The Islamic Center

Q. Some Sufi’s speak in favor of the Caliphate while othersoppose it. Please clarify your views regarding the Caliphate(political) for us and your beliefs regarding freedom and democracy.

A. The Caliphate endorsed by Sufis has nothing todo with that which Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other Islamist andterrorist groups call towards, and can be compared to the Christianunderstanding of the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven underJesus. The Sufi concept of the Caliphate is based on the establishmentof the Caliphate of the awaited Imam, Hadrat Imam Al-Mahdi (alaihisalam), the Twelfth Imam. Sufis believe that his government will beestablished by direct Divine Intervention, and through direct spiritualsupport and powers and not through a revolution or through terrorism.Al Mahdi, the Caliph of the Sufis, would be supported by Jesus, andwould posses the Ark of the Covenant as his main weapon of war. AlQaeda, and the Taliban and their likes on the other hand, aim to createa revolution and “take over” Islamic countries, like they didAfghanistan, and force the rest of the world, through war and terrorismto submit to their rule. These groups believe this to be the idealmodel for the Khilafah. Sufis believe the office of the Caliph to beone reserved for a successor of the Prophet Muhammad’s (S) spiritualityand teachings, not just anyone like the Ummayyad appointments to theoffice of the Caliph and even the Abbasid appointments, during the erasof whom the mantle of the Caliphate was passed from father to son, likein the sad case of Muawiyya appointing his son Yazid (may Allah cursehim) as Caliph after him. This practice is ironic, as it was these samegovernments who opposed the claim to the Caliphate by the ProphetMuhammad’s (S) own descendants, and murdered and poisoned them andtheir relatives.

Regarding the Declaring of Jihad

Also, unlike the current Islamist groups, the Sufis believe thatthere can be no Jihad without a Caliph, and the Caliph the ProphetMuhammad (S) spoke about in the last days is the Mahdi, being a Knightfor whom is praiseworthy and spiritually rewarding, something which onecannot say for sure with other leaders due to their ability to becomecorrupt and be led astray. It is also important for you to know thatthe Sufis believe that there will only be 313 Knights who will actuallyfight for Al Mahdi directly, and as such, for the most part, do notteach that all Muslims will have to fight during the time of the Mahdi,who will come to make peace, not war. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqanideclared to the late Afghan King Zahir Shah during the Afghan war,which paved the way for the rise of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, “…thosepeople in your country who claim to be ‘Alims (religious scholars) areliars. I will come against them on the Day of Resurrection, becausethey have caused thousands of people to be killed without any reason.This is not happening for the sake of Allah”.

Regarding Democracy

In regards to democracy, if it means actually allowing people tofreely choose their leaders, looking back at the lives of the RightlyGuided Caliphs and the Twelve Imams, we can see that the first Caliphwas elected by the majority, and the Twelve Imams did not force thepeople to accept their Imamate after the era of the Rightly GuidedCaliphs ended, allowing people to choose their own leader. The TwelveImams also educated both Sunni Muslims and Shiites, at a time when bothschools considered each other heretics and political enemies andrivals. The Ijazah’s the Twelve Imams granted the greatest Imam of theSunni school to issue fatwa demonstrates that people should be allowednot only the freedom to choose their own leaders, but also the freedomto speak and spread their own beliefs.

The Need for Freedom

I believe that this idea of freedom is something we need to learnfrom their example. It is not a secret that throughout Islamic history,as we see even today in Iran and Saudi Arabia, Sufi Saints were forcedto conceal their beliefs for fear of being killed. In fact, it was dueto the lack of freedom of thought and speech that Shaykh al-AkbarMuhiuddin Ibn Arabi was killed, and due to the lack of freedom ofexpression that Mansur al-Hallaj was executed. Even in my own family,my ancestors during the Ummayyad and Abbasid times, were forced toconceal their beliefs and even lineage, for fear of being killed due totheir beliefs and bloodline, which traced back to ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib.The Holy Prophet (S) already spoke about this happening to hisdescendants, saying, “After me my family will be refugees, driven outof countries…”. Imam Nasai, one of the greatest Muhadditheen (Hadithexperts) for Sunni Hadith collections, the author of one of the SixSahihs was brutally murdered because he spoke in favor of ‘Ali ibn AbiTalib, a good example of why Muslim countries, unlike throughout thevast majority of our history, need to embrace freedom of speech. Intheir call for the Khilafah, Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Hizb ut-Tahrir andtheir likes aim to bring back a model of oppression to the Muslimworld, killing fellow Muslims for their “corrupt” beliefs, demolishingSufi Shrines, and oppressing women in the name of what they falselybelieve to be “Islam” and justice.

Allegiance now is to Imam Al-Mahdi only

The Khalifah the Taliban are calling towards would in practice beexactly opposite of what it would claim to represent, as we havealready seen in Afghanistan. Neither the Arabs nor the Ajam could uniteon it, nor its strange interpretation of Islamic law, which it seeks toimplement. There is a false claim of the supporters of the Taliban thatMullah Muhammad Omar is the Caliph and Imam, and as such all Jihadbeing carried out under the banner of his global battalions of Al Qaedaand those who accept his allegiance, against the West, is thereforeactually legitimate because he being the Caliph, who wore the mantle ofthe Holy Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa aalihi wa sallam) declared Jihadon the Americans, and their allies. This is incorrect and the correctposition is that Hadrat Al-Mahdi (alaihi salam) is already born, and assuch, there can be no other Caliph while he is alive and preparing theworld for his appearance. This also means that no other person on earthhas the right to declare Jihad. Our teacher, the venerable MawlanaShaykh Nazim declared in Star from Heaven, p.22-23, 26, “There can beno Jihad until Imam Mehdi comes. Those who are proclaiming the right todeclare Jihad now, are liars. First we must have a Sultan, then Jihadcan be permitted. Who is giving the order for a Jihad now? The clearcommand of Allah is to have a Sultan for the whole umma first. Onlysuch a Sultan has the right to declare war. Even if we had a hundredbillion Muslims, only one would have the right to order war. Whoeverdoes so now, is sinning by going against the Holy Laws of Allah.”

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