The mandatory powers of the Khaleefah:- The Khaleefah is the state. He possesses full mandatory powers given to the state and they are:- A - It is he who makes the divine laws that he adopts binding. They would then become laws that have to be obeyed and their violation would be forbidden.
B - He is responsible about the internal and foreign policies of the state; he is the high commander in chief of all the armed forces and he has full powers to declare war, hold peace treaties, truces and all other treaties.
C - He has the powers to accept (foreign) ambassador’s and to refuse them, as well as the power to appoint Muslim ambassadors and to remove them.
D - It is the Khaleefah who appoints and removes the assistants and Walis; they are all responsible before him and before the council of the Ummah.
E - It is he who appoints and removes the supreme judge (Qadhil-Qudhat), as well as district administrators, army commanders, chiefs of staff, and the commanders in chief; they are all (responsible) answerable to him and not to the Council of the Ummah.
F - It is he who adopts the Divine laws, on the light of which the state’s budget is drafted, and he decides the details of the budget and the expenditure of each department which is allotted according to its needs, whether it is revenues or expenses.
Evidence of these mandatory powers is drawn from the fact that the Khaleefah in its essence is a general rule over all the Muslims worldwide, with the objective of implementing the Deen’s rules and of carrying the Message of Islam to the world, which is another evidence. However the word state is a terminology, whose meaning differs among different nations. For Western people for instance state means the land, inhabitants and the rulers, for the state in their view is defined within borders they call the country, and sovereignty in their view belongs to the people, with collective and not individualistic ruling. Thus the concept of the state became known as the sum total of the country, the inhabitants and the rulers. Therefore, they have a head of state, i.e. head of the government, the people and the country (land) and a chief of government i.e. a prime minister.
However, in Islam, there are no permanent borders, for the Message has to be carried to the whole world, and therefore frontiers move with the authority of Islam; the term country means the place where a person resides permanently i.e. his home and homeland, no more no less. The supremacy is to the Shari’ah, not to the people; the rulers are directed by the will of the Shari’ah and the Ummah is also directed (controlled) by the Shari’ah; Ruling is individual and not collective. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “If three of you set off in a Journey, appoint one of you (as leader).” He (saw) also said: “If three of you went out on a journey, you should appoint a leader from among you.” He (saw) also said: “If a bay’ah has been taken for two Khaleefahs, kill the latter of them.” Therefore, the meaning of the state in Islam differs from that in other systems. The state in Islam means the leadership and ruling, and its mandatory powers rest with the authority of the leader, and since the Khaleefah is the one who takes up the authority, he then is the state. When the Messenger of Allah (saw) established the Islamic state in Madina he was the head of state and the whole of the authority belonged to him, and all powers related to the rule were his, and this was so during all his lifetime until he (saw) died. Then after him came the Khulafa Al-Rashideen, and each one of them enjoyed the full authority and possessing all the mandatory powers related to the rule. This also serves as evidence that the Khaleefah is the state. Besides, when the Messenger of Allah (saw) warned against rebellion and disobedience to the Amir, he expressed it as being a rebellion against the authority. He (saw) said: “If anyone sees in his Amir something that displeases him, let him remain patient, for behold! He who separates himself from the Sultan (authority of Islam) by even so much as a hand span and dies thereupon, he has died the death of Jahiliyyah.” The Khilafah is the rule over the believers, the Khaleefah is therefore the authority, and he has all the mandatory powers, i.e. he is the state and possesses all the powers given to the state. This is the general evidence about these mandatory powers. As for the listing of these powers enjoyed by the Khaleefah, this is in fact the listing of the powers which exist within the state, and we now move onto the listing of the detailed rulings of these powers.
As for the detailed (elaborate) evidence about the six sections mentioned above, the evidence about section “A” is the general consensus of the Sahabah. As for law, it is a term which means the order which the authority (Sultan) issues so that people abide by it; law has been described as being the group of principles which the Sultan (authority) compels people to follow in their relationships (transactions) i.e. if the Sultan issues rules, then these rules became law and people have to abide by them, and if the Sultan does not issue them, then they do not become law and people are not obliged to abide by them. The Muslims follow the rules of Shari’ah, so they abide by Allah’s commands and prohibitions. What they abide by are the commands and prohibitions of Allah, not those of the Sultan, so what they follow are divine laws and not the orders of the Sultan. However these Shari’ah laws have been interpreted differently by the Sahabah, so that their understanding of divine rules differed, and each one of them complied by rules which accorded with his own understanding.
