The Khilafah is a contract based on mutual consent and choice, it is a Bay’ah of obedience to whoever is entitled of obedience of people in authority. It is therefore imperative to have the consent of the one who is given the Bay’ah to take the post, and of those who give him the ba Bay’ah. Thus, it is forbidden to force anyone to become Khaleefah if He rejected the post of Khilafah. He should not be forced to accept it. Under such circumstances another person would then have to be considered to fill the post. It is also forbidden to take the Bay’ah from the people by force or by using coercion because in this case the contract would be invalid. Mutual consent and choice have to be observed without any compulsion as in any other contract. However, if the Bay’ah has been contracted by those whose Bay’ah is reliable then the Bay’ah would be considered valid and concluded, and the person for whom the Bay’ah was given would become the person in authority, his obedience would subsequently become compulsory. If afterwards the rest of the people were to give him their Bay’ah, it would be a pledge (Bay’ah) of obedience and not of contracting the Khilafah. Only then could He force the people to give him the Bay’ah, because, at this stage, it would be imposing on them obedience to him, and this is compulsory under Shari’ah law. In this case it would not be a Bay’ah of contracting the Khilafah. Some people may claim that it is forbidden to coerce people to give their Bay’ah. Firstly, the Bay’ah is a contract that would only be valid if mutual consent and choice (within the Islamic Shari’ah) was observed. Once the Bay’ah has been concluded it would become a Bay’ah of obedience, i.e. submission to the order of the Khaleefah, where compulsion would then become lawful as an execution to the command of Allah. Since the Khilafah is a contract, it cannot take place without a contractor. It is like the judiciary, where a man cannot become a judge unless somebody had appointed him as such. The same applies to the Imara; a man cannot become Ameer unless somebody had appointed him as an Ameer. So a man cannot become a Khaleefah unless somebody had appointed him into the Khilafah post. This indicates that no man assumes the post of Khilafah unless the Muslims appointed him to the post, and He would not possess the mandatory powers of the Khilafah unless it was first contracted to him. This contract would not be concluded unless two parties existed, one party would be the one seeking the post of Khilafah (the potential Khaleefah) and the other party would be the Muslims who accepted him to be their Khaleefah. Therefore, for the Khilafah to be contracted the Bay’ah of the Muslims is necessary.