The word Khilafah (Caliphate), came from the Arabic root word, 'Khalifah,' which means someone who succeeds another person. It

also means: vicegerent, progenitor, trustee, etc.

God Almighty made Adam (PBUH) His vicegerent on

earth. We read in the Holy Qur'an: Behold! when your Lord said to the angels, "I will create a vicegerent on

the earth." (2:30)

A caliph was always elected by populace, who most preferably elected educated men to represent them.

People, as Plato said: "are susceptible to deception by subtle and selfish men." To emphasize democracy, as

well as shading lime light on the process of voting,

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) did not groom

anyone to succeed him; he left the matter upon Muslims

to elect democratically whomever they liked and

trusted.

Muslims were free to elect someone whom they felt was fair, capable, competent and able to deliver on his promises in serving his religion as well as his people.

The state consultative council had full rights to depose any caliph if he happened to commit grave mistakes and if it was discovered he was not competent for the job.

Also once they felt that he was corrupt and did not deal justly with people, then they would exercise their right to unseat him. In brief, a caliph was a servant of the people he ruled and not the vice versa.

The role models to Muslims after Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) are his four immediate rightly-guided companions.

The Prophet (PBUH) mentioned that it was imperative for any caliph after him to emulate him in the way he implemented the Islamic Law as well as ruling Muslims.

All Muslims are unanimous in their recognition that those four rightly-guided caliphs are the best human-beings after prophets and messengers.

They set a good example in leadership, adherence to the tenets of Islam, humbleness, etc.

Responsibilities of a Caliph

The caliph, in essence, is an authorized representative or trustee, whose authorization can be declared "null and void" at any given time if he doesn't perform well enough and is not sincere to God .

Based on this fact, we observe that the caliph is a man like any other. His position or rank is one of assignment and entrustment, not of legislature like so many are led to believe.

To support this fact, is the knowledge that, on the Day of Judgment, every man will be held accountable for himself except for the caliph; for he will be held accountable for himself as well as the people he ruled.

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), when describing any kingdom, said that it would be a source

of shame and regret to its leader except for the person

who rightly took it and served his subjects to the best of his

ability.

The first four rightly-guided companions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) emulated him in the following aspects as well as others with regard to leadership:

1.They paid less attention to worldly gains, despite the riches of the state being at their disposal.

2.They were fair and just to all human-beings in all aspects of legal affairs.

3.They feared to commit oppression or tyranny and made sure whatever they did was accurate and proper.

4.They avoided claiming leadership and when elected, they abhorred arrogance. It is noteworthy that of the four rightly-guided companions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) three died as victims of murder save Abu Baker.

The first responsibility of a caliph is the judicature or

administration of justice. No one can inherit the caliphate; suitable religious people are

the ones elected meritoriously to that sensitive high position.

A caliph should be adult, knowledgeable, clever, fully abiding by the Islamic Law, endowed with a strong and

effective personality as well as being wise, and so on and so

forth.

It is worthy mentioning that the Islamic prescribed consultative

council is quite different from today's version of the parliament

in that the former consists of members who are among the

best in their community.

They are elected based on their religious integrity,

honesty, trustworthiness, etc. They are fully respected by

virtue of the aforementioned qualities regardless of color,

race, social status and ethnicity.

Whereas, people elected to a parliament may be cunning and

subtle enough to employ illicit methods to be elected. When

elected, such people turn out to be representing themselves,

their immediate family members, and henchmen;

their prime aim is to satisfy their own whims and desires, not to mention those of their henchmen. Media coverage, wealth, social status, etc. may also play a big role in getting one elected to the parliament or any high ranking position, regardless of true personal worth and ability.

In most cases, after someone attains high rank, he blatantly reneges on his promises thus revealing his true personality. In so doing, the trust invested in him by his constituency, is

irretrievably lost.

Whereas the Islamic version of the consultative council elects its members

based on qualities such as:

religious affiliation, trustworthiness, honesty,

modesty, leadership skills, etc.

The Islamic History is replete with illustrious names of caliphs and leaders who did not enjoy any remarkable social position amongst their respective peoples, yet they were elevated to the lofty position of caliphate or emirate by virtue of their closeness to Allah and the high degree of their attachment to Him.

Neither were they elected due to their attachment to a sultan nor did wealth become a deciding factor for them to be elected as leaders or caliphs.

