-ul-qurūn, i.e., the best of eras, weakness set into the faith and practice of the Muslims. Their link to the Dīn has since weakened. The teachings and rulings of the final book revealed to Sayyidunā Muḥammad Rasūlullāh ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam has been cast aside, Qur’ānic teachings have departed from the individual and collective lives of people. The divine rulings have been overlooked in worldly matters. People have taken on the ways and customs of previous nations and have drowned themselves in the acquisition of wealth and position, to the extent that they have totally forgotten the sayings of Allāh Ta’ālā and Sayyidunā Muḥammad Rasūlullāh ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam.
With
the passing of time, irreligiousness has spread and today in the third decade
of the fifteenth century, the irreligiousness and deviation of the Muslims is
so deplorable that even other nations are ashamed when they see the Muslim
Ummah.
The calamities that the Muslims face
and the disgrace and humiliation that they are living through are such that if
they want to come out of it, then the first thing they must do is turn fully to
Allāh Ta’ālā. They must return to Allāh Ta’ālā, make their faith and
practice in accordance with the teachings of the Noble Qur’ān, implement the Qur’ānic teachings and laws in
their individual and collective lives. Instead of being enamoured with the
temporary things of the world, they must prepare their provision for the
hereafter, they must give preference to the eternal life over the temporary
life, abandon the ways of others, especially the ways of the west, and adopt
the Islāmic way and
culture. Instead of leaving the new generation to tread the path of deviation,
they must acquaint them with Dīnī teachings and Islāmic thought and ideas. They
must correct the beliefs and practices of the new generation and keep them far
away from teachings steeped in irreligiousness so that they can do the deeds of
true and genuine Muslims in future and sacrifice everything to spread the Dīn and bring about the
victory of Islām.
The second foundational thing is to work hard and strive to enliven the Khilāfat. Allāh Ta’ālā has given man a system for success and prosperity. He has deputed the Ambiyā’ to present a practical example of this. They worked on the outer and inner spheres of reform of man and practically implemented this system. In the end, Allāh Ta’ālā granted the complete and perfect Dīn to Khātam-ul-Ambiyā’ Sayyidunā Muḥammad Rasūlullāh ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam so that he could reform the Arabs in the Arabian Peninsula, and other ignorant people, establish the Qur’ānic system in the whole world and present a practical example of the Dīn.
Subsequently, during his blessed life, he implemented this system in the
Arabian Peninsula. Then the Khulafā’-e-Rāshidīn continued with the practices of
Da’wat and Jihād in order to spread this around the world. For a few centuries,
a large part of the world had the Khilāfat system in place, and humanity,
including the Muslims, benefitted from its blessings.
Slowly, weakness set in the faith and
practice of the Muslims and their link to Dīn decreased. Due to this, their
system of life went into a decline and their governments and rulers
retrogressed. In the end, in the first quarter of the last century, the plots
of the enemy and the simplicity of our own led to the fall of the last Islāmic
Empire, the Ottoman Empire.
With the establishment of an Islāmic
system of Khilāfat, the collective religious and worldly lives of people would
be fully seen to. It is only a Khilāfat system that guarantees religious and
worldly success for Muslims. With the fall of the Khilāfat, a number of
religious obligations cannot be fulfilled. The Islāmic laws will remain hanging,
the Islāmic social life will become non-existent, and deviation will become
common in the society. The collective unity of the Muslims will be dispersed,
and the understanding of an Ummah will be finished off. There will be anarchy
in the Muslim areas, and this will encourage others to attack the Muslims. They
will divide the area into smaller regions, take control of them and destroy the
Muslims by killing them and waging war against them.
After the fall of the last Islāmic
Empire, the Ottoman Empire, we have been witnessing all of this until today.
Who is not aware of the condition of the Muslims? The foundational cause of the
calamities, disgrace, defeat, and slave state of the Muslim Ummah is the
absence of the Khilāfat system. As long as the Khilāfat system remained, no
matter how weak the Muslims became, they were saved from the collective lowly
state that it is currently in.
