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

The Khalifah is restricted by the divine rules in his powers of adoption. He is thus forbidden from adopting a rule that has not been extracted from the divine evidences. He is also obliged to restrict himself to the rules he has adopted, and to the method of ijtihad (extracting rules) he has committed himself to. Therefore he is forbidden from adopting a rule that has been extracted by a method that is contrary to the one he had adopted, or from issuing an order that contradicts the rules which he has adopted. The Khalifah is thus restricted with two matters: .

The evidences for the first matter, i.e. the Khalifah is restricted regarding the adoption of the divine rules, are: .

1. Allah (S.W.T) has obliged every Muslim, including the Khalifah to conduct his actions according to the divine rules. Allah (S.W.T) says: .

"But no, by your lord, they will not believe (in the truth) until they make you judge of what is in dispute between them." [TMQ 4-65] .

Conducting actions according to the divine rules obliges the Muslim to adopt a specific rule when understanding of the Legislator’s speech varies, i.e. when understanding the meaning of the Legislator’s speech varies. So adopting a specific rule from amongst various rules becomes obligatory upon the Muslim when he wants to carry out an action, i.e. when he wants to implement the rule. This is also obligatory upon the Khalifah, when he performs his duty, which is the ruling. .

2. The content of the text of the bayah which the Khalifah is given obliges him to abide by the Islamic Shariah, as it is a bayah on the Book and the Sunnah. He therefore is forbidden from violating it and may even commit an act of disbelief if he did so with conviction. If he violated the Shariah without conviction he would be considered disobedient, a wrongdoer and a rebel. .

3. The Khalifah is appointed to implement the Sharia, therefore he is forbidden to refer to anything other than Sharia in ruling the Muslims. This is because Sharia has made this decisively unlawful, to the point where belief is compromised for anyone who rules by other than Islam, and this is a matter which carries decisive connotations. This means that the Khalifah is restricted in his adoption of the rules, i.e. in his enacting of laws, solely by the divine rules. If he enacts any law from other than Sharia, he would be committing an act of disbelief if he did so with conviction, and an act of disobedience, wrongdoing and rebellion if he did not believe in it. As for the second matter, the Khalifah is restricted to the rules that he adopts, and to the method of deduction he commits himself to. The evidence for this is that the divine rule that the Khalifah executes is the divine rule that is upon his neck and not on anybody else. In other words it is the divine (Shariah) rule that he adopted to conduct his affairs and not just any divine rule. This means that if the Khalifah extracted a rule or imitated in a rule, this divine rule would become Allah’s rule on his neck. He would be restricted also in adopting this rule for all the Muslims, and forbidden from adopting any other rule, for another rule would not be Allah’s rule upon his neck, and therefore it would not be a divine (Shariah) rule for him, and accordingly it would not be a divine (Shariah) rule for the Muslims. Therefore he is restricted in the orders which he decrees for the subjects by the divine (Shariah) rules that he has adopted. He is forbidden from issuing an order that conflicts with what he has adopted in terms of divine (Shariah) rules. In the case he did so, it would be as if he issued an order contrary to the divine (Shariah) rule, hence he is forbidden from issuing an order conflicting with what he adopts in terms of divine (Shariah) rules. .

The understanding of the divine (Shariah) rule also varies according to the method of "Istinbat" (extraction). If the Khalifah considers that the ‘Illah (effective legal cause) of the ruling is considered a divine cause if taken from a divine (Shariah) text, and he does not consider the interest (maslaha) as a divine cause, nor consider the Masalih mursala (unrestricted interests) as being a divine (Shariah) evidence, then he would have defined the method of istinbat for himself. Accordingly, he must restrict himself to it, and it would be wrong for him to adopt a rule that had its evidence as "Masalih Mursala", or to use an analogy (qiyas) based on an ‘illah (cause) that was not extracted from a divine (Shariah) text. For such a rule would not be considered a divine Shariah rule upon his neck, because he does not consider its source as a divine (Shariah) evidence, therefore it would not be a divine Shariah rule in his view. And since such a rule is not considered a divine rule for the Khalifah, it would also not be a divine rule for the Muslims. This would be as if the Khalifah adopted a rule alien to the Shariah and this is forbidden. If the Khalifah is a "Muqallid" (imitator) or a Mujtahid fi’l-Mas’ala (Jurisprudent in a single matter), and has no specific method of Istinbat, in this case, he is allowed to adopt any divine (Shariah) rule whatever its evidence, as long as he has a probable evidence, and he would not be restricted by any method in adopting the rules. He is only restricted when he issues orders, not to issue them except in accordance with the rules he has adopted.