Foreword

There are two requirements of Islam. Internally, every man and woman has to follow a life of God-mindfulness. In other words, everyone must strive to become a true believer. Externally, the mission of the believers is dawah ilallah. That is, in the light of the Quran and Sunnah, conveying peacefully the divine message of mercy to all human beings. In this matter, the actual role of political power is to establish favourable conditions in society. When there is peace in society, it is the responsibility of individuals and institutions to perform dawah work, as was performed by the prophets, with peaceful planning all over the world.

The task of political power is to provide peace and security to Muslims, so that all religious activities may be performed in a normal way. It is because of this role that there is no single external model of political power in Islam. This is why the Companions (Sahaba), Followers of the Companions (Tabieen), Followers of the Followers (Taba Tabieen), traditionalists, jurists, and ulama—all accepted the dynastic model as the right model, although it was clearly different from the model of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. For, they saw that under this model the Muslims were fully enjoying peace and security and that all religious activities were being performed without any obstacle, while these opportunities were not available to them earlier.

All the ulama of this period accepted the dynastic model as the right model (durust manhaj). No notable scholar staged a revolt against dynastic rule. Among the Muslim ulama, manhaj as-salaf (the pattern of early Muslims) is accepted as the right method. The renowned traditionalist Imam Nawawi (d. 1277 AD), explaining some traditions of the Prophet Muhammad representing manhaj as-salaf, writes: “Revolting against the rulers or waging war with them is unlawful by the consensus of ulama, even if the rulers are tyrants and sinners.” (Sharh an-Nawawi, Vol. 12, p. 229)

The role of political power is not the enforcement of justice, rather its role is to establish a normal situation in society.

Wahiduddin Khan

January 1, 2021

New Delhi, India