Centre

Franais de Recherche sur le Renseignement

FOREIGN ANALYSIS N31

THE CONCEPT OF CALIPHATE
AND THE REVIVAL OF UTOPIAN ISLAMIC STATE

Dr Farhan Zahid
Ph D, Counter-Terrorism and Security Analyst (Pakistan).

Restoration of caliphate and rebuilding of society are issues hotly debated
between Islamists and secular modernists. Islamists, whether moderate or radicals,
claim to reconstruct the Muslim society from scratch as they deem present-day Muslim
majority countries as corrupt, immoral and being ruled by manmade laws, therefore,
reverted back to pre-Islamic ignorance. On the other hand, moderate Muslim thinkers
and scholars, led by Taerk Fatah, Riffat Hassan, Stephen Sulaiman Schwartz and others,
rather question Islamist about authenticity of their claims on the basis of Islamic texts.

According to Egyptian scholar of Al-Azhar University and jurist Ali Abdul Razziq
(Islam and the Principles of Governance), there is nothing in Islamic scriptures, both in
Quran and Hadith, about any particular form of government for Muslims as ordained by
God.1 Renowned historian Bernard Lewis is even more explicit about this phenomenon
while saying, But in the sense of a state ruled by the church or by priests, Islam was not
and indeed could not be a theocracy. In this sense, classical Islam had no priesthood, no
prelates who might rule or decisively influence those who did. The caliph, who was head of
a governing institution that was state and church in one, was himself neither a jurist nor a
theologian, but a practitioner of the arts of politics and sometimes of war. The office of
ayatollah is a creation of the nineteenth century; the rule of Khomeimi and of his successor
as supreme jurist an innovation of the twentieth.2

It is worth mentioning that most of the major Salafist ideologues were not
trained in Islamic jurisprudence and law. Jamal ud Din Afghani, Maududi, Hasan-ul Bana,
Syed Qutb, Abu Faraj and present-day Al-Qaeda Emir Ayman al-Zawahiri are trained
teachers, doctors, journalists but not Islamic scholars. They are either self-taught or
developed their views by reading texts of previous Islamist ideologues professing the
same doctrines. The present day jihadists view Salafs (or the early generations of
Islamic state in fact mistakenly) as the role model for implementing their political
1

Faisal Gazi, The first Muslim secularist, the Guardian, April 9, 2009, available at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/apr/09/religion-islam-secularism-egypt/print
2 Bernard Lewis, What Went Wrong? Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response, (London: Phoenix
Books, 2002) p.127

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agendas. It seems that Salafists understanding of Islamic religion is related to historical

events than the actual texts with contexts. Since Islamist ideologues are more interested
in politics therefore, they take ideas from history of Muslim monarchs rather than
reading and comprehending Islamic texts.

Again, we find Bernard Lewis explaining this issue that it was because of the last
500 years of perpetual decline in terms of almost every spare of life, resulting in
becoming poor, weak and ignorant.1 Islamists, according to Lewis, believe in these
failures and decline of Muslims past glory in adopting western culture and ideas. He
further says, For those nowadays known as Islamists or fundamentalists, the failures and
shortcomings of the modern Islamic lands afflicted them because they adopted alien
notions and practices. The fell away from authentic Islam, and thus lost their former
greatness.2

Establishment of caliphate/Islamic state is one concept on which all Al-Qaeda
associated movements (including Islamic State of Iraq and Sham, a splinter of Al-Qaeda)
and groups subscribe to Wahabi/Salafi ideology in same pattern. Whether it is South
East Asian Gammah Islamiya or Central Asian Hizb-ut-Tahrir (whose ideology is all
about establishing Caliphate), Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood or Pakistani Jamaat-eIslami, all are for establishment of caliphate in their respective regions. Pakistani
Islamist violent non-state actors and their pattern Islamist political parties have same
inclinations about Taliban-ruled Afghanistan as model. In fact restoration of Islamic
caliphate agenda is a converging point. It provides Islamist groups political impetus and
in terms of academic jargon could be termed agent responsible for activities and a
primary system driver.

Modern Salafist thinkers in their writings have even considered Prophetic
traditions as templates that must be revisited for the establishment of true Islamic
society. This would be like repeating the history in the same manner as Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) and it includes Dawa (preaching the message), Hajira (then
migration to other lands) and Jihad.3

Salafist ideologues are fundamentalists by their approach in understanding Islam
and taking Quranic injunctions as literal and eternal. Taqi ud Din Nabhani of HuT, Abdul
Salam Faraj of Egyptian Islamic Group, Abdullah Azzam, and finally Bin Laden were
great proponents of following the template for creating true model Islamic state. The
concepts adobe of Islam (Darul Islam) and adobe of infidels (Darul Kufr) are part and
parcel of caliphate and revival of Umma (Islamic community) notions.4

