The Institutions of State in the Khilafah by Hizb ut-Tahrir

Before elaborating on the details of the institutions of state in the Khilafah, it is necessary to mention the following points: 1. The ruling system in Islam, ordained by the Lord of the worlds, is the Khilafah system, in which a Khalifah is appointed by a bay’ah. This is established by the book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger and the ijma’ of the Sahabah. Allah says: (So judge between them by that which Allah has revealed and follow not their desires away from the truth that has come to you...) [5:48]

He also says: (Judge between them by that which Allah has revealed and follow not their desires and beware of them lest they seduce you from some part of that which Allah has revealed to you...) [5:49]

This instruction from Allah to the Messenger regarding ruling by that which Allah had revealed is also an instruction a speech to his Ummah. It means they have to appoint a ruler following the Messenger of Allah that governs them by that which Allah has revealed. The command contained in Allah’s words indicates decisiveness because the subject-matter pertaining to His speech is that of a (fard). This is a definitive indication (qarinah) according to the science of usul (principles of jurisprudence). from the fact that the execution of the legal punishments (hudud) and the various rules (ahkam) are obligatory and they cannot be implemented except by a ruler. That which is necessary for implementing an obligation is itself obligatory, therefore, appointing a ruler that establishes the divine law (shara’) is obligatory. The ruler in this case is the Khalifah, and the system is the Khilafah system. .

Regarding the Sunnah, it was narrated from Nafi' that Abdullah ibn ‘‘Umar said: .

"I heard the Messenger of Allah say: 'Whoever withdraws his hand from obedience (to the Amir) will find no proof for himself when he meets Allah on the Day of Judgment, and whoever dies without having an oath of allegiance (Bai'ah) on his neck he would die the death of Jahiliyyah."' [Muslim, Sahih, #1851] .

The Prophet obliged every Muslim to have a pledge of allegiance (bay’ah) on his neck. He describes the one that dies without having such a bay’ah on his neck as dying a death of jahiliyyah. After the Messenger of Allah , bay’ah is only given to the Khalifah. Since the hadith obliges the existence of a bay’ah on the neck of every Muslim it also obliges the appointment of a Khalifah. .

Muslim narrated from Al-Araj on the authority of Abu Hurairah that the Prophet said: .

“Indeed the Imam is a shield, from behind whom one would fight, and by whom one would protect oneself.” [Muslim, Sahih, #1841] .

Muslim also reported on the authority of Abu Hazim that he said: “I accompanied Abu Hurairah for five years, and he informed us of the Prophet saying: “The Prophet ruled over the children of Israel, whenever a Prophet died another Prophet succeeded him, but there will be no Prophet after me. There will soon be Khulafa’ and they will number many.” They asked: ‘what then do you order us?’ He said: “Fulfil the Bay’ah to them, one after the other and give them their dues for Allah will verily account them about what he entrusted them with.”” [Bukhari, Sahih, #3455 and Muslim, Sahih, #4750] .

In these Ahadith, there is a description of the Khalifah as being a shield, i.e. a protection. The description of the Imam as a shield implies praise for the The ruler that governs amongst Muslims after the Messenger of Allah , with that which Allah revealed, is called the Khalifah. Accordingly, the ruling system is called the Khilafah system. Further evidence can be derived

from the fact that the execution of the legal punishments (hudud) and the various rules (ahkam) are obligatory and they cannot be implemented except by a ruler. That which is necessary for implementing an obligation is itself obligatory, therefore, appointing a ruler that establishes the divine law (shara’) is obligatory. The ruler in this case is the Khalifah, and the system is the Khilafah system. .

Regarding the Sunnah, it was narrated from Nafi' that Abdullah ibn ‘‘Umar said: .

"I heard the Messenger of Allah say: 'Whoever withdraws his hand from obedience (to the Amir) will find no proof for himself when he meets Allah on the Day of Judgment, and whoever dies without having an oath of allegiance (Bai'ah) on his neck he would die the death of Jahiliyyah."' [Muslim, Sahih, #1851] .

