Title: A Further Comment on the Meaning of 'Khilaafah' & 'Imaarah' Question/Comments: Quoting your reply on the issue of Khilaafah you said: If examined closely, the argument presented may (sequentially) be summarized thus It is obligatory for a Muslim to live a life of obedience (bay`ah) toward the Khaleefah ; No Muslim can fulfill this obligation unless a 'Khilaafah' is established; Till the time that a 'Khilaafah' is established, every Muslim is dying the death of Jahiliyyah ; Thus, to save the Muslims from dying a death of Jahiliyyah , it is obligatory to strive for the establishment of the Khilaafah . Although the argument may seem quite logical at first sight, yet with a little scrutiny, it shall be seen that it is completely unfounded. To understand the fallacy of the argument, let us take a look at a few directives of the Shari`ah , which are clearly conditional upon the circumstances of the individuals. We know that it is obligatory upon the Muslims to pay Zaka'h , if their total wealth exceeds a certain limit. Regarding those who do not pay Zak'ah , the Prophet is reported to have said: For every person who does not pay Zaka'h , God shall throw around his neck a great snake on the Day of Judgment. Now one may derive thus: Zaka'h is obligatory if the wealth of a person exceeds a certain limit; Those who do not pay Zaka'h , shall be severely punished on the Day of Judgment; Thus, it is obligatory upon every poor person who is not paying Zaka'h , to strive to increase his wealth to the Zaka'table limits, to save himself from the severe punishment of those who are not paying Zaka'h . The whole argument is clearly absurd. The fact, contrary to the argument, is that the payment of Zaka'h is an obligation only IF the wealth of a person exceeds a certain limit. This does NOT impose an obligation of trying to improve one's financial position to be able to pay Zaka'h . In other words, the law of Zaka'h and the punishment mentioned in the referred narrative is conditional upon the financial position of the individual. I believe that your above position is either very dangerous, or you haven't explained yourself very well. Because according to you if someone had to pray Juma , and for this he had to catch a Taxi, or travel to the Mosque, then since Juma is conditional upon having a certain number of people [lets assume this is only available in a mosque], then you are saying that it is NOT obligatory for the person to pray Juma , since it is NOT obligatory for him to travel, or make the necessary arrangements. What are you saying? I believe that there is a principle in Islam that goes somewhat like: Whatever is required to achieve a Wajib is also Wajib . Please answer as soon as possible. Answer: I do agree that the Muslim Jurists have propounded the stated principle. However, what I do not understand is that how does my opinion challenge the stated principle. I would request you to consider my opinion with more empathy and open-mindedness. I do not claim to be a prophet and, therefore, can only present opinions, which are based on my understanding of the Qur'an and the Sunnah . This is precisely what others do too. My opinion on any given issue may not be correct. However, for any meaningful discussion to take place on any given issue, it is imperative that the opposing opinions be understood with empathy. I assure you that I would have absolutely no problems in accepting that you do not agree with my opinion. Nevertheless, to effectively discuss our mutual differences on a given issue, we will both have to open-mindedly understand and appreciate the other's stance. Without a clear understanding of each other's stance, we hardly have a chance of communicating our differences to our opponents and, thus, reduce the chances of resolving our differences to non-existent. What I have implied in my previous responses on the referred topic does not challenge the stated principle regarding Waajib and whatever is required to achieve Waajib . On the contrary, I have only tried to establish that the stated principle is not even remotely related to the issue of the establishment of Khilaafah . To summarize, my opinion regarding the issue is as follows: The directive regarding living a life of allegiance toward the 'Khaleefah' , is, in fact, a directive to live a disciplined life as an obedient citizen of the Muslim state, IF a Muslim state exists. This does not mean that if a Muslim state is non-existent, then it becomes obligatory upon the Muslims to first bring it into existence and then live a life of allegiance toward it [1] . Please read the above statement carefully. This would not only give you the gist of my opinion, but would also clarify the basic difference of opinion that exists between me and those who consider striving for the establishment of the 'khilaafah' an obligation upon Muslims. You will see that in my opinion, I have not challenged the stated principle of 'waajib' and 'whatever is required to achieve waajib '. I am not saying that even though the establishment of 'Khilaafah' is a 'waajib' , yet striving to establish it is not. Had that been the case, I would definitely have challenged the stated principle. What I am saying, on the contrary, is that there are no bases in the Qur'an, the Sunnah or the narratives ascribed to the Prophet (pbuh) to consider the establishment of the 'Khilaafah' to be 'waajib' . The only answer required to refute my stated opinion is to present just one directive of the Qur'an or the Sunnah or even one entailed in any narrative ascribed to the Prophet (pbuh), which renders the establishment of 'Khilaafah' obligatory upon Muslims. I would suggest that rather than going into unrelated discussions and examples, you should only point out the directive of the Qur'an, the Sunnah or any narrative ascribed to the Prophet (pbuh), which renders the establishment of the 'Khilaafah' obligatory upon the Muslims. In case you do not have such a clear directive with you, then please let me know why at all do you want to add the stated obligation to the corpus of Islam? Obviously, once we have established that the establishment of the 'Khilaafah' is obligatory upon Muslims, then we will have to fulfill all the requirements of fulfilling the established obligation. I hope this helps. February 2, 2001 [1] The example that I have given relating to Zaka'h is only to clarify that there are certain obligations of the Shari`ah , which are conditional upon the external circumstances of a Muslim. Living a life of allegiance toward the ruler, like that of the payment of Zaka'h is an obligation, which is conditional upon the circumstances and external conditions of an individual.