Should Muslims Establish Khilafah - Shaykh Akram Nadwi & Mufti Abu Layth

[Shaykh Akram] One thing we keep missing from our understanding of the Religion is that we don't exactly get what the Qur'an and Sunnah is teaching. Religion is basically a personal matter between the people and their Lord. Nothing more than that. Your religion is just between you and your Lord. Mine is between me and my Lord. I believe in Him. I worship Him. I fear Him. Religion must always be personal. It's just between you and Allah (swt).

What happens is that when religion is established and many many people start to accept it, you get a society. Then the Command of Allah comes. That society should be according to Allah's Command. If there is no society, then you are just an individual. But when society is there, then you have to run the society according to Allah's Command. The Command is to enjoin the good and forbid the evil. After that, the Believers, they get power as well so they are commanded that when they run the state and whatever, they also obey Allah's Command. But none of them have an obligation upon them to make an effort to get a society. And it is not an obligation upon them to get a state. But it could be that sometimes they move towards that direction

but sometimes it never happens. There are many many Prophets and Messengers who came and some people believed in them, but they never established any society. They never got any power - no Khilafah - like Ibrahim (as) and `Isa (as). There were many good people (who had no khilafah) and it did them no harm. They were still the best people. They were the chosen people. You know, some of them were actually living under non-Muslim rule and they are still examples for the Believers. You know, that last four Prophets of the Jewish people Zaykariya (as), Yahya (as), Maryam (as) and `Isa (as).

These 4 people, all of them lived under the Roman Empire, Not a Jewish empire but under the Roman Empire. They never made an effort to rebel. They never made effort to establish Khilafah - Jewish Rule. They never ever did. What they actually taught was the personal religion. The religion which is actually `Ibadah, prayer, Dhikr, fasting, repenting to Allah, turning to Him. That is what they taught. Nothing else. And the Qur'an has so much praise for them.

Actually the Qur'an makes all of these four people as examples for the Believers. And the Qur'an says {Arabic}. "Follow their guidance". And the same for Ibrahaim (as). This understanding that the Believers have a duty to establish the Khilafah, this is not right. When people get the power, then their duty is they should be running according to Allah's Command. That is the command. But it is not the command that you must get it (state power). This never has been the command. Even when people say that the Prophet (saw) moved to Madinah Munawwarah to establish a state, this is a big misunderstanding. Because the Hadith says that when the Prophet (saw) did Hijrah (migration), he did not like that. Actually he was forced by the people to leave Makkah.

And when he was going to Madinah and he left Makkah, he turned to Makkah and he said "O Makkah, had your people not forced me, I would have never left you". While he was in Makkah, he did not establish any Khilafah. He was not even implementing Islamic law. He was basically a minority. But he didn't want to leave Makkah. He only left Makkah because he was forced but people think he left Makkah because he wanted to establish a state. This never happened.

This thing happened according to Allah's Plan but the Prophet (saw) did not have any plan. It just happened. It emerged to him. But he was doing only what Allah commanded him. Until it became very clear to him that once he got the power, then he should tell people to follow Allah's Command. What people take as Khilafah, They really don't understand what Khilafah means. If people say Khilafah means to rule the world or govern the world according to the command of Allah and His Messenger, what they call as Khilafah Rashidah, then that Khilafah only happened in Islam until the life of `Ali ibn Abi Talib.

After that, that Khilafah (Rashidah) finished. It never returned again. It was all like kingship basically. Mu`awiyah (ra) & his dynasty, then Marwan ibn Hakam & his dynasty, then Abbasids & their dynasty. None of them are Khilafah. They called themselves Khalifah but "Khalifah" really means king here. And Abu Hanifah, Malik, and Shafi`i, they live under the same rule but never did they try to establish a Khilafah. It was all dynasty like a kingship. There was no Khilafah.

Khilafah finished after the death of `Ali (ra). The Khilafah never came back except some people argue that in the time of `Umar ibn `Abdil `Aziz, it was you know, may be similar to the Khilafah but real Khilafah (Rashidah) for which Muslims have been promised in the Qur'an. Qur'an says that Allah (swt) has made a promise. {Arabic} "He will make them Khalifah". That promise was only for the Khulafa' Rashidun. For early Mahujirun. The Quran says that actually.

That it was for those people who accepted Islam early. The promise for Khilafah was only for the Sabiqun and the Awwalun from the Muhajirun and the Ansar. After that, there is no promise from Allah and since then, until now, the Khilafah has never been established. There is potential for kingship. When they say that Khilafah was demolished in 1924, that is not Khilafah. That is somebody named "Khalifah" but he had no power. Nothing. It was just a kingship.

So we have to understand that the Khilafah that we actualy love is the Khalifah Rashidah. And the Khalifah Rashida in Islam only lasted just 30 years. After that, there was no Khilafah Rashidah. It was just kingship. Some times there were good kings. Some times there were bad kings. Some times good people like Salahuddin Ayyubi & `Umar ibn `Abdil `Aziz. In India, we have gotten good kings but very often we gotten bad kings. They are like in any other world tradition. This is what happened.

We don't have any proof in the Qur'an and Sunnah that the Believers are obliged to work for the Khilafah. Neither the Prophets did this. And neither their followers. [Mufti Abu Layth] I think the Shaykh has said a sufficient amount on that. This unfortunately in this day and age is a problem because it misguides and misleads many young vulnerable people and guilt trips them.

