Caliphate/Khilafat divinely-appointed?
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Ibn Taymiyya referred to the first four Caliphs of Islam (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali) as "rightly-guided" and stated that they were appointed by God. The Qadiani Ahmadiyya claim to have re-established this Caliphate and assert that their Caliphs are divinely-appointed (and celebrated its centenary not too long ago), and even assert the Quran as support for it. However, when one studies the Quran, it becomes clear that there is no basis for a divinely-appointed Caliphate succeeding a prophet.
The Quran mentions the term 'Khalifa' 13 times. 230 and 3826 are specific references to Adam and David as Caliphs of God. One could argue that any prophet is God's Caliph on earth. The other 11 references always refer to a people/tribe/civilization as a successor/inheritor of a previous one, but make no mention of any individual being appointed as such, let alone after a prophet. They are as follows
And Thy Lord is Self-Sufficient full of mercy. If He pleases, He can do away with you and cause to succeed you what He pleases, even as He raised you from the offspring of other people. (6133)
And He it is who has made you successors on the earth and has raised/exalted some of you over others in grade/rank, that He may test you by that which He has given you. (6165)
Do you wonder what an exhortation has come to you from your Lord through a man from among yourselves that he may warn you? And remember the time when he made you inheritors of His favours after the people of Noah, and increased you abundantly in constitution. Remember then the favours of Allah so that you may prosper. (769)
And remember the time He made you inheritors of His favours after Ad and assigned you an abode in the land; you build palaces on its plains and you hew the mountains into houses. Remember, therefore, the favours of Allah and commit not iniquity in the earth causing disorder. (774)
They replied ?We were persecuted before you came to us and even after you came to us.? He said ?Your Lord is about to destroy your enemy and make you sucessors in the land so that He may then see you how act.? (7129)
Then He made you their successors in the earth after them, that We might see how you act. (1014)
But they rejected him and those who were with him in the Ark. And We made them inheritors of our favours while we drowned those who rejected Our Signs. (1073)
If then you turn away, I have already conveyed to you that with which I have been sent to you, and my Lord will make another people succeed you. (1157)
Allah has promised to those among you who believe and do good works that He will surely make them successors/inheritors in the earth, as He made successors/inheritors of those who were before them; and that He will surely establish for them their religion which He has chosen for them; and that He will surely give them in exchange security and peace after their fear They will worship Me, and they will not associate anything with Me. Then whoso is ungrateful after that, they will be the rebellious. (2455)
Or who answers the distressed person when he calls upon Him, and removes the evil, and makes you successors in the earth? (2762)
He it is who made you successors in the earth.(3539)Reading all of these verses together or individually, they cannot be cited as support for the notion that God appoints a particular person as a Caliph after a prophet. They all refer to God making people/ tribe/civilization Caliphs of a previous one.
To the extent that we take recordings of early Islamic history as reliable, as it is recorded, no basis exists for any belief in Caliphs after prophets being appointed by God. At the death of the Prophet, when Abu Bakr and Umar made their case to the Ansar of Medina that they should not appoint a Caliph amongst themselves, the basis was political, not religious. They did not state that God apoints Caliphs, but instead, cited the fact that only the Quraish possessed the requisite prestige to command the respect of all other Arab tribes. When Abu Bakr was dying, he hand-picked Umar as his successor, making no reference to any guidance received from God on the matter. In fact, his only justification was that the people did not know Umar the way he knew him and that he was the best amongst them. Umar drew up a list of 6 people and gave instructions that those 6 were to convene and choose one amongst themselves who should be the Caliph after his death. When he made the list, he made no reference to guidance from God. After Uthman was assassinated, Ali was acclaimed by the people of Medina only, with no consultation with the rest of the ummah (which was one of the reasons for Muawiya's challenge of his legitimacy). Indeed, Ali agreed to a debate with Muawiya to decide who of them was the rightful Caliph - if Ali felt he was appointed by God, he should have stood his ground and not agreed to such a debate. The fact that he agreed to such a debate was the basis for the Kharijites to declare his Caliphate illegitimate, and they ultimately assassinated him. The only occurrence we have of indicating that a Caliph after a prophet is appointed by God is when Uthman is alleged to have said, in response to increasing calls for his abdication, that he could not take off the cloak which God had placed on him. If he made such a statement, clearly, the fact that so many were vehemently calling for his abdication is an obvious indication that the Muslims of the time did not view the office as divinely-appointed. Indeed, one notes that the term 'Caliph' was not even used by the first four Caliphs, rather, they relied on the title 'Amir ul Momineen' which was not a religious title per se, as at that time, Jews and Christians who were under Muslim protection were included as amongst the Momineen.
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Ibn Taymiyya referred to the first four Caliphs of Islam (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali) as "rightly-guided" and stated that they were appointed by God. The Qadiani Ahmadiyya claim to have re-established this Caliphate and assert that their Caliphs are divinely-appointed (and celebrated its centenary not too long ago), and even assert the Quran as support for it. However, when one studies the Quran, it becomes clear that there is no basis for a divinely-appointed Caliphate succeeding a prophet.
The Quran mentions the term 'Khalifa' 13 times. 230 and 3826 are specific references to Adam and David as Caliphs of God. One could argue that any prophet is God's Caliph on earth. The other 11 references always refer to a people/tribe/civilization as a successor/inheritor of a previous one, but make no mention of any individual being appointed as such, let alone after a prophet. They are as follows
And Thy Lord is Self-Sufficient full of mercy. If He pleases, He can do away with you and cause to succeed you what He pleases, even as He raised you from the offspring of other people. (6133)
And He it is who has made you successors on the earth and has raised/exalted some of you over others in grade/rank, that He may test you by that which He has given you. (6165)
Do you wonder what an exhortation has come to you from your Lord through a man from among yourselves that he may warn you? And remember the time when he made you inheritors of His favours after the people of Noah, and increased you abundantly in constitution. Remember then the favours of Allah so that you may prosper. (769)
And remember the time He made you inheritors of His favours after Ad and assigned you an abode in the land; you build palaces on its plains and you hew the mountains into houses. Remember, therefore, the favours of Allah and commit not iniquity in the earth causing disorder. (774)
They replied ?We were persecuted before you came to us and even after you came to us.? He said ?Your Lord is about to destroy your enemy and make you sucessors in the land so that He may then see you how act.? (7129)
Then He made you their successors in the earth after them, that We might see how you act. (1014)
But they rejected him and those who were with him in the Ark. And We made them inheritors of our favours while we drowned those who rejected Our Signs. (1073)
If then you turn away, I have already conveyed to you that with which I have been sent to you, and my Lord will make another people succeed you. (1157)
Allah has promised to those among you who believe and do good works that He will surely make them successors/inheritors in the earth, as He made successors/inheritors of those who were before them; and that He will surely establish for them their religion which He has chosen for them; and that He will surely give them in exchange security and peace after their fear They will worship Me, and they will not associate anything with Me. Then whoso is ungrateful after that, they will be the rebellious. (2455)
Or who answers the distressed person when he calls upon Him, and removes the evil, and makes you successors in the earth? (2762)
He it is who made you successors in the earth.(3539)Reading all of these verses together or individually, they cannot be cited as support for the notion that God appoints a particular person as a Caliph after a prophet. They all refer to God making people/ tribe/civilization Caliphs of a previous one.
To the extent that we take recordings of early Islamic history as reliable, as it is recorded, no basis exists for any belief in Caliphs after prophets being appointed by God. At the death of the Prophet, when Abu Bakr and Umar made their case to the Ansar of Medina that they should not appoint a Caliph amongst themselves, the basis was political, not religious. They did not state that God apoints Caliphs, but instead, cited the fact that only the Quraish possessed the requisite prestige to command the respect of all other Arab tribes. When Abu Bakr was dying, he hand-picked Umar as his successor, making no reference to any guidance received from God on the matter. In fact, his only justification was that the people did not know Umar the way he knew him and that he was the best amongst them. Umar drew up a list of 6 people and gave instructions that those 6 were to convene and choose one amongst themselves who should be the Caliph after his death. When he made the list, he made no reference to guidance from God. After Uthman was assassinated, Ali was acclaimed by the people of Medina only, with no consultation with the rest of the ummah (which was one of the reasons for Muawiya's challenge of his legitimacy). Indeed, Ali agreed to a debate with Muawiya to decide who of them was the rightful Caliph - if Ali felt he was appointed by God, he should have stood his ground and not agreed to such a debate. The fact that he agreed to such a debate was the basis for the Kharijites to declare his Caliphate illegitimate, and they ultimately assassinated him. The only occurrence we have of indicating that a Caliph after a prophet is appointed by God is when Uthman is alleged to have said, in response to increasing calls for his abdication, that he could not take off the cloak which God had placed on him. If he made such a statement, clearly, the fact that so many were vehemently calling for his abdication is an obvious indication that the Muslims of the time did not view the office as divinely-appointed. Indeed, one notes that the term 'Caliph' was not even used by the first four Caliphs, rather, they relied on the title 'Amir ul Momineen' which was not a religious title per se, as at that time, Jews and Christians who were under Muslim protection were included as amongst the Momineen.
The topic is post Quranic era so its part of Islamic history and not Islamic faith.
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NO. Just no. That system is awful just like democracy. It's never going to be divinely-appointed.