Delegating some executive power to a Wazir (Deputy Caliph) There will never be a perfect Caliph because ‘to err is human’. In his inaugural speech as the first Caliph of Islam, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq said, “O people, I have been put in authority over you and I am not the best of you. If I do the right thing, then help me. If I do wrong, then correct me. Truthfulness is a sacred trust and lying is a betrayal. The weak among you is strong in my sight. I will surely try to remove their pain and suffering. And the strong among you is weak to me. I will, if Allah wills, fulfill the rights in full. When obscene things spread among any nation, calamities continue to descend upon them. As long as I obey Allah and His messenger, you should obey me. If I do not obey Allah and His messenger, then obedience to me is not an obligation upon you. Now, stand for the prayer, may Allah have mercy upon you.”[1] We know that Abu …

The Caliph or the Candidate for the Caliphate Post It is forbidden for someone to seek authority if they are not qualified for it. This is understood from numerous ahadith including the famous hadith of Abu Dharr quoted earlier. Taqiuddin an-Nabhani says, “As for the prohibition of asking for the imarah leadership mentioned in the ahadith, this is a prohibition for weak persons who are not fit for it like Abu Dharr (ra).”[1] Therefore, the candidate’s taqwa should prevent him from even putting himself forward. If the Caliph is already in office, and a serious change occurs in him which affects his ability to rule, then he should resign. Al-Qurtubi says, “If a leader finds in himself an impediment which would impair his leadership, he should retire.”[2] The People’s Representatives (Ahlul hali wal-aqd) who will contract the bay’ah The Caliph is only in office if he has a valid bay’ah contract. No bay’ah means no rule. The bay’ah is a contract of one-to-millions i.e. between the Caliph and the Muslim ummah. This is different to other Islamic contracts which are one-to-one such as buying, selling and marriage. This therefore …

The second aspect of al-kifāyah is related to the Khaleefah being free from any disability which could affect his ability to rule. This is an important topic because in a future Rightly Guided Khilafah i.e. one in which the ruler is elected, the Khaleefah will be an elder statesman who would have held a military command and potentially fought in many battles prior to coming to office. Therefore, it’s possible he will have some injuries, scars and disabilities from his military service. Abu Sufyan who was commander of the Tulaqaa’[1] at the Battle of Hunayn, lost an eye during the subsequent Siege of Ta’if[2] even though he had only been Muslim for 4 weeks! Al-Mawardi listed three types of physical defects[3] which may exclude the Khaleefah from contracting the bay’ah: There are no specific texts for these, so whatever incapacity causes the Khaleefah to be unable to fulfil the task of ruling would be applicable here. Taqiuddin an-Nabhani says, “it cannot be said that losing limbs from his body necessitates removal or not, in the same way that it cannot …

Al-Qurṭubī says, “An Imam merits his authority on the basis of knowledge, piety and strength, not on the basis of lineage. Lineage has no real say in the matter since knowledge and virtue supersede it as Allah makes clear by informing us that He chose Ṭālūt over them on account of his knowledge and strength even though their lineage was more noble.”[1] It should be noted here, that when al-Qurṭubī refers to lineage, he means within the tribe of Quraish, because he and the majority of scholars in Islamic history stipulated that the Khaleefah must be from Quraish, and made this a contractual condition (shart) of the bay’ah contract, though not a pillar (rukn).[2] The Abbasids came to power claiming their lineage was superior to that of the Umayyads even though they were both from Quraish.[3] Their revolution rallied the Muslims of Iraq and Khorasan, and in particular the Shi’ah, against the Umayyads on the basis that the Imam should be from the family of the Prophet ﷺ i.e. Banu Hashim as opposed to the Umayyads who were …

The Sunni Position The Sunni position is clear that the ruler (Imam) is not infallible, and is not divinely appointed through the line of Imams from the Prophet ﷺ through the lineage of Ali (ra) and Fatima (ra). Al-Mawardi says in response to the claim that the Imams from Ahl e Bait are more suitable to rule than the Abbasids of his time, “If it seems to the electors (ahlul hali wal-aqd) that one of the two [candidates] is the more excellent and they make the bay’ah to him for the Imamate but then someone more excellent than him appears then this first Imamate stands and it is not permitted to abandon it for someone who is more excellent than him.”[1] As-Subki says, ‘According to the consensus of the Companions after the death of the Prophet ﷺ, men should appoint an imam who will look after their interests. They gave this precedence over all other obligations and people have been abiding by this over the ages. Even if the appointed imam is not the most suitable, nevertheless the mere act of appointing …

Piety الوَرَع (al-Wara’) is one of the fundamental characteristics of the ruler without which the implementation of Islamic rule itself is in jeopardy. Imam Ghazali refers to this as “the fundamental and noblest quality”[1] in the ruler. Taqiuddin an-Nabhani says, “Since the strength of the personality has within it the potential of domination and authority, there is an obvious need that the ruler has an attribute which protects him from the evil of authority. So it is necessary that he has the attribute of taqwa within himself and in his taking care of the Ummah. Muslim and Ahmad from Sulayman bin Buraydah from his father: كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم إِذَا أَمَّرَ أَمِيرًا عَلَى جَيْشٍ أَوْ سَرِيَّةٍ أَوْصَاهُ فِي خَاصَّتِهِ بِتَقْوَى اللَّهِ وَمَنْ مَعَهُ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ خَيْرًا “Whenever the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would appoint an Amir over an army or expedition, he would command him with taqwa with himself and to be good to those Muslims who are with him.”[2] The ruler, if he is conscious of Allah ta’ala and fears Him, and accounts Him in his own …

Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, إِنَّمَا بُعِثْتُ لِأُتَمِّمَ صَالِحَ الأَخْلاقِ “Indeed, I was sent to perfect good character.”[1] Salih al-Akhlaq (good character) is mutlaq (unrestricted) and so encompasses all types of character which includes the ruling personality. This development and training (tarbiyah) of the sahaba began in Makkah at the House of Al-Arqam and continued throughout the Prophet’s ﷺ life in Madinah. Tarbiyah is a life-long process that never ends for the believer. It is clear when studying the seerah that the Prophet ﷺ had a development plan for the sahaba, and appointed specific people to positions of authority and responsibility so they would become leaders in the Islamic state after his ﷺ death. As-Sallabi says, “In less than one half of a century, the singularly superior men that the Prophet educated were blessed with many great victories as they carried the message of Tawheed (Islamic Monotheism) all over the world. In the early years of his Prophethood, the Messenger of Allah wisely chose and trained the key people that would be needed to lead …

Al-Kifāyah الكِفايَة (competency or capability) is a condition (shart) of the bay’ah[1] because “Imamate is prescribed to succeed prophethood as a means of protecting the deen and of managing the affairs of this world,”[2] and the one contracted with this great responsibility must be capable of fulfilling the task. Although kifāyah is a general term which may apply to many areas of competency, in the context of the bay’ah, and as a condition of the Caliph, the scholars such as al-Mawardi, al-Ghazali and al-Juwayni all mentioned it in terms of capability to rule i.e. having a ruling mentality and disposition, and free from any disability which may affect his ability to fulfil the task of discharging people’s affairs. Other conditions related to kifāyah such as sanity, being free, mujtahid and brave were mentioned as separate conditions and pillars[3], even though they are all linked to the reality of the Caliph’s ability to run the state. Mona Hassan says, “The caliph’s ability to actually do so, termed kifāyah, is all that remains after al-Juwaynī’s process of intellectual distillation as the most essential qualifying attribute for an imam.”[4] What is …

There are two aspects to competency (Al-Kifāyah) in governing the affairs of people. The first is having a ruling personality i.e. a ruling mentality (aqliyah) and a ruling disposition (nafsiyah), and the second is being free from any disability which may affect the Caliph’s ability to rule. A ruling mentality In terms of the first aspect Allah (Most High) addresses the Prophet ﷺ: وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ And you are truly ˹a man˺ of outstanding character.[1] The Prophet ﷺ held multiple roles in addition to being a prophet and messenger, and he was an outstanding character in all of them. He ﷺ was a statesman, ruler, commander and judge, and as a ruler he exemplified the ruling personality. Ibn Ashur (d.1973) says, واعْلَمْ أنَّ جُماعَ الخُلُقِ العَظِيمِ الَّذِي هو أعْلى الخُلُقِ الحَسَنِ هو التَّدَيُّنُ، ومَعْرِفَةُ الحَقائِقِ، وحِلْمُ النَّفْسِ، والعَدْلُ، والصَّبْرُ عَلى المَتاعِبِ، والاعْتِرافُ لِلْمُحْسِنِ، والتَّواضُعُ، والزُّهْدُ، والعِفَّةُ، والعَفْوُ، والجُمُودُ، والحَياءُ، والشَّجاعَةُ، وحُسْنُ الصَّمْتِ، والتَّؤُدَةُ، والوَقارُ، والرَّحْمَةُ، وحُسْنُ المُعامَلَةِ والمُعاشَرَةِ. والأخْلاقُ كامِنَةٌ في النَّفْسِ ومَظاهِرُها تَصَرُّفاتُ صاحِبِها في كَلامِهِ، وطَلاقَةِ وجْهِهِ، وثَباتِهِ، وحُكْمِهِ، وحَرَكَتِهِ وسُكُونِهِ، وطَعامِهِ …

Authority is defined as “the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.”[1] In our discussion here, we are using authority in the context of government and ruling because “in sociology and political science, authority is the legitimate power of a person or group over other people.”[2] There are different words for authority or the source of authority (masdar al-sultah مَصْدَر السُلْطَة)[3] in the Islamic texts, such as sultan (سُلْطان), jamā’ah (جَماعَة) and ulu’l-amr (أُو۟لِى ٱلْأَمْرِ). Sultan In its original usage by the Ancient Arabs (العَرَب العاربة), the word السَليط means oil, and السِلْطة means a long arrow (السَهْم الطَوِيل). “The central meaning is the ability to conquer from afar[4], like a long arrow that strikes from afar, and like oil that is used to light a lamp to overcome darkness, and enable one to see things.”[5] Therefore sultan conforms to the definition of authority being “the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.”[6] Sultan may refer specifically to the ruler, or to authority sultah (سُلْطَة) in general i.e. government. The term may also refer to the source of authority from which it gains its legitimacy …