Page 12 - issue-25 - en

ELITE Vol.1 No.25, Nov. 2020

Islamic Caliphate: The Past-

Present Debate

*Prof. Dr. Neveen Abdelkhalek, Professor of Political Thought and Political Theory

Translated by Nadeen Hesham

The starting point: since the first moments following the death of
Islamic caliphate in the 1920s, the debate around reviving this
Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him), no other issue has
concept and the title of the Caliph of Muslims hasn ’t stopped.
engendered much disagreement and debate among Muslims –
However, the passage of time and the strong winds of change in
whether intellectuals or masses – as the issue of succession or the direction of establishing modern civil states dimmed this
“khilafah. ” The Muslims who had emigrated to Madinah debate for a while until political Islamist groups emerged with
their goal of reviving the caliphate.
(“muhajiroon ”) and the natives of the city who had supported the
Therefore, what is the true nature and historical evolution of this
Prophet and embraced Islam ( “ansar ”) rushed to discuss this
concept? The constant view among the majority of Muslims
issue, which was settled when Abu Bakr al-Siddiq assumed the
known as “ahl al-sunna ” is that the caliphate was a form of
position and was the first to hold the title of successor of the
diligence exercised by Muslims via their consultation and choice
prophet “khalifat al-rasul. ” Concerning the other title of
as the Prophet had not named a successor. And this era began by
successor of God “khalifat al-Allah, ” we see that the Quran
following the Prophet ’s method of laying the foundations of
addressed Mohammed as a messenger and a prophet but never as
justice, rendering it a caliphate whose aim was to preserve
a successor of Allah or His shadow on Earth. And the second
religion and manage worldly affairs according to it. Thus, this
caliph, Omar bin Khattab, refused to be described as such,
era came to be known as the rightly-guided caliphate and its four
opting instead for the title of prince of the believers “amir al-
caliphs as the rightly-guided “rashidun ” caliphs, who were, in
mo ’mineen ” when he found that the title of successor of the
order of succession, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Omar bin Khattab,
successor of the prophet was too long. In any case, Islamic
Uthman bin Affan, and Ali bin Abi Talib.
thought has rejected the notion of God ’s shadow on Earth;
Although the historical narrative settled on describing this era as
hence, the divine right to rule that Europe knew during the
the model to be referenced as an example of the application of
Middle Ages never made its way into Islamic thought save for
Islamic values, this did not prevent sword fighting and
exceptional cases, but it was never an integral concept of this
beheadings from occurring leading to the Great Strife “fitna. ”
thought.
History books have narrated the events of this strife that ended
with the agreement between Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan and al-
The continued debate: in old and modern times alike, the issue
Hassan bin Ali giving the former the caliphate to be succeeded
of succession or the caliphate remained at the center of Muslim
by the latter.
debate, discussion, thought and disagreement. Since the fall of
Muawiyah and the overturn of the caliphate into kingship:
the Ottoman Caliphate and the declaration of the end of the
Muawiyah reneged on his agreement with al-Hassan and seized
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