It is a farḍ obligation upon the Muslims to enliven the Islāmic system of Khilāfat, a debt upon them for the last eight decades. The obligation of enlivening the Khilāfat is established from the Noble Qur’ān and the Sunnah, and all the jurists agree upon it, i.e., it is a matter of ijmā’. From the obligation of Khilāfat itself, the obligation of making practical strides and effort for it is automatically proven. It is a foundational duty and call of the hour upon every Muslim to practically strive to enliven the Khilāfat, to spend one’s life, wealth and time for it. Like other religious and worldly matters, the enlightened path of enlivening the Khilāfat is also found in the blessed Sunnah. Sayyidunā Muḥammad Rasūlullāh ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam established an Islāmic system in the Arabian Peninsula that was first built upon polytheistic and ignorant customs. Today, in the light of the foundational principles of his method and way, a strong and rigid practical system to enliven the Khilāfat can be put together. A system that is in line with the Noble Qur’ān and Sunnah, and the needs of the time.
Sayyidunā Muḥammad Rasūlullāh ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam took his revolutionary effort to the level of perfection in five stages: Da’wat (invitation), Ta’līm and Tarbiyat (education and nurturing), Hijrat (migration), Nuṣrat (helping), and ‘Askariyyat (military). Those who make a practical effort to enliven the Khilāfat can acquire the great and lofty objective by working in the light of these five foundational revolutionary principles. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, especially after the Muslim countries have acquired independence from Britain, there have been different methods employed to implement the Islāmic system in these countries, and they continue to this day.
However, despite all
of this, until today the dream of an Islāmic system is yet to be realised. One
of the foundational reasons for this is that these methods are not fully in
line with and in accordance with the nature of Sayyidunā Muḥammad Rasūlullāh ṣallallāhu
‘alayhi wa sallam. In order to implement an Islāmic system, most groups and
institutions have adopted such principles that are in line with the democratic
system. We don’t deny the insignificant benefits of a democratic system, but it
is an accepted reality and history also bears testimony to the fact that it is
not possible to establish an Islāmic system of Khilāfat by using this way and
path. Hence, where it is obligatory to strive practically to enliven the
Khilāfat, it is essential to adopt the foundational principles of the method of
Sayyidunā Muḥammad Rasūlullāh ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam and then select the
revolutionary practical course of action, otherwise enlivening the Khilāfat will
remain a dream.
It is the duty of every Muslim to strive practically to enliven the Khilāfat, but this responsibility especially falls on the ‘Ulamā’ because they are the heirs of Sayyidunā Muḥammad Rasūlullāh ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam and his knowledge. They are the ones who have proper knowledge of the laws of the Qur’ān and Sunnah, and the principles of Khilāfat. In addition, they have knowledge of the need for the Khilāfat system, its importance, and the obligatory status of it. Hence, this great responsibility falls on them, they must understand their duty of enlivening the Khilāfat and make it the goal of their life and stand up to fulfil it. They must take on the method and Nabawī nature and tread the revolutionary path. They must sacrifice their wealth, lives, and times for this so that an Islāmic system can be established, the Shar’ī laws can be practiced, and an Islāmic society can come about, the Islāmic community can be established, they can have a headquarters, they can enjoy mutual unity and brotherhood, so that they can share in each other’s pain, they will be able to stop the oppression and torture of their Muslim brothers, free colonized lands, especially the extremism of the last six decades upon the Palestinians can stop, and freedom can come to Bayt-ul-Muqaddas.
In this way, the filthy intentions of the Jews
will not become a reality. After a long time, the Muslims will be able to
present another Sulṭān Ṣalāḥ-ud-Dīn Ayyūbī that Al-Masjid Al-Aqṣā has been waiting
for and he will go and wipe its tears. Moreover, with the establishment of an
Islāmic Khilāfat, where the entire practical Islām will come about, by means of
Da’wat and Jihād, Islām will spread. The Dīn loved and preferred by Allāh will
overpower every other religion, and rule will remain only for Allāh Ta’ālā.
Adapted & Translated from Tears of Aqsa by Mufti Abu Lubabah Shah Mansur
