Leadership, presidency and Imarah (emirate) are all of the same meaning. The leader, president and Ameer have the same meaning as well. However, the Khilafah, though it is a general leadership of all the Muslims in the world, is more specific than emirate (Imarah) and the Khaleefah is more specific than the Ameer. This is because the emirate can be the Khilafah and other than the Khilafah, like the emirate of an army and the emirate of the Wilayah and the emirate of the group. Thus the emirate is more general than the Khilafah. The Ameer could be the Khaleefah, the Ameer of a Wilayah, an Ameer of an army, an Ameer of a group, or an Ameer of travel. Hence, the Ameer is more general than the Khaleefah. Thus the word Khilafah is specific to the well-known post, while the word emirate is general for every Ameer.

Islam obliges that the leader, the president and the Ameer be one person, over the same matter and it does not allow that there should be more than one person in the same post. Therefore, Islam does not recognise what is called the collective leadership and does not recognise the collective presidency, rather the leadership in Islam is solely singular. So the leader, the president and the Ameer must be singular, and it is not allowed to be more than one person. The evidence on this matter is the traditions and actions of the Prophet (pbuh). Ahmad narrated on the authority of ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umru that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:

“It is not allowed for three persons in an open land without appointing one of them as an Ameer over them.” Abu Dawood narrated from Abi Sa’id that the Messenger of Allah said:

“If three people went out on a journey, let them appoint one of them as an Ameer.” Al-Bazzaar narrated from the tradition of ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab that the Prophet (pbuh) said: “If there are three persons in a journey, let them appoint one (Ahad) of them as an Ameer.” All these traditions state that the Ameer should be one, as understood from the Ahadith. “...Without appointing one (Ahad) of them as an Ameer.” “Let them appoint one of them as an Ameer.” The word one ‘Ahad’ is equivalent to the word ‘wahid’ which indicates the number one and not more. This is understood from the opposite meaning (Mafhoom ul- Mukhalafah). The Mafhoom ul-Mukhalafah for numbers and description (Wasf) can be acted upon without the need of text. As Allah (swt) says: