The caliph in origin, has all executive power invested in him, similar to the US President. Article II of the US constitution states, “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” This doesn’t make the caliph an absolute monarch or dictator, in the same way it doesn’t make the US president an absolute monarch or dictator, because both posts are restricted by other branches of government namely the legislative branch which is ultimately sovereign.
In an Islamic state the legislative branch is the sharia, which binds the caliph, limits his powers and prevents him from overstepping the law. This is primarily achieved through binding the caliph to a constitution when he is given the bay’a on taking office. This is continuously enforced through institutional mechanisms such as the Supreme Court, Majlis al-Nuwaab (House of Representatives) and the Dar al-‘Adl (House of Justice) fulfilling the function of an upper house.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
لا تُحْرِجُوا أُمَّتِي ثَلاثَ مَرَّاتٍ ، اللَّهُمَّ مَنْ أَمَرَ أُمَّتِي بِمَا لَمْ تَأْمُرْهُمْ بِهِ ، أَوْ آمُرْهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ مِنْهُ فِي حِلٍّ
“Do not oppress or bring difficulty upon my Ummah (he repeated that three times). O Allah, whoever commands my Ummah with that which they have not been commanded with, then they are absolved from him.”[1]
Mohammad Al-Mass’ari comments[2] on this hadith, “It is therefore not permissible for the ruler to impose upon the Ummah a law which has not been deduced by a correct Shar’i deduction, let alone a law that is from man’s production. Similarly, it is prohibited upon the Ummah to obey him in that. This is in addition to other restrictions and conditions related to the obedience to the ruler which have been detailed in our book “The obedience to the Uli l-Amr (rulers): Its limits and restrictions”.
All of this clearly indicates that the siyadah (sovereignty) belongs to the shar’a. Otherwise, it would have been permissible for the ruler to impose laws from other than the Shar’a and compel the Ummah to obey him, due to the generality of the evidences mentioning the obligation of obedience. However, Islam prohibited Muslims to obey the ruler if he commanded them with a ma’siyah (sin), or what is worse than that, in the case where he was to make the Halal Haram, and the Haram Halal. It has been established and indeed by Tawatur (concurrent reports) establishing decisive definite knowledge, in respect to the Muslim and disbeliever, equally, that he ﷺ said:
لاَ طَاعَةَ فِي مَعْصِيَةٍ، إِنَّمَا الطَّاعَةُ فِي الْمَعْرُوفِ
“There is no obedience to anyone if it is disobedience to Allah. Verily, obedience is only in good conduct.”[3]
This separation of powers in Islam was also recognized by orientalists and modern academics who have studied Islamic history.
C.A. Nallino (d.1938) an Italian orientalist and Professor of The History and Institutions of Islam, at The Royal University of Rome in 1919, wrote “While these universal Monarchs [caliphs] of Islam possessed, like any other Mussulman [Muslim] sovereign, limitless executive and judicial powers, they were destitute of legislative powers; legislation in the proper sense of the word could be nothing less than the divine law itself, the sceria [sharia], of which the only interpreters are the ulama or doctors.”[4]
Another orientalist Thomas Arnold (d.1930) a Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at SOAS in London wrote: “The law being thus of divine origin demanded the obedience even of the Caliph himself, and theoretically at least the administration of the state was supposed to be brought into harmony with the dictates of the sacred law. It is true that by theory the Caliph could be a mujtahid, that is an authority on law, but the legal decisions of a mujtahid are limited to interpretation of the law in its application to such particular problems as may from time to time arise, and he is thus in no sense a creator of new legislation.”[5]
Wael Hallaq says, “The ruler himself was also expected to observe not only his own code but, more importantly, the law of the Sharīʿa. As a private person, he remained, like any common Sharīʿa subject, liable to any civil claim, including debts, contracts, and pecuniary damages. Likewise, he was punishable for infractions of the Sharʿī penal laws and Qurʾānic ḥudūd —the reasoning in all these domains being grounded in the assumption that all Muslims, weak or strong, are equal in their rights to life and property and in their obligations toward one another. In the Sharīʿa, the sultan and his men enjoyed no special immunity.”[6]
Does the title “caliph” imply sovereignty?
