This is as far as the administration as a whole is concerned. As for the details of the administration, they are taken from the nature of the administration itself. By examining its nature we find that some actions are performed by the Khaleefah himself or by his assistants, whether these were ruling, such as execution of the Shar’a, or the matters of administration or discharging the people’s subsidiary interests which require styles and means. This is why a special structure is needed by the Khaleefah to manage the affairs that help Him carry out the duties of Khilafah. The people also have interests that need to be addressed and which are related to the subjects. These interests also require styles and means in order to perform them. Therefore a special structure has to be set up in order to discharge the people’s interests.

This structure consists of administrations, departments and directorates. The administration is the overall management of any government office, such as education, health, agriculture, industry and others. This administration would undertake the management of its own affairs and all the departments and directorates under its control. The department would run its own affairs and those of the directorates under its control. The directorate would also run its own affairs and the affairs of all the sections and divisions under its control.

The purpose of establishing these administrations, departments and directorates is to manage the State’s affairs and to discharge the people’s interests.

In order to guarantee the smooth running of these administrations, departments and directorates, directors must be appointed to take charge of them. For each administration, a general director would be appointed to take direct charge of it and to supervise all the departments and directorates that come under it. For each department and for each directorate a manager is appointed to be directly in charge of his department or directorate and to be responsible for the sections and divisions affiliated to it.

This describes the nature of the management of the administration, or what is called the State’s administrations. It represents a general structure for all the subjects and for those who live under the authority of the State, and it has been called the diwan. The management of the administrations or diwan was not organised in a specific way at the time of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). He (pbuh) rather used to appoint for each administration a secretary who would act as the director, the secretary and undertakes all the related actions.

‘Umar Ibnu Al-Khattab was the first in the history of Islam to introduce the diwan. The cause for this was that He once dispatched an army expedition and Al-Harmazan, who was present at the time, said to ‘Umar; “This is an expedition in which you ordered funds to be distributed amongst its people, but if anyone of them stayed behind, how would your companions know about him? Why don’t you keep a record (register - diwan) for this?” So ‘Umar asked Al-Harmazan about the diwan and He explained it to him. Abid Ibnu Yahya reported on the authority of Al-Harith Ibnu Nufayl that ‘Umar consulted the Muslims about the recording of the Dawawin, and Ali Ibnu Abi Talib suggested; “Divide all the funds you collect each year and do not keep any of them.” ‘Uthman Ibnu ‘Affan said; “I see that there are a lot of funds enough for all the people, and if they are not counted in order to know who has taken and who has not, I fear that the matter could get out of hand.” Upon this Al-Waleed Ibnu Hisham Ibnul-Mughira said; “I was in Ash- Sham and I noticed that its kings had introduced a diwan and recruited soldiers, so why don’t you do the same?’ “‘Umar took his advice and summoned ‘Aqeel Ibnu Abi Talib and Makhrama Ibnu Nufayl and Jubayr Ibnu Mat’am who were the genealogists of Qur’aysh and said; “Prepare a house to house census.”

When Islam reached Iraq, the diwan of payments and funds collection continued as before. The diwan of Ash-Sham was in Latin for it had been part of the Roman Empire, and the diwan of Iraq was in Persian for it had been part of the Persian Empire. In the time of ‘Abdul Malik Ibnu Marwan the diwan of Ash-Sham was transferred to Arabic, ie. in the year 81 AH. Several dawawin were then set up according to necessity and depending on the need for them in running the people’s interests. dawawin for the armed forces were introduced for registration and grant purposes, and others were introduced to record the fees and claims of all transactions. Another diwan was introduced for the ‘Aamileen and Wulah to record each appointment and each removal and other dawawin were used in the treasury (Bait ul-Mal) to record revenues and expenses and so on. The introduction of a diwan was according to the need for it, and its style varied over the years due to the difference in styles and means.

A chief was appointed for each diwan along with other employees, and in some cases the chief was allowed to appoint the employees himself. In some other cases employees were appointed to Him not by him.

A diwan would thus be set up according to need, along with the styles and means that would help discharging that need. It is permitted to have different styles and means according to the era, or Wilayah or country.

With regards to the responsibility of such civil servants, they are hired employees and at the same time citizens. At a professional level they are answerable to their own directorate manager, and as citizens they are answerable to the rulers whether these are Wulah, the assistants or Khaleefah. They have to abide by the Shari’ah rules and the administrative systems.