Stephen Ulph describes Ayman al-Zawahiri for explaining the above mentioned
issue, Similarly, in his work Knights Under the Banner of the Prophet, Ayman alZawahiri interprets his own sra according to the pattern: the call for Shara in Egypt, the
hijra away from the jhili apostate regime at Cairo to form vanguard groups and training
bases, pending the exportation of jihd onto a global arena to strive for the establishment
of the Islamic umma.5
1 Ibid, p.168
2 Ibid, Lewis, p.176
3 As the Prophet (PBUH) had first preached people in his hometown city of Mecca and then after facing

persecution he along with his fellows migrated to city of Medina and then led forces in defense by the way
of Jihad
4 Darul Islam (adobe of Islam) and Darul Harb or Kufr (adobe of war or infidels) concepts were coined by
13th century Syrian scholar Ibn Taymiyya; Quran and Hadith are silent on any such conditions
5 Stephen Ulph, Towards a Curriculum: For the Teaching of Jihadist Ideology Part III: The World through
a Jihadi Lens, The Jamestown Foundation, October 2010, p.18

Abdullah Azzam, the father of militant jihadism and principal ideologue of
Pakistani Islamist terrorism, also shed light on the subject in a similar tone, The first,
obligatory, hijra is from the Abode of Kufr to the Abode of Islam. It is incumbent upon all
Muslims if they find themselves unable to establish their religious rites in the Abode of Kufr,
or if the oppression of the tawght becomes intense and they are unable to grow their
beards or make daw to God, or struggle in His path, or maintain Islamic control over
their families or children, or if life has become corrupt or society or society decrepit, or the
face of the earth become rotten hijra is your duty even if you are in Bayt al-Maqdis
[Jerusalem}1

Among the system drivers (core ideological beliefs) in this context, the
caliphate/Islamic state provides a powerful driving force for Islamists. It is not only
Islamist parties in Pakistan but all over the world, thrive over this issue. Since 1923
when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk abolished the Ottoman Empire and caliphate system, a
ceremonial status being enjoyed by Ottoman Sultan as leader of Muslims around the
world (more or less like ceremonial status of Holy Roman Emperor till 1806).

In Islamism, the concept of caliphate evolved in reaction to centuries of decline of
Muslim states, primarily Ottomans, Persians, and Indian Mughal Empire. The early
ideologues of Islamism such as Jamal ud Din Afghani, Mohammad Abduh and Rashid
Rida could be considered the flag bearers of Islamic nationalism based upon religious
identity or Muslim nationalism. The same kind of religious-nationalism was witnessed
in Greek War of Independence (1821-32), where Orthodox Greek church rallied behind
nationalists in driving out the Turks after 300 years.2

With the departure of last of figurehead caliph Sultan Abdul Mecid II from
Ottoman Turkey in 1923, the second wave of Islamist thinkers such as Hasan-ul Bana,
Maududi, and Taqi ud Din Nabhani found reasons to grind their own axes, and blended
the issue of restoration of caliphate in their ideologies. Maududi said, Khilafa means
representative. Man, according to Islam is the representative of "people", His (God's)
viceregent; that is to say, by virtue of the powers delegated to him, and within the limits
prescribed by the Qu'ran and the teaching of the prophet, the caliph is required to exercise
Divine authority.3

The issue of caliphate is an apparent one in many different Islamist movements
across the globe, and the focus is to have it revived either by force or by political means.
But indeed, as we discussed earlier, the creed is, with some slight difference, one and the
same. An ex-Islamist and former member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Ed Hussain has pointed out
in his memoir that they were all one with the Wahabi creed.4 Bin Laden reiterated
same views while calling the period after the end of caliphate in 1923 as humiliation
and disgrace of more than eighty years.5


*

1 Ibid, Ulph, p.18
2 Frank Smitha, Greek War of Independence: Nationalism and Independence for Greek, Macro History

and World Report, available at: http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h36-2gr.html

3 Abul Ala Maududi, Human Rights in Islam, The Islamic Foundation, 1976, p.9
4 Ed Hussain, The Islamist: Why I joined radical Islam in Britain, what I saw inside and why I left, (London:

Penguin Books, 2007), p.234

Compilation of Usama Bin Laden Statements 1994-January 2004, FBIS Report, 2004,
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/ubl-fbis.pdf, retrieved on 20/3/12, p.183

The caliphate issue is cornerstone of every Islamist party and Islamist terrorist
organization, one way or another. Since these organizations are Wahabi/Salafists in
theory and practice, thus, they relate and build upon their ideologies around this
concept. It holds key in their manifestos as it indulges them to strive for a utopian
Islamic state. Jamaat-e-Islami manifesto clearly states reasons for recreating a society
modeled on Islamic caliphate, the manifesto says, It is part of the program of Jamaat-eIslami to awaken the slumbering people and to make them an organized force through
training. In order to popularize to Islamic thought in the society and thus enabling the
Muslims equip themselves with Islamic characteristics of a practicing Muslim and with the
help of masses to challenge the atheists generally in all spheres of life and to remove them
from the helm of affairs, in particular, and instead to enthrone those who are obedient to
Allah. Let it be clear, that Jamaat-e-Islami is committed to turn Pakistan into such a socialwelfare state. Which should be replica of the Khalafat-e-Rashida.1

As most of Wahabi/Salafists are from tribal societies, therefore, Saudi state and
Taliban-ruled Afghanistan are principal models for them. In case of Pakistan
mainstream Pakistani Islamist parties JI and JUI have always been key beneficiaries of
Saudi state and supported Taliban regime.

Dr Farhan Zahid
November 2015

1 Manifesto of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, Official Website, http://jamaat.org/beta/site/page/9, retrieved

on 4/8/12