Reflections on the Khilâfah...

I'm currently reading, along with several other books, Khalid Blankinship's The End of the Jihad State: The Reign of Hisham Ibn'Abd Al-Malik and the Collapse of the Umayyads which is a truly excellent study not only on the reasons behind the demise of the Umayyads, but on the doctrine of Jihad, the spread of Islam and a myriad of related subjects. It's just so refreshing to read a well-written and well-defended academic thesis on Islamic history written by a Muslim convert that I can't really express how much I'm enjoying it.

In the same vein, awhile back I came across an essay by Khalid Blankinship on Lampost Productions, now my favorite Maliki website, entitled The History of the Caliphate (Word .doc, Acrobat .pdf), in which he answers some key questions about the khilâfah. He points out that after the fall of the Umayyads and with the advent of the 'Abbâsids, the Ummah has never again been united under one khalifa. The article also discusses the fiqh of the khilâfah and the ways that various titles, such as "Amir al-Mu'minin" and "Khalifa'", have been used both legitimately and illegitimately by various Muslim rulers.

The following observation by Khalid Blankinship demonstrates, in a somewhat tongue-in-check way, the problems that restoration of the khilâfah presents when viewing this role form a traditional standpoint: "It would seem to me that any attempt to restore the khilâfah today would have to begin by asking why all Muslims should not swear allegiance to King Muhammad VI of Morocco, who certainly holds this claim and does so through an ancient and venerable lineage that goes back much earlier than the Ottoman claim and is much more authentic. Not that I hold the view that that is what is to be done, but it would seem that classical theory would require allegiance to the existing khalîfah rather than setting up another as rival." Points to ponder, indeed.

Related to this, since it has to do with the early khilâfah, are the questions of how Muslims should view the Sahabah, their various disagreements and the fact that they actually engaged in armed conflict with one another? These questions are treated in great detail in Defence Against Disaster: The Accurate Position of the Companions After the Prophet's Death, which is an English translation of Qadi Abu Bakr Ibn Al-'Arabi's seminal work al-'Awâsim min al-Qawâsim. I highly recommend this book for any Muslim who is confused over the various debates surrounding the Rightly-Guided Caliphs and the early fitnas - and SunniPath.com has some answers to such questions as well (1, 2).

Deen On...