The title caliph (khaleefah خليفة) literally means successor or deputy, but who is the caliph a successor or deputy to? Is he a deputy to Allah or the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ? In what capacity is he a deputy, because on the surface this seems to imply some type of divine right as was espoused by the Christian kings of medieval Europe?
Caliph of the Messenger ﷺ
This first caliph in Islam is Abu Bakr as-Siddiq who took the title caliph of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ (خليفة رسول الله) or simply caliph (خليفة). Al-Mawardi says, “He is called the khaleefah (successor) as he stands in for the Messenger of Allah at the head of his Ummah and so it is permitted for someone to say, ‘Oh, Khaleefah of the Messenger of Allah!’ or for someone to say, ‘Khaleefah,’ on its own.”[7]
Ibn Khaldun says, “We have explained the real meaning of the (khilafah). It is a substitute for Muḥammad inasmuch as it serves, like him, to preserve the religion and to exercise (political) leadership of the world. (The institution) is called ‘the khilafah’ or ‘the imamate’. The person in charge of it is called ‘the khaleefah’ or ‘the imam’.”[8]
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was a ruler-prophet like Dawud and Sulayman (peace be upon them) before him. Prophethood has now ended, but ruling by the law (sharia) that the Prophet ﷺ brought continues. He ﷺ said,
كَانَتْ بَنُو إِسْرَائِيلَ تَسُوسُهُمُ الأَنْبِيَاءُ كُلَّمَا هَلَكَ نَبِيٌّ خَلَفَهُ نَبِيٌّ وَإِنَّهُ لاَ نَبِيَّ بَعْدِي وَسَتَكُونُ خُلَفَاءُ فَتَكْثُرُ قَالُوا فَمَا تَأْمُرُنَا قَالَ فُوا بِبَيْعَةِ الأَوَّلِ فَالأَوَّلِ وَأَعْطُوهُمْ حَقَّهُمْ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ سَائِلُهُمْ عَمَّا اسْتَرْعَاهُمْ
“The prophets ruled over the children of Israel, whenever a prophet died another prophet succeeded him, but there will be no prophet after me. There will soon be Khulafaa’ and they will number many.” They asked, “What then do you order us?” He said, “Fulfil the bay’a to them, one after the other, and give them their dues for Allah will verily account them about what he entrusted them with.”[9]
Therefore, the caliphs are successors to the Prophet ﷺ in ruling only and not prophethood, i.e. the caliph is not sovereign.
Ibn Khaldun says, “Political laws consider only worldly interests. On the other hand, the intention the Lawgiver has concerning mankind is their welfare in the other world. Therefore, it is necessary, as required by the religious law, to cause the masses to act in accordance with the religious laws in all their affairs touching both this world and the other world. The authority to do so was possessed by the representatives of the religious law, the prophets; then by those who took their place, the caliphs.”[10]
Caliph of Allah
During the Umayyad period some of the caliphs took the title caliph of Allah (خليفة الله) instead of caliph of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. This continued during the Abbasid and Ottoman periods. Two modern orientalists Patricia Crone and Martin Hinds focused much attention on this title and wrote an entire book called ‘God’s Caliph’, implying that the ‘divine right of kings’ which existed in Europe under Christianity also applied to the early caliphate, with the caliphate being a theocracy, and the caliph a legislator i.e. sovereign. They say, “In short, the ultimate source of caliphal law was divine inspiration: being the deputy of God on earth. the caliph was deemed to dispense the guidance of God Himself.”[11]
While the title “Caliph of Allah” was controversial in some circles,[12] the use of the title never implied divinity or that the caliph was sovereign. It simply meant that the caliph as head of the Islamic State would implement the law of sharia and look after the affairs of people according to this law. Ibn Khaldun says, “Allah made the caliph his substitute to handle the affairs of His servants. He is to make them do the things that are good for them and forbid them to do those that are harmful.”[13]