People will tell Muslims that first of all they've got a romantic, a fantasy nostalgia which isn't memory from Islam like you've heard. In Islam there were good kings and there were bad kings. The kings generally by today's standards, many of them by human rights standards, may not have been all that great but some of them may have been okay. Now the truth is that people present a what I call sometimes a Bollywood version of Islamic history but this fantasy nostalgia in saying "You know the world was all perfect in Islam until 1923 and 1924" and then they say "Oh so now the solution is

if we go back to that it will fix all the problems" And that's a fantasy because this one state Khilafah Rashidah the way they speak of it never existed beyond, as Shaykh Akram said, Sayyiduna `Ali (ra). And this is what Amir San`ani mentions in his Rasa`il. This is what many people today like Shaykh Ahmad Raysuni has highlighted that look it didn't go beyond that as the Prophet said it would be dynasts, kings & stuff like this.

But when people present this and they say "Look there's a lot of suffering in the world today. Look Muslims are dying... in Kashmir, in Palestine, in Burma, in here, in there.. what are you doing to change? What are you YOU are carrying the punishment. YOU will carry the burden". So the people don't know like what to do like they they feel guilty. And they say "Yeah, but are YOU doing anything?" This guilt is very dangerous because it takes some of them... You see if I guilt trip so many people, some of them may act out. It only takes a handful of them to say

"Okay, what should I do?". And people tell them "Oh, we live in Darul Harb. The whole world today is Darul Harb (War Zone) unless we have a Khilafah." So what naturally follows, if you are living in a war zone, what naturally follows is that the other people are enemy combatants. They are people - Muharibun - in the war. So some people say "Okay, I will attack some Kuffar. I might as well die because I'm taking all this guilt of all these people suffering and I'm not doing anything".

This is breeding. It's helping to breed the extremist narrative. And this is why it's a danger for young people who especially people who sometimes are sincere about Islam. They want to do something. They get trapped in this kind of thing. They want to get rid of the guilt and then, they end up, {wal iyadhu billah} either becoming radicalized, becoming like some nut cases or just pushing this for the rest of their lives, carrying this kind of guilt. So I think it needs to be tackled.

I do believe that people that are pushing this pure politics politics politics politicized version of Islam, in my understanding, are near Khawarij. They are part of the modern-day Khawarij movement. Not exactly like the Khawarij of the past but it's like that. They are all obsessed about rulership. "That if we have rulership, then.. and it's all these rulers are Taghuts and {Arabic}".

These are the same evidences that people like ISIS and stuff like that are using so, May Allah shed light. And I think words like this really are needed. So I appreicate what the Shaykh had to say. [Shaykh Akram] You know one thing I said is to just keep in mind that don't we already have 50 Muslim countries? So what we have done? Allah has already given us some so much power. So establish Islam there first. Establish Khilafah there. What is happening here?

If you read Indian literature before the partition, Muslims were desperate to get Pakistan. If you read the literature, they said "We just want Pakistan because of Nizam e Mustafa. We want to establish Shari`ah-Islamic Law" Read all of those arguments. Since Pakistan has been established, now the conditions are really easy. Everybody in Pakistan would love to come to this country (UK). You wanted your forefathers to sacrifice and get freedom from the British people.

You got Nizam e Mustafa. You got the country. Now you want to run away from that. What is this?? If you really open the gate here, if the British government allows the Pakistani people to migrate here, all the people will leave Pakistan and come here (UK). Isn't it just a deception? You think you want to get Pakistan. If you read the literature, it was basically like that. "We want Nizam e Mustafa. We want a land of guidance. We don't want to live with the Hindus". Actually, forget about this country (UK).

Even if India opens the border, many people from Pakistan will leave Pakistan and will come to India. You wanted to get separation from India. And this is what our condition is. So how could Allah (swt) like us? You know, we're not sincere. If America opens the door, all the people who hate America, they will run there. I'll tell you about one of my friends from Saudi Arabia. He lives in Makkah Mukarramah. He is director of Islamic-Qur'anic school.

He lives in the best cityin the world (Makkah) and has the best job - teaching Qur'an. So he came to see me in Oxford and he said to me "Can you get a job for me here (UK)." So I said to him "But you live in Makkah Mukurramah. You are the director of Qur'anic school. He said "But, you know, we don't have freedom to do religious work (in Saudi Arabia)". So he has more freedom in this country (UK) to do religious work than in Makkah Mukarramah. Really think about it. Somebody from Makkah wants to leave Makkah, and wants to come and settle here (UK). And now we're talking about the Khilafah?

And actually, all these people who are fighting for Khilfafah, they are fighting among themselves. If you can't even unite...Why don't you implement Islam on yourselves? Does the Qur'an say that if you have disagreements, then you can't unite? If you can't implement Islam on yourselves and can't get unity, then how can you expect us to believe in you. All these groups are fighting among themselves. Is this what Islam is? I tell you really, that if this country (UK) was given for one year to any Muslim group, before they do anything, they will make the effort to finish off every other group.

Actually if Muslims ruled this country, we will run away from here. It will not be a good place for us. This is what would happen. You say Khilafah? Any of these people who want Khilafah, if they get this country, they'll ruin it. We don't deserve that. One of my teachers used to say "Leave the Khilafah. We even cannot run a Madrasah". None of our Madrasahs run up to standard. We can't run a Madrasah. Leave the Khilafah. You know, we don't deserve anything. And Allah does not give people if they don't deserve it.