Series "The Caliphate and Imamate in Islamic Thought" - By the writer and thinker Thaer Salama – Abu Malik - Part 9
Series "The Caliphate and Imamate in Islamic Thought"
By the writer and thinker Thaer Salama - Abu Malik
Part Nine: Definition of Caliphate
First: Definition of Caliphate:
Reality: The caliphate is the major imamate, and it is an origin upon which the rules of the nation are based, and it is a complete presidency, a general leadership, and a succession to the prophecy to protect and establish the religion, and to govern the world by applying the Sharia, and to govern the subjects and take care of their affairs, and to fulfill their interests, and to show the laws of religion, and to establish its limits, and to abide by its commands and to end its prohibitions, and to adopt and adhere to its rulings, and to establish good and show it and prevent evil and obliterate its effects, and to preserve the Hawza, and spread security, and defend the state in the face of external enemies, and from this branches the establishment of heavy industries, research centers, and the establishment of industries related to the assets of public ownership, such as factories for extracting, purifying, and smelting minerals, and such as factories for extracting and refining oil.
The Caliphate applies the provisions of Sharia, so it establishes the truth, judges with justice, removes injustice, judges in disputes, establishes the balance with equity, carries the call, establishes state institutions, its agencies, its departments, its markets, and appoints assistants, governors, and employees with strength, competence, and honesty, and applies the systems of Islam in governance, internal politics, foreign policy, judiciary, administration, economy, finance, education, society, media, penalties, and manages its interests in matters of work, roads, medicine, education, agriculture, and so on, and surrounds opinion with the fence of Shura, and works to provide work for every individual of the subjects, if he is capable of it, and guarantees his basic needs, from food, housing and clothing, and works to provide the least of them necessary, marriage and what is needed to meet his distant interests and guarantee the two natural rights, medicine and education, and enable him to achieve prosperity for himself and those he supports [2] May God have mercy on him: For God, may His power be glorified, assigned to the nation a leader who succeeded the prophecy, surrounded the nation, and entrusted to him politics, so that management would be based on a legitimate religion, and the word would come together on a followed opinion, so the imamate was an origin upon which the rules of the nation were based, from which what is good for the politics of the world, and the interests of the nation were organized until the general matters were established, and the private authorities were issued from it.
Then Al-Mawardi defined the Imamate, saying: The Imamate is established to succeed the prophecy in protecting the religion and governing the world, and its contract is obligatory by consensus for whoever undertakes it in the nation, even if Al-Asam deviates from them.[4] In his vocabulary: "Caliphate: Delegation from another, either due to the absence of the delegated, or due to his death, or due to his inability, or to honor the successor. And on this last basis, God succeeded his saints on earth, may He be exalted, said: ﴿It is He who has made you successors on earth﴾ [Fatir: 39] and said: ﴿And my Lord will replace a people other than you﴾[6].
As for the Imam of the Two Holy Mosques, Abu Al-Maali Abdul Malik Al-Juwayni[8].
Al-Iji said: The Imamate is the succession of the Messenger in establishing the religion, so that following him is obligatory for the entire nation[10].
Al-Taftazani defined the Imamate as: "Delegation from the Messenger ﷺ in establishing the religion so that all nations must follow"[12]
Al-Qalqashandi described[14].
From the foregoing, it becomes clear that the caliphate in Islamic terminology means Islamic leadership or the Imamate, and from here it is known that the term Imamate is synonymous with the term caliphate.[16].
Sheikh Muhammad Abu Zahra explains the synonymy between the two words by saying: "All political doctrines revolve around the caliphate, which is the major imamate, and it is called the caliphate because the one who takes over it, and is the supreme ruler of the Muslims, succeeds the Prophet in managing their affairs, and it is called the imamate because the caliph was called an imam, and because obedience to him is obligatory, and because people used to walk behind him, just as they pray behind those who lead them in prayer"
[2] Al-Mawardi: He is the Imam Al-Allama Aqda Al-Qada Abu Al-Hasan Ali bin Muhammad bin Habib Al-Basri Al-Mawardi Al-Shafi'i. Abu Bakr Al-Khatib narrated from him and trusted him. He said: He died in Rabi’ al-Awwal in the year four hundred and fifty. And he held the judiciary in various countries. He reached eighty-six years. See his biography in Siyar A'lam al-Nubala' by Al-Hafiz Al-Dhahabi - Investigation: Shuaib Al-Arnaout and Muhammad Naim Al-Arqsousi - Al-Resala Foundation - 1413 AH - 9th edition - 18 / 64
[4] Al-Raghib Al-Asfahani is Al-Hussein bin Muhammad bin Al-Mufaddal, Abu Al-Qasim Al-Asfahani (or Al-Asbahani) known as Al-Raghib (died 502 AH / 1108 AD) is a writer and scholar, originally from Isfahan, and lived in Baghdad. Al-Zarkali said about him: «He became famous, until he was compared to Imam Al-Ghazali.»
[6] Previous source: p: 294.
[8] Ghiyath Al-Umam fi Al-Tiyath Al-Zulam - Al-Juwayni - Investigation, study and indexing by Dr. Abd Al-Azim Al-Deeb - College of Sharia - Qatar University - 1st edition - 1400 AH - p. 22.
[10] Kashf Istilahat Al-Funun - Muhammad A'la bin Ali Al-Tahanawi - Khayat - Beirut - without year of publication - 1/92.
[12] Al- صنعani, Al-Taj Al-Dhahabi for the rulings of the doctrine explaining the text of Al-Azhar in the jurisprudence of the pure Imams 4/ 404.
[14] Ma'athir Al-Inafa fi Ma'alim Al-Khilafa, Part One, p. 2.
[16] Introduction by Ibn Khaldun – p. 191.
[17] History of Islamic Schools of Thought - Muhammad Abu Zahra - Dar Al-Fikr Al-Arabi - Cairo - p. 20.
