Author: islamciv

Bay’a in Islamic History – The Electoral Council to appoint Uthman

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This is an extract from the article Part 1: Bay’a in Islamic History – The Rightly Guided Khilafah When Umar ibn Al-Khattab was stabbed and his death was imminent, the Ahlul hali wal-aqd came and asked him to nominate a successor as Abu Bakr had done for him. Umar couldn’t come to a decision so he appointed a council of six candidates who were all from the 10 promised jannah to meet after his death and appoint a Khaleefah. Umar summoned Ali, Uthman, Sa’d, Abdul-Rahman ibn Awf, and al-Zubayr ibn Al-Awwam and said to them, “I have looked into the matter and consider you to be the chiefs and leaders of the people. This matter will remain among you alone.”[1]

The Beginning of Hereditary Rule in the Caliphate

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Hereditary Rule started from the time of Mu’awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan (41H/661CE – 60H/680CE) when he was Khaleefah, so we will discuss some key events concerning his rule in order to fully understand why he embarked on this course of action. This is an extract from the article Part 2: Bay’a in Islamic History – The Umayyad Khilafah The Civil War between Mu’awiyah and Ali Disputes broke out many times throughout the Khilafah’s 1300-year history over who should govern the state. One thing remained constant however and that was the bay’a. No Khaleefah ever came to power without the bay’a, and this method of appointing the ruler continued until 1924. During the civil war between Mu’awiya and Ali, Mu’awiya never claimed the Khilafah for himself or took the bay’a for himself. Rather he made his bay’a conditional on Ali handing over Uthman’s assassins which Ali was unable to fulfil at that time. Abu Muslim Al-Khawlani and a group of people said to Mu’awiyah: “Do you disagree with Ali or are you like him?” So Mu’awiyah said: …

Was Yazid a Legitimate Caliph?

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This is an extract from the article Part 2: Bay’a in Islamic History – The Umayyad Khilafah There is ikhtilaaf (difference of opinion) among the ulema on Yazid’s legitimacy. Many scholars accept he was a legitimate Khaleefah such as Al-Dhahabi, but that he was sinful and blameworthy for the oppression and persecution he committed against the sahaba, and the murder of al-Hussain and his family. Others such as ibn al-Jawzi reject his legitimacy and call him a usurper, because he never had a legally convened bay’a that was given through free choice and consent by the majority of the Ahlul hali wal-aqd (political representatives of the ummah). Al-Dhahabi says, “(Yazid) he was the commander of that army during the campaign against Constantinople, among which were people such as Abu Ayyoob al-Ansaari. Yazid was appointed by his father as his heir, so he took power after his father died in Rajab 60 AH at the age of thirty-three, but his reign lasted for less than four years. Yazid is one of those whom we neither curse …

Part 1: Bay’a in Islamic History – The Rightly Guided Khilafah

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What is the bay’ah? The bay’ah (البيعة) is a ruling contract which governs the relationship between Muslims and the Islamic state. For those Muslims living under the authority of the Khilafah the bay’ah is their citizenship contract with the state. The word bay’ah in the Arabic language is derived from sale (البيع), but the sharia gave it a specific meaning which is the method of appointing a Khaleefah. This meaning is derived from the many ahadith such as the saying of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: “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 Khulafa’ and they will number many.” They asked: ‘What then do you order us?’ He said: “Fulfil the bay’ah to them, one after the other and give them their dues for Allah will verily account them about what he entrusted them with.”[1] This sharia meaning is still in-line with the linguistic meaning of bay’ah because sale is a contract of offer and …

Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur: Supervising the Districts of Baghdad

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The Caliphate is divided up administratively to aid the Caliph in the task of ruling. The territories which the Islamic State rules over are divided into provinces where each province is known as a wiliyah or imarah and ruled over by a governor (wali) or Emir respectively. These provinces are further sub-divided down to the local level as we find in all countries of the world today. For the citizens of the Caliphate, their first point of contact with the leadership of the state is their local leader who is managing people’s day to day affairs on a local level. If this leader is oppressive then this affects people’s daily lives more than any other government official including the Caliph. It is therefore of paramount importance for the Caliph to be fully aware of what is happening in all the various provinces of the Caliphate, and he will appoint government officials from his executive office to monitor them. This office of Sahib ul-Ummal was first held by Muhammad ibn Maslamah under the Caliphate of Umar ibn …

INFOGRAPHIC: Expansion of the Islamic State

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An infographic depicting the expansion of the Islamic state from 622 -750CE, 1-132AH. Please note that square miles in the infographic are an approximation and for illustrative purposes only. Even if accurate figures were available this would not change the line graph. The main points to note from this infographic are as follows. Allah refers to the Treaty of Hudaibiyah which was signed in 6AH as a ‘clear victory’. إِنَّا فَتَحْنَا لَكَ فَتْحًا مُّبِينًا “Indeed, We have granted you a clear victory” (Al-Fath, 48:1) After the signing of this treaty with Quraish the Islamic conquests took off until the entire Arabian Peninsula was under Islamic rule within a few years. 2. When Abu Bakr was elected Caliph, the majority of the Arab tribes had apostatised or rebelled against the Islamic State. Abu Bakr then launched a campaign to bring all the rebellious regions back under Islamic rule. After the Ridda Wars the army was redeployed to start the expansion in to Iraq and Syria. This is why Abu Hurairah said, “By the One Whom there …

Tipu Sultan seeks legitimacy from the Ottoman Caliph

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Tipu Sultan, was ruler of Mysore based in South India from 1782 to 1799. In 1784 Tipu Sultan sent Osman Khan to Constantinople to find out whether an embassy to the Ottoman Government would be fruitful. Tipu decided to send an embassy to Constantinople in order to secure confirmation of his title to the throne of Mysore from the Ottoman Caliph. The idea of securing an investiture from the Caliph was no innovation on the part of Tipu. With the exception of the Mughal Emperors who regarded themselves as Caliphs [sic] in their kingdom in their own right, a number of Muslim rulers of India had secured confirmation of their title to the throne from the then ruling Caliph. Thus Iltutmush and Mahmud of Ghazna had obtained their investiture from the Abbasid Caliphs of Baghdad, while Muhammad b. Tughlaq, Firoz Shah Tughlaq and Mahmud of Malwa had secured it from the Abbasid Caliphs of Egypt. Now that the Caliphate had become vested in the Ottoman dynasty, Tipu wanted to obtain his investiture from the Ottoman …

Makkan Period: The Final Phase

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Download the book Makkan Period: The Final Phase The Makkan Period of the Prophet’s ﷺ mission followed a clear and distinct path in pursuit of establishing Islam. This was finally achieved after 13 gruelling years in Makkah where the Prophet ﷺ and sahaba faced torture, propaganda and boycott by the Quraysh trying to stop the daw’ah and the victory of Islam. The final culmination of the Makkan period was the Hijra to Madeenah and the establishment of the first Islamic State.