This is based on the famous verse of the Holy Qur’an where Allah ta’ala says,
وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ إِنِّى جَاعِلٌۭ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةًۭ ۖ قَالُوٓا۟ أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَن يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ ٱلدِّمَآءَ وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ ۖ قَالَ إِنِّىٓ أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
When your Lord said to the angels, ‘I am putting a caliph on the earth,’ they said, ‘Why put on it one who will cause corruption on it and shed blood when we glorify You with praise and proclaim Your purity?’ He said, ‘I know what you do not know.’[14]
Sayyid Qutb comments on this verse, “Allah, in His infinite wisdom, decided to hand over the earth’s affairs and destiny to man and give him a free hand to use, develop and transform all its energies and resources for the fulfilment of Allah’s will and purpose in creation, and to carry out the pre-eminent mission with which he was charged. It may be assumed, then, that man has been given the capability to take on that responsibility, and the necessary latent skills and energies to fulfil Allah’s purpose on earth. It may, therefore, be concluded that a perfect harmony exists between those laws that govern the earth and the universe, and those governing man’s powers and abilities. The aim of this harmony is to eliminate and avoid conflict and collision, and to save man’s energies from being overwhelmed by the formidable forces of nature.”[15]
Al-Qurtubi says, “This āyah is sound evidence for having a leader and a caliph who is obeyed so that he will be a focus for the cohesion of society and the rulings of the caliphate will carried out.”[16] He also says, “Khalīfah (caliph) has the form of an active participle (fa’il), meaning ‘the one who replaced the angels before him on the earth’, or other than the angels, according to what has been reported. It is also possible that it is in the passive mode (maf’ul), in which case it means someone who is sent as a representative.”[17]
Notes
[1] Al-Tabarani, 826, https://hadith.islam-db.com/single-book/480/%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%86%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A/0/826
[2] Mohammad Al-Mass’ari, Al-Haakimiyah Wa Siyaadat ush-Shar’i
[3] Muttafaqun Alayhi (agreed upon). Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 7257 https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7257; Saḥīḥ Muslim 1840 https://sunnah.com/muslim:1840a
[4] C.A. Nallino, ‘Notes on the nature of the caliphate in general and on the alleged Ottoman Caliphate,’ a translation of ‘Appunti sulla natura del Califfato in genere e sul presunto Califfato Otttomano,’ Printed at the press of the foreign office, Rome 1919, p.7
[5] Thomas W. Arnold, ‘The Caliphate,’ p.53
[6] Wael B. Hallaq, ‘The Impossible State: Islam, Politics, and Modernity’s Moral Predicament,’ Columbia University Press, p.68
[7] Abu l-Hasan al-Mawardi, The Laws of Islamic Governance, translation of Al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyah, Ta Ha Publishers, p.27
[8] Ibn Khaldun, ‘The Muqaddimah – An Introduction to History,’ Translated by Franz Rosenthal, Princeton Classics, p.253
[9] Sahih Muslim 1842a, https://sunnah.com/muslim:1842a ; sahih Bukhari 3455, https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3455
[10] Ibn Khaldun, ‘The Muqaddimah – An Introduction to History,’ Translated by Franz Rosenthal, Princeton Classics, p.252
[11] Patricia Crone, Martin Hinds, ‘God’s Caliph: Religious authority in the first centuries of Islam,’ Cambridge University Press, 1986, p.56
[12] Abu l-Hasan al-Mawardi, Op.cit., p.27
[13] Ibn Khaldun, Op.cit., p.258
[14] Holy Qur’an, Surah Al-Baqara, ayah 30
[15] Sayyid Qutb, ‘In the Shade of the Qur’an,’ translation of Fi zilal al-Quran, Vol.1, p.50
[16] Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī, translated by Aisha Bewley, Vol.1, p.148
Islamic Civilization 