Revitalizing the Caliphate they say that the only thing permanent in this world is change, and that

changing an old habit, changing the old and unresposive policy, changing from good to better should, in the first place, starts from within, it should start from the very advocate himself then gradually influences others to follow the same. a very minute move it may seem but proven to be very effective it has been. in fact history is witness to the way how the holy

prophet made use of this simple yet effective call for change. in the history of the propagation of Islam we read that the holy prophet himself started his desire to change his own personality and spirituality in particular.. for years he secluded and isolated himself from the mass and be amogst the hanif then finally be the first advocate for Islam who started it from himself then influence his immediate family, circle of friends, friends of his friends, then finally into a larger scale - tribes, comunities an on.. a change that changed the world forever and all started from one man prophet Muhammad. However, in the world of politics sometimes change may not be realised if its only thru one or few men, there should be collective efforts to do it. - there is no doubt that exploitation and corruption may displeased most people individually and as a result this idividuals may have the innate desire to get rid of it but since it is a mere desire of each individuals