The Prophet obliged every Muslim to have a pledge of allegiance (bay’ah) on his neck. He describes the one that dies without having such a bay’ah on his neck as dying a death of jahiliyyah. After the Messenger of Allah, bay’ah is only given to the Khalifah. Since the hadith obliges the existence of a bay’ah on the neck of every Muslim it also obliges the appointment of a Khalifah. .

Muslim narrated from Al-Araj on the authority of Abu Hurairah that the Prophet said: .

“Indeed the Imam is a shield, from behind whom one would fight, and by whom one would protect oneself.” [Muslim, Sahih, #1841] .

Muslim also reported on the authority of Abu Hazim that he said: “I accompanied Abu Hurairah for five years, and he informed us of the Prophet saying: “The Prophet ruled over the children of Israel, whenever a Prophet died another Prophet succeeded him, but there will be no Prophet after me. There will soon be Khulafa’ and they will number many.” They asked: ‘what then do you order us?’ He said: “Fulfil the Bay’ah to them, one after the other and give them their dues for Allah will verily account them about what he entrusted them with.”” [Bukhari, Sahih, #3455 and Muslim, Sahih, #4750] .

In these Ahadith, there is a description of the Khalifah as being a shield, i.e. a protection. The description of the Imam as a shield implies praise for the

presence of the Imam, making it a request (talab). This is because when Allah or His Messenger informs us about something that includes a rebuke, this is taken as a request to abstain from it. Similarly, when the text contains praise for an action it is taken as a request to perform it. If the commanded action is needed to implement the divine rule, or if its neglect would cause the divine law to be abandoned, then this is a decisive request. These ahadith also inform us that those who run the affairs of the Muslims are the Khulafa’, which indicates a command to appoint them. Moreover, the Messenger of Allah ordered the Muslims to obey the Khulafa’ and to fight those who dispute with them regarding their authority, which proves that it is an obligation to appoint a Khalifah and protect his Khilafah by fighting those who dispute his authority. Muslim reported that the Messenger of Allah said: .

“Whosoever gave a Bay’ah to an Imam, giving him the clasp of his hand, and the fruit of his heart shall obey him as long as he can, and if another comes to dispute with him, you must strike the neck of that man.” [Muslim, Sahih, #1844] .

Therefore the command to obey the Imam is an order to appoint him (translator: for how can he be obeyed if he does not exist?). Furthermore the command to fight those who dispute with him is cumulative evidence for the decisive matter of maintaining the presence of one Khalifah. .

As for the Ijma’ of the Sahabah, they (may Allah be pleased with them all) agreed upon the necessity of establishing a successor (i.e. Khalifah) to Allah’s Messenger after his death. They all agreed to appoint Abu Bakr as the Khalifah and upon his death to appoint ‘Umar (ra) as his successor. Similarly they appointed ‘Ali (ra) as the successor to ‘Uthman upon his death. The general consensus of the Sahabah on the importance of appointing a Khalifah manifested itself emphatically upon the death of the Messenger of Allah where they prioritised the task of appointing a successor to him over his burial, even though it is known that the burial of the dead person after his death is obligatory. .

The Sahabah were obliged to prepare for the burial of Allah’s Messenger but instead were preoccupied with the appointment of the first Khalifah. Some Sahabah kept silent about this delay for two nights, despite having the ability to bury the Messenger of Allah sooner. The Messenger passed away late on Monday morning and was not buried that day or night. Not until Tuesday night, after Abu Bakr (ra) was given the bay’ah and became Khalifah was Allah’s Messenger buried. So the burial was delayed for two nights, and Abu Bakr was given the bay’ah before the burial of the Messenger..

