In order to arrive at the methodology to re-establish the Khilafah Ijtihad is required since this issue is a unique reality that is not comparable to any situation that the Muslim Ummah has come across in the past. This is because for thirteen centuries she lived in the shade of the Khilafah and under the authority of Islam. It is a unique situation that requires us to derive the Hukm Shari’i for this problem, from the Qur’an and Sunnah through a detailed process of Ijtihad. This should detail the steps to the re-establishment of the Khilafah, and thereby practically address the Vital Issue that Islam defined.

Hence what is required is to have detailed understanding of this Ijtihad like any other. For example, Salah is definitely Fard but the details of Salah are derived via Ijtihad. However it is still required to have a detailed understanding of its rules otherwise it would be impossible to know how to undertake the actions that are prerequisites for and components of Salah such as Wudu, Niyyah, Ruku and so on. Similarly it is required to have a detailed understanding of the method to re-establish the Khilafah otherwise one would not know Allah’s (swt) Hukm on the matter, and as a consequence one would be unable to resume the Islamic way of life, by giving the Bay’ah to a Khaleefah to rule the Muslims according to Islam.

Likewise, if a Muslim was unaware of the rules of fasting he would be unable to fast properly. If he did not know the detailed rules of Zakah it would be impossible for him to implement this obligation. In the same manner, he would not be fulfilling Allah’s (swt) command to re-establish the Khilafah unless he had derived the Hukm Shari’i connected to it. Vague statements, rhetoric, and slogans of just following Qur’an and Sunnah without understanding would never be enough.

Such vagueness is widespread. However, a recent occurrence is that the Islamic Ummah is becoming more able at seeing through it. For example, take the idea that the way for revival is via Jihad on the internet as that is where the power lies! This is not only a confused view of the world and how it works but also an extremely dangerous conception of the key Islamic concept of Jihad. In actual fact, Jihad is the method to remove the physical barriers, such as the states and militaries, in the process of calling people to Islam. Jihad is not the Hukm Shari’i connected to the re-establishment of the Khilafah, and is definitely not fought exclusively over the internet, but in real life.

A further example to illustrate this point would be regarding cursory glances at one or two ayaat of the Qur’an and then building all arguments on this extremely selective foundation. This is done with the often mis-quoted verse of Allah (swt),

“Verily Allah will not change the circumstances of a people until they change that which is within themselves” (TMQ al-Ra’d, verse 11)

Subsequently it is argued that the situation of the Ummah will only change when Muslims start to rectify themselves individually, disconnected to the political reality.

This argument is flawed on many accounts. Firstly, the actual understanding of the Ayah is incorrect. Allah (swt) is describing the situation of a nation (Qawm) and if the nation sticks to the correct path then it will remain in His favour, if it abandons this then it will fall into disarray at which point the only way to rectify the nation again would be by returning fundamentally to the correct foundation and Millah (way) that it was upon, and that would be a radical transformation including every single aspect. The subject matter is clearly the nation and not the individual as the Ayah remains in the plural form throughout. The Mufassireen emphasised the rulers as they represent what the society is upon and hence the rectification of the rulers and the political change would be a major aspect. Indeed, it has been narrated, “The people are upon the Deen of their rulers”. This interpretation is given by Imam Qurtubi in his Tafseer of the Qur’an Jam’iu Ahkam ul-Qur’an.

Secondly, this Ayah does not establish Hukm Shari’i connected to how to re-establish the Khilafah. Therefore to build actions upon it alone would be Haram. What would be required is an understanding of this Ayah, but also other Hukm Shari’i derived from the Qur’an and Sunnah regarding how to initiate political change. Then action would be mandatory.

Other instances which are also common are where evidences connected to other aspects of Islam are used in the discussion of how to change the Ummah. Whilst it is known that the Dhikr and Du’aa are important for the Muslims in order to remind them of Allah (swt) and are a form of spiritual strength and ammunition to the believers, they are not the Hukm Shari’i connected to creating political change. If any human problem were studied, such as the matter of economics one would need to look at the relevant evidences connected to economic matters e.g. nature of properties, nature of lands, types of companies etc. If the problem at hand was a social problem connected to the relationship between men and women one would look at the relevant texts concerning the issue e.g. the Hadith of Khalwah, the permitted and prohibited instances of mixing, the concept of Mahram etc.

Similarly, when discussing the Islamic perspective upon creating political change it would be necessary to look at the relevant evidences connected to the subject i.e. political change. Hence one would find the Prophet (saw) himself spoke of how he (saw) and his Sahabah (ra) engaged in the struggle when he stated in a well known Hadith narrated by Abu Dawud,

“The master of martyrs is Hamza and any man who stands in front of a tyrant ruler and orders him (with good i.e. the implementation of the Deen) and prohibits him (from the evil of other than the Deen) and is slain by him”. (Authenticated by Ibn Hajr al-Hathami in Majmoo’ al-Zaaid)

So a detailed study of the relevant evidences and a derivation of the methodology suited to the current situation is required in order to practically resume the Islamic Way of life.