However, there are some divine rules related to managing the affairs of the Ummah that all the Muslims should abide by with one single opinion, and not according to each individual’s own Ijtihad. This in fact took place in the past. Abu Bakr for instance considered it fit to distribute the wealth equally among all Muslims for it was their equal right. Umar deemed it wrong to give in the same way to those who had fought the Messenger of Allah (saw) and those who fought alongside him, as well as equally to both the wealthy and the needy. However when Abu Bakr was the Khaleefah, he ordered his opinion to be enacted (enforced) and the judges and Walis executed his opinion and Umar submitted to Abu Bakr’s opinion and executed it. And when Umar became Khaleefah he enforced his own opinion which differed from that of Abu Bakr’s i.e. he ordered the money to be divided according to merit (excellence) and not equally, thus the Muslims were given according to the length of time they had been Muslims and according to their needs. Muslims abided by this rule, and the judges and Walis executed it. Therefore a general consensus of the Sahabah was established stating that the Imam has the right to adopt specific rules and order them to be implemented. Muslims therefore have to abide by such rules even if they contradicted their own Ijtihad, and they must abandon their own opinions and Ijtihads. These adopted rules are in fact laws. Thus the enacting of laws belongs to the Khaleefah alone and no one else has this right.
As for section “B”, its evidence is derived from Allah’s Messengers’ (saw) actions. He (saw) used to appoint the Walis and judges and hold them accountable. He (saw) used to control sales and purchases and prohibit fraud and cheating. He (saw) used to distribute the wealth among the people, and help the unemployed find work. He (saw) used to run all the state’s internal affairs, and he (saw) used to address the kings and meet with the envoys and receive the delegations. He (saw) also ran all the foreign affairs of the state. He (saw) used to effectively take command of the armed forces, during the raids and he (saw) used to lead the battles, and he (saw) used to send all the expeditions and appoint their leaders. In one instance he (saw) appointed Usama Ibnu Zayd at the head of an expedition to Al-Sham; the Sahabah were not pleased at this due to Usama’s young age, but the Messenger of Allah (saw) forced then to accept his leadership, which proves that he effectively was the commander of the armed forces and not just its high Commander in chief. It was he (saw) who declared war on Quraysh, and on Banu Qurayzah, Banu Nadir, Banu Qaynuqa’, Khayber and the Romans. All the wars that took place where declared by him (saw). This indicates (proves) that only the Khaleefah possesses the right to declare war. It was also the Messenger of Allah (saw) who signed the treaties with Banu Madlij and their allies of Banu Dhumra; He (saw) signed a treaty with Yuhanna (Johnathon) Ibnu Ru’ba, the friend of Ayla, and he (saw) also signed the treaty of Al-Hudaybiyah. The Muslims on that occasion were outraged but he (saw) ignored their opinion and dismissed their pleas, and went ahead and signed the treaty. This proves that only the Khaleefah possesses the mandatory powers to sign treaties, whether these were peace treaties or any other.
As for the section “C”, its evidence is that the Messenger of Allah (saw) received the two envoys of Musaaylama, and it was he (saw) who received Abu Rafi’i, an envoy from Quraysh. It was also he (saw) who sent envoys to Hercules Chosroes, Al Muqaqas, Al-Harith Al Hossani King of Al-Heerla, Al Harith Al-Hamiry. King of Yemen, the Negus Al-Habishi, and he sent Uthman ibn Affan to Quraysh during the Hudaybiyah affair. This proves that the Khaleefah is the one who accepts the ambassadors (envoys) and refuses them and it is he who appoints the ambassadors.
As for section “D”, its evidence is that it was the Messenger of Allah (saw) who used to appoint the Walis, for he appointed Mu’adh as Wali over Yemen; and He (saw) used to remove then; he removed Al A’la’ ibn al-Hadhrami from his post as Wali of Bahrain after its people complained about him; this indicates that the Walis are responsible before the people of the Wilayah (region-district), and also the Khaleefah, as well as the council of the Ummah, for it represent all the Wilayahs. This is concerning the Walis. As for the assistants, the Messenger of Allah (saw) had two assistants: Abu Bakr and Umar. He did not remove them and appoint others to replace them during all his lifetime. It was he (saw) who appointed them and he (saw) never removed them. However, since the assistant derives his authority from the Khaleefah and since he acts in the capacity of his deputy, the Khaleefah therefore has the right to remove him, by analogy with the deputy for the mandator has the right to dismiss (remove) his deputy.
