وأما الأصل الثالث، وهو أن إقامة خليفة واحد واجبة على جميع المسلمين، فقد دلّ عليه الحديث الآتي. روى مسلم عن نافع أنه قال: قال لي عبدالله بن عمر: سمعتُ رسولَ الله ﷺ يقول:

As for the third principle, that the establishment of one Khaleefah is an obligation on all Muslims, the following Hadith has confirmed this. Muslim narrated from Naf ’i that he said: ‘Abdullah Ibnu ‘Umar said to me: I heard the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) say:

مَنْ نَزَعَ يَدًا مِنْ طَاعَةٍ لَقِيَ اللَّهَ (عز وجل) يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ لَا حُجَّةَ لَهُ، وَمَنْ مَاتَ وَلَيْسَ فِي عُنُقِهِ بَيْعَةٌ مَاتَ مِيتَةً جَاهِلِيَّةً. وَفِي هَذَا الْحَدِيثِ أَوْجَبَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ عَلَى كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ أَنْ تَكُونَ فِي عُنُقِهِ بَيْعَةٌ لِخَلِيفَةٍ، أَيْ بَيْعَةٌ لِخَلِيفَةٍ، وَلَمْ يُوجِبْ ﷺ عَلَى كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ أَنْ يُعْطِيَ الْبَيْعَةَ. فَالْوَاجِبُ هُوَ وُجُودُ بَيْعَةٍ فِي عُنُقِ كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ، أَيْ وُجُودُ خَلِيفَةٍ يَسْتَحِقُّ بَيْعَةً فِي عُنُقِ كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ بِوُجُودِهِ. فَوُجُودُ الْخَلِيفَةِ هُوَ الْأَمْرُ الَّذِي يُنْشِئُ الْبَيْعَةَ فِي عُنُقِ كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ، سَوَاءٌ أَعْطَى الْمُسْلِمُ الْبَيْعَةَ فِعْلًا أَمْ لَمْ يُعْطِهَا. أَمَّا وَحْدَةُ الْخِلَافَةِ وَتَحْرِيمُ أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهَا أَكْثَرُ مِنْ خَلِيفَةٍ، فَذَلِكَ لِمَا رَوَاهُ مُسْلِمٌ عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيِّ عَنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ أَنَّهُ قَالَ:

“Whoever takes off his hand from obedience to Allah, he will meet Allah (swt) on the Resurrection Day without having any proof to show for himself; and who dies while there was no pledge of allegiance on his neck, he dies a death of the days of Jahiliyyah (ignorance).” In this Hadith, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) has made it compulsory on every Muslim to have a pledge of allegiance, i.e. Bay’ah to a Khaleefah on his neck, but he (pbuh) did not make it compulsory for every Muslim to give the pledge (Bay’ah). For the obligation is the presence of a Bay’ah on every Muslim’s neck, i.e. the existence of a Khaleefah who is entitled to a Bay’ah on the neck of every Muslim by his existence. The existence of the Khaleefah is the matter which initiates the Bay’ah on every Muslim’s neck, regardless of whether the Muslim has effectively given the Bay’ah or not. As for the unity of the Khilafah and the prohibition of having more than one Khaleefah, this is due to what Muslim narrated from Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri from the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) that he said:

«إذا بُويع لخليفتين فاقتلوا الآخر منهما». وهذا يدل بوضوح على أنه يحرم على المسلمين أن يكون لهم أكثر من خليفة واحد.

“When an oath of Bay’ah has been taken for two Khulafaa’, kill the latter of them”. This clearly proves that it is forbidden for the Muslims to have more than one Khaleefah.