THE CONCEPT OF THE CALIPHATE

New Role of the Muslim Ummah Indicating a principle of nature, the Quran says: Say, “Lord, sovereign of all sovereignty. You bestow sovereignty on whom you will and take it away from whom You please; You exalt whoever You will and abase whoever You will. All that is good lies in Your hands. You have the power to will anything” (3: 26). This means khilafat-e-arzi or political rule is not the monopoly of any group. It is a role that God, in accordance with His Plan, gives sometimes to one group, and sometimes to another. When a particular group receives political rule, it must find out for what purpose this role has been given to it. And when political rule is snatched from it, then, too, it should know why this post has been taken away from it. Lack of awareness of this will deprive the group of God’s help. Consequently, it will be unsuccessful in every way. The Muslim empire was established in the 8th century CE. This was a sign that the role of khilafat-e arzi had now been given to Muslims. This role was to end the system of kingship of the ancient type. This task was accomplished through Muslims on a global scale. For centuries, in whichever land Muslims entered, they put an end to the centuries-old system of political dictatorship. But then a time came when Muslim Sultanates began to decline. The early 19th century announced the end of Muslim political dominance. Across the world, one Muslim Sultanate after another began crumbling before Western powers and started coming under their domination. Following this, Muslims made many efforts—on a massive scale—to restore their political glory. But despite many struggles over a period of 200 years, they completely failed in this regard. This is no ordinary matter. It was, in fact, an announcement of the change in the Muslims’ role. In the 18th century, the Muslims’ political role had ended. The role that was now required of them was another one—to use modern opportunities to communicate the religion of God at the global level. In the modern period, God had according to His plan given Western powers the opportunity to discover new means and resources, and make them available for common use. Through the Western powers those things came into being for the first time that were necessary for engaging in dawah at the global level—for instance, The conditions of this new age show us that the role of the Muslim ummah has now changed. And this role is just one: global dawah.