Therefore, this action of the Sahabah is an evidence of Ijma’ (consensus) for engaging in the appointment of the Khalifah instead of burying the dead person. This could not have been legitimate unless the appointment of a Khalifah was obligatory and of higher priority than the burial of the dead person. Furthermore, throughout the lives of the Sahabah, they consented to the obligation of appointing the Khalifah. Although there were disagreements concerning who should be selected for the post of Khalifah, they never disputed the fact that a Khalifah must be appointed, whether after the death of the Messenger of Allah or after the death of each of the Khulafa’ ‘Rashidin.’ Accordingly, the general ijma’ (consensus) of the Sahabah clearly confirms that the appointment of a Khalifah is obligatory. .

2. The shape of the ruling system in Islam (the Khilafah) is distinguished from other ruling systems commonly found in the world today in its foundations, thoughts, concepts, criterion, the rules by which it manages its affairs, the constitution and laws enacted for implementation and execution, and in the structure that represents the Islamic state. .

The shape of the Khilafah system is not monarchical. It neither agrees with the monarchical shape of government nor resembles it. This is because in the monarchical system the son becomes a king through inheritance without the Ummah having any say in it whereas in Islam the method of appointing a Khalifah is through the enactment of the bay’ah. The monarchical system allows the monarch special privileges and he has rights exclusive to him which place him above the law. In some monarchical systems, the monarch becomes the symbol of the nation so he owns but, does not rule. In others he owns and rules, and thus runs the country and the people as he wishes. In both situations he is immune from being accounted by the people, no matter how severe his oppression and mistreatment of them. In contrast, the Khilafah system does not assign to the Khalifah any special privileges over or above those afforded to his citizens. Neither does the Khalifah have any special rights that distinguish him from the common man before the judiciary. The Khalifah is not the symbol of the Ummah as in monarchies. Rather, he is a representative of the Ummah in ruling and power, meaning that the Ummah selects him and gives him the pledge of allegiance willingly so as to implement the Law of Allah upon her. He is restricted in all of his actions, judgments and in looking after the interests and affairs of the Ummah by the divine rules. The shape of the Islamic Ruling System is not imperial, and is completely inconsistent with imperialism. The regions ruled under an Islamic system, which comprise various nationalities and races are indeed linked to one central place but are governed in a manner completely contradictory to that found in empires. The imperial system does not treat the regions of different races and nationalities equally. Instead it gives privileges, in ruling, finance and the economy to the centre of the empire. The Islamic way of ruling aims to create equality between citizens in all regions of the state. Islam rejects tribalism, and grants non-Muslims who hold citizenship full rights and duties in accordance with the divine rules. Fairness afforded to non-Muslims must be equal to that afforded to Muslims and both are similarly accountable to the law. Every single citizen, regardless of his or her creed, enjoys the rights afforded by the state. Conversely a Muslim living abroad who does not hold citizenship in the Islamic state does not enjoy those rights. Due to this equality, the Islamic system is completely different from imperialism. Imperial states establish colonies and exploit sources of wealth from areas it controls to enrich the imperial power base centrally. The Islamic system does not establish colonies or funnel wealth back to its centre. , Rather it considers all parts of the state equally, no matter how far apart they are, and no matter how different their races are. It considers every single region a part of the state and its citizens enjoy the same rights as those in the central region. It also makes the ruling authority, its system and its legislation the same in all its regions. .

The Khilafah system is not federal where there are autonomous regions and unity only in general ruling. It is rather a system of unity, where Marrakesh in the West is considered to be the same as Khurasan in the East and the province of Al-Fayum is considered to be the same as Cairo, even if it were the Islamic capital. The finance of all the regions will be the same, as will their budget. Budgets for all regions will be calculated fairly. For example, if the taxes raised from one Wilayah were double its expenditure, the funds spent would be those required to cover the Wilayah’s requirements regardless of its tax revenue. If another Wilayah’s taxes fell short of its expenditure, funds would be provided to meet that Wilayah’s needs from the general budget, again irrespective of its tax revenue.