1.Abu Baker Al-Siddique (632 – 634)

2.Omar bin Al-Khattab (634 – 644)

3.Uthman bin Affan (644 – 656)

4.Ali bin Abi Talib (656 – 661)

Following are the names of the first four caliphs:

The First Caliph

Abu Baker Al-Siddiq, the first caliph in Islam and prophet

Muhammad's closest companion, was proclaimed

chief of the community, taking the title of Khalifa. After Prophet

Muhammad's death, the situation in Arabia was very

confused and tense.

Abu Baker was faced with many oppositions, the most stubborn of

which was rebellion in Yamama and peoples' recantation of faith.

After his death, Umar bin Al-Khattab

was elected to run the affairs of Muslims as the second caliph in

Islam. During his reign, the Islamic influence spread all over

different parts of the world. His caliphate lasted 10 years.

It is noteworthy, that after Umar was stabbed, his physician

requested him to appoint six prominent companions of Prophet

Muhammad (PBUH) from whom his successor would be elected.

That physician chose the six companions of the prophet

because they were among a batch of 10 companions to whom

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had given the glad tidings of entering

the Paradise without going through the process of accountability on

the Day of Judgment.

Umar's cousin was among the 10 people promised Paradise but Umar

declined to include him among the six candidates for the caliphate

because he feared being branded as nepotistic. His son, Abdallah, was

also among the competent people to succeed him, but he declined to

include his name for the same reason mentioned earlier.

After Umar's death, Uthman was elected as his successor who also

ruled for approximately 10 years. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had

earlier prophesied that Uthman would enter paradise by virtue of

patiently persevering after incurring a severe catastrophe.

The catastrophe Prophet Muhammad alluded to was the former being wrongly assassinated by Muslim extremist dissidents. Following is the story in detail:

A group of Muslim extremist dissidents took advantage of the Hajj season when the majority of Muslims were busy carrying out

the acts of Hajj. They laid Uthman's house under siege.

When it was brought to the attention of Muslims, who were not

performing Hajj at the time, they hurriedly came to rescue him as well as protecting him from any

potential danger.

Uthman, fresh with the memory of the prophet's prophesy, asked

them to vacate his compound in order to avoid any bloodshed For he did not want to be the cause of any unrest amongst Muslims.

After his compound was vacated, assailants broke into his house and killed him. It is crystal-clear from the incident that Uthman sacrificed his life to avoid carnage amongst Muslims.

The fourth among the rightly-guided caliphs was Ali bin Abi

Talib, cousin and son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad. He was

elected unopposed to fill the gap left behind by Uthman. He was

among the bravest men in Islam;

he killed many strong pagans in duels, which were opted for. He was well trained and accustomed to duels ever since he was a teenager. He was famous for his piety and knowledge, and was a very devout Muslim.

Fairness and justice were among his feats. Once he

quarreled with a Jew who took the case to a judge. The judge

summoned Ali and the Jew.

In the court house of sorts, the judge commanded both of them to sit down – calling Ali by his pet-name and the Jew by his real name. Ali protested saying, "You have done no justice to him, not addressing him as you addressed me."

The Last Caliph was Sultan Abdul-Hamid, the second, who

was deposed and then died a natural death at the beginning

of the 20th Century.

It should be noted that the caliphate is a huge

responsibility and thus should not be deemed as honor.

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: "The leader of a people

is really their servant."

Being aware of the responsibilities that the caliphate entailed, many of our rightly –guided ancestors declined to take it whenever they were elected. They put into consideration the following tradition of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH):

" Whoever is appointed a judge should then realize that he has been slaughtered but without a knife." Of course one couldn't be a judge if he was not a caliph.

Some Youths Taking Responsibility

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) delegated Muadh bin Jabal to

be his vicegerent in Yemen when the latter was only 20

years old. He also nominated

Usama bin Zaid to lead a very great army, which undertook a

very great responsibility to go to the

Levant and fight against a Byzantium army while the latter was only 16 years old. Being a

son of a slave, did not deter him from taking that painstaking

responsibility so long as he met the requirements. These two

teenagers were tasked with their respective

responsibilities based on the qualities of religiosity, deep and sound knowledge of Islam as well having excellent awareness of the affairs around which their responsibilities revolved. They were also wise and active in many fronts.

As we have seen before, the Islamic Caliphate and

leadership in general, were not and should not be an exclusive

monopoly for the wealthy, those at the top echelons of the

society, those deeply attached and affiliated to kings or those enjoying a high family status.

The yardstick in electing a leader or a caliph was and should be according to the following verse: "… the most honored of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you." (49:13)

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) also said: "All of you are

descendants of Adam and Adam was created from clay. No Arab is superior to a non-

Arab neither is a non-Arab superior to an Arab.

Neither is a white man superior to a black man nor a black man to a white man."

(Reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

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