As for the section “E”, its evidence is derived from the fact that the Messenger of Allah (saw) appointed Ali as judge over Yemen; Uqabah ibn Amer reported that two men in dispute came to the Messenger of Allah (saw) seeking justice, so he (saw) said to me: “Judge between them.” I said: “You are better and worthier of that.” So he (saw) said: “It does not matter.” So I said: “What shall I do?” (how do I judge?). He (saw) said: “Judge! And if you get it right, you shall get ten rewards and if you get it wrong you shall get one reward.” It is narrated on the authority of Amru ibn Al A’as that he said that two men in dispute came to the Messenger of Allah (saw) so he (saw) said the me: “O Amru Judge between them.” I said : “You are worthier than me O Messenger of Allah.” He (saw) said: “If you judge right between them you shall get ten rewards and if you don’t you shall get one reward.” Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) used to appoint and remove judges. He appointed Sharih judge over Kufa and Abu Musa as judge over Basra. He also removed Shurahbeel ibn Hasnu from his post as Wali over Al-Sham and appointed Mu’awiya instead. Shurahbeel said to him: “Is it because of an act of disobedience or treason that you removed me?” Umar replied: “Neither, but I wanted to appoint a different man.” Ali on one occasion appointed Abu Aswad and then he removed him so he asked him: “Why did you remove me. I never cheated or committed a crime?” Ali said: “I noticed that your voice rose above the disputing men.” Umar and Ali did this before the Sahabah and none of them disapproved or censured their actions. This proves that the Khaleefah reserves the right to appoint the judges in principle, and he can also delegate someone to appoint the judges on his behalf. This is in analogy with the deputation, for he reserves right to assign to a deputy any of his mandatory powers 46 and delegate someone to perform any of his dispositions. As for the state’s departments, the Messenger of Allah (saw) appointed secretaries for the various department of the state. They were considered to be as directors of those departments. He (saw) appointed Al-Harith ibn Auf Al Hazyy in charge of his stamp, and Nu’ayqib ibn Abi Fatima as secretary of the booty. He (saw) also appointed Hudhayfah ibn Al Yaman as the head of fruits and harvest assessment department, and Zubayr ibn Al Awwam as director of Sadaqah. He (saw) appointed Al Mughira ibn Shu’ba as director in charge of registering the various transactions and so on.
As for the army commanders and chief commanders, the Messenger of Allah (saw) appointed Hafiza ibn Abdul Muttalib as commander of an army of thirty riders to confront Quraysh on the seashore, and appointed Muhummad ibn Ubayda ibn Al Harith at the head of sixty fighters and instructed him to confront Quraysh in the Wadi of Rabigh. He (saw) also appointed Sa’ad ibn Abi Waqqas at the head of an expedition numbering twenty riders and dispatched him towards Makkah. Therefore, he (saw) used to appoint the army commanders which proves that it is the Khaleefah who appoints the commanders and the army chiefs of staff.
All these were answerable to the Messenger of Allah (saw) and nobody else, which indicates that the judges, directors of departments, army commanders, chiefs of staff and various senior officials are answerable to none but the Khaleefah. They are not answerable to the council of the Ummah. Only the delegated assistants, the Walis and the Amils are responsible before the council of the Ummah for they are rulers and nobody else is responsible before the council, but everyone has to report back to the Khaleefah.
As for section “F”, the revenues and the expenditures are controlled and managed according to the Shari’ah rules, every single Qirsh (-penny) is debited according to Shari’ah and every single Qirsh spent in the same way. However the details of the expenditure or what is known as the breakdown of the expenditure are left to the Khaleefah to decide according to his Ijtihad. So are the details of revenues. It is the Khaleefah for instance 47 who decides on the amount of the Kharaj of land, and the Jizya as well as any other levies and revenues. It is the Khaleefah who decides on the expenditures reserved for each project, such as road works, hospitals etc. All such matters are left to the Khaleefah to decide, and it is the Khaleefah who reserves the right to act on his own Ijtihad and opinion. The Messenger of Allah (saw) used to receive the revenues from the Amils, and spend them. It was he (saw) who authorised the Walis on some occasions to receive monies and spend them. This was the case when he (saw) appointed Mu’adh over Yemen. Then the Khulafa Rashideen did the same, each one of them collected the revenues and spent them according to his opinion and own Ijtihad in his capacity as Khaleefah. None of the Sahabah ever disapproved, and nobody ever spent a single Qirsh without the Khaleefah’s consent. When Umar appointed Mu’awiya as Wali, he gave him a general Wilayah whereby he had powers to collect and spend. All this proves that the details of the budget are decided by the Khaleefah or anyone acting on his behalf.
These are the detailed evidences about the Khaleefah’s mandatory powers and these are confirmed by the Hadith of Allah Messenger (saw): “The Imam is a guardian, and he is responsible over his subjects.” The word he indicates the restriction or exclusivity, i.e. every matter related to the management of the subjects affairs is the responsibility of the Khaleefah and the Khaleefah alone. He reserves the right to delegate anyone with whatever task, however he deems fit, and this is analogous to deputation.