The Series "Caliphate and Imamate in Islamic Thought"
By the Writer and Thinker Thaer Salama – Abu Malik
First Episode: Introduction
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
O God, praise be to You, You are the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and praise be to You, to You belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and praise be to You, You are the Light of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and praise be to You, You are the King of the heavens and the earth, and praise be to You, You are the Truth, and Your promise is the Truth, and meeting You is the Truth, and Your word is the Truth, and Paradise is the Truth, and Hell is the Truth, and the prophets are the Truth, and Muhammad ﷺ is the Truth, and the Hour is the Truth. O God, to You I have submitted, and in You I have believed, and upon You I have relied, and to You I have turned in repentance, and by You I have argued, and to You I have appealed for judgment, so forgive me what I have sent before and what I have left behind, and what I have concealed and what I have made public. You are the One Who brings forward and You are the One Who puts back. There is no god but You. And after...
Praise be to God ﷻ who expanded the hearts of the people of Islam with guidance, and inscribed upon the hearts of the people of tyranny so they never comprehend wisdom, and I bear witness that there is no god but God alone, without partner, a unique God, the Absolute, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, how honorable He made him as a servant and master, and how great He made his origin and lineage, and how pure He made his resting place and birth, and how radiant He made his heart and source, may God bless him and his family and companions, the clouds of generosity, and the lions against enemies, a lasting blessing and peace from today until the Day people are resurrected, and after...
Introduction
The purpose of the title of the research is not to conduct a comparison between the obligations, but rather to highlight the position and rank of the Caliphate in religion, and to emphasize that it is an obligation from the Lord of the Worlds, ثابتٌ بالقطعِ, so contemplate the dependence of the majority of واجبات وجوداً وعدماً on the existence and non-existence of the Caliphate!
And the fundamental principle is that what is indispensable for the completion of an obligation is itself obligatory. So what about an obligation (واجب) on which any obligation from the obligations of the economic, social, judicial, penal, foreign or domestic system in managing the affairs of the nation and guarding it, or the obligations related to financial or military policy, or most of the obligations of Islam, do not stand unless it is established, there is no doubt that the obligation of its obligation is established, and its rank in importance is significant!
When we say: Establishing the Caliphate is one of the most important, dangerous, and prioritized واجبات, we do not mean to differentiate between the duties in degree, but we found the Caliphate from Islam to be more like the operating system of a computer, so no matter how accurate the programs designed to work are, they do not work efficiently unless the computer has an operating system, and we found that most of the rulings of Islam are linked to and dependent on a state to be established on earth, as you will see from the research shortly, God willing, so there is no doubt that the rank of establishing the Caliphate, by which all other duties are established, is primary1.
However, saying that it is the most important of obligations is not a novel statement, as we have نقلنا in this book the words of a group of scholars of the Islamic nation who are firmly grounded in knowledge who described the Caliphate as the most important of obligations, as they compared it with obligations of utmost importance!.
Yes, establishing the Caliphate, that is: applying Islamic law, is the obligation that preserves the obligations! Is that not self-evident? Indeed, it is what has been متواتر2 and definitively established? So let us consider:
1- Prayer is an obligation with extended time, it is permissible for the obligated person to perform it at its beginning or end. If it is at its beginning and he does not think that he will die, then he may present الزكاة for example, but when only a little time remains before the عصر prayer is missed, then the obligation to perform it takes precedence over any obligation that contradicts it, in order to clear one's conscience and not miss the obligation and deserve punishment. Thus, the importance is related to clearing one's conscience to perform the obligation, and clearing one's conscience may be related to the individual like all personal obligations, so he must clear his conscience by performing the obligation, and it may be related to the group like the collective obligations, and when a personal obligation conflicts with a collective obligation so that only one of them can be performed in that period of time, then the scholars differed as to which should be presented? Some of them saw that establishing the collective obligation clears the conscience of the group and removes the sin from the group, so it takes precedence over clearing the conscience of the individual. Similarly, the overlapping consequences of the absence of Islamic rule, and the accumulation of obligations that cannot be established on earth due to the absence of the Caliphate, which has led to the suspension of all those rulings, and the proliferation of the consequences of the absence of the Caliphate on the nation from killing, rape, the rule of fools, and submission to the rule of disbelief, makes the importance of establishing the Caliphate primary.
2- Refer to the chapter: The Meaningful التواتر on the Obligation of the Caliphate