The Khilafah system is not republican. The republican system emerged as a reaction to the tyranny of monarchies, where Kings governed their countries and people as they wished. So a king would implement laws as he liked. The republican system attempted to transfer sovereignty and authority to the people through democracy. So the people began to legislate and could permit or forbid whatever they liked. Practical authority was transferred to the hands of a republican president, his cabinet and the ministers of a republican house of representatives. There are also cases where authority was handed over to a first minister and his cabinet in some monarchies in which case the King or Queen becomes a figure head only. .

Islam is distinct from all of these systems. In Islam, the right of legislation is not for the people. It is rather for Allah alone, and nobody other than Allah has the right to allow or forbid anything. Giving the right of legislation to people is a great crime in Islam. Allah says in the Quran: (They have taken as lords beside Allah their rabbis and their monks), [TMQ 9:31] .

The Messenger explained this verse (ayah) describing that the people allowed rabbis and monks to legislate contrary to what Allah had revealed in the scripture sent to them, where they obeyed them when they allowed and forbade things and obeyed them. This is the meaning of taking them (the rabbis and monks) as Lords besides Allah . In Islam, taking anyone other than Allah as Lord is called shirk and is the greatest of crimes. .

Therefore, this indicates the great crime of following people who legislate (making their own rules) instead of following Allah . Tirmidhi reported through Adi ibn Hatim who said: .

“I came to the Prophet wearing a cross of gold on my neck. He said: “O Adi, throw away this idol.” [Tirmidhi, Sunan, #3095]. And I heard him read from surah of Bara’ah: (They took the rabbis and monks as lords beside Allah.) He (the Prophet) said: “They did not worship them, but what was forbidden for them they permitted and what was made lawful for them, they prohibited”. .

In Islam is not through a cabinet of ministers with ministries that have mandatory powers and separate budgets. In such a system, there is often so much “red-tape” preventing surplus funds from one ministry being transferred to another, that it adversely affects how the affairs of the states citizens are managed. Further complications occur due to the interference of many ministries on a single issue and these problems can be avoided by putting all the affairs of the people under one administrative system. .

In the republican system ruling is divided between its ministries and ministers from each ministry combine in a cabinet that then governs in a collective way. In Islam there is not a cabinet of ministers that collectively governs. Rather, the Khalifah is given a pledge by the Ummah to govern her by the book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger. The Khalifah can appoint delegated assistants that help him in carrying the burdens of the Khilafah. They are literally his assistants and aid him in those issues delegated to them. .

The ruling system in Islam is not democratic, in terms of giving the right of legislation to the people, where they permit, forbid, praise and rebuke as they see fit. A democratic system is not committed to divine rules at all and instead taking freedom as its core principle. The disbelievers realise that Muslims could not accept a democracy in its true form. Therefore, the colonial powers, particularly America, try to promote it in Muslim lands, by claiming that democracy is simply a means for electing the ruler. In this way they attempt to deceive the Ummah and tempt them to accept a democratic system. Since Muslim lands are suffering under the oppression and tyranny of true monarchs or “republican” dictators in which the sentiments of the people are suppressed and silenced it has been easy to promote democracy in these lands as a means to elect a new ruler! In this way they have carefully avoided discussing the more important aspect of democracy, which is giving the right of legislation, to the people rather than to the Creator. Unfortunately even some Islamists including some scholars have fallen for this deceit, whether with good or bad intention. If you ask them about democracy they say it is a means by which the people elect the ruler. Those that intend to deceive Muslims, like the disbelievers, answer avoiding its real meaning always avoid the real meaning of democracy when they advocate it. They prefer to avoid discussing the fact that in democracies sovereignty is in the hands of the people, and legislation is according to the opinion of the majority, permitting, forbidding, praising and rebuking as they like, instead sticking to the meaning coined by its advocates that it is about having elections. .

In a democracy the individual must be free to act as he wishes (translator’s note: as how else could the people hold sovereignty) Thus, he can drink alcohol, commit adultery, apostasise and insult sacred matters (translator’s note: with impunity according to the opinion of the majority, irrespective of the divine rule._ All of this can be permitted under a democracy and its freedoms. This is the true reality and meaning of democracy. How is it possible for a Muslim who believes in Islam to say that democracy is allowed, or that it is from Islam after realising this? .

Islam has laid out a specific mechanism for the election of the Khalifah by the Ummah. Though sovereignty in Islam is for the shara’, enacting the pledge to the Khalifah by the Ummah is a fundamental condition for him to become a Khalifah. The election of the Khalifah has been occurring in Islam since the early 7th century C.E., while the rest of the world lived in the darkness of dictatorships and the tyranny of kings. If one were to study the election of the rightly guided khulafa’, Abu Bakr, ‘‘Umar, ‘‘Uthman and ‘Ali (ra), it is very clear that the pledge was taken from the influential people of the Ummah and from the Muslims representatives so that each one of them became a Khalifah to whom obedience became incumbent. Nearing the end of ‘Umar’s term, ’Abd al-Rahman ibn ’Awf (ra), was delegated to find out the opinion of the representative of the Muslims (at that time, the people of Madinah). He set out to gauge who the Muslims in Madinah thought should be nominated for the post of Khaleefah and visited many houses in that process. He asked the men and women who they would select as Khalifah until he concluded that the overall consensus was in favour of ‘Uthman. ‘Uthman was then given the pledge (bayah). .

In conclusion, democracy is a system of kufr. This is not because it advocates the election of the ruler, for this is not the main issue. It is rather because the foundation of any democracy is giving the right of legislation to the people and not to the Lord of the worlds. Allah says: .

(Indeed, ruling belongs to Allah) [TMQ 12:40]..

(But no, by Your Lord, they can have no (real) faith until they make you judge in all disputes between them and find in their souls no resistance against your decisions, but accept them with the fullest submission) [4:65]..

There are many famous evidences that confirm that legislation is for Allah alone. .

To compound matters further, democracy acknowledges personal freedom, where a man and woman can do whatever they like without observing halal and haram. In a democracy, religious liberties allow apostasy and change of religion without any restriction. Furthermore, freedom of ownership allows the strong to exploit the weak through corrupt and deceptive means thus increasing the wealth of the rich and impoverishing the poor. Freedom of expression is not advocated to express the truth, rather it is used to insult the sanctities of the Ummah, to the point that those who attack Islam under the guise of freedom of expression are considered to have a keen intellect and are rewarded for their efforts. All of this clearly demonstrates that the ruling system in Islam (the Khilafah) is not Monarchical, Imperial, Federal, Republican or Democratic. .

3. The governmental institutions of the Khilafah state differ from those known in currently applied ruling systems, even though some parts may appear to be similar. The institutions of the Khilafah state are derived from the institutions of the first Islamic State established by the Messenger of Allah in al-Madinah al-Munawwarah after his emigration from Makkah. . This ruling system was followed by the rightly guided khulafa’ who succeeded him as heads of state. .

Careful examination of the relevant Islamic texts reveals that the Khilafah state comprises the following institutions: .

1. The Khalifah .

2. The delegated assistants .

3. The executive assistants .

4. The governors (Wulah) .

5. The Amir of Jihad .

6. The department for internal security .

7. The department of foreign affairs .

8. The department for industry .

9. The judiciary 10. The department for people’s affairs 11. The bayt al-mal (state treasury) 12. The department of information (I’lam) 13. The Ummah’s council This book aims to describe these institutions in more detail with analysis of the Islamic evidences from which they arise. We ask Allah to honour us with His victory and help us to establish the second Khilafah rashidah, thus bringing back the might of Islam and the Muslims, the humiliation of kufr and the unbelievers, and the spreading of glad tidings and justice to the entire world..

(Indeed Allah brings His Command to pass. Allah has set a measure for all things.) [65: 3] .

14th Dhul Hijjah 1425 H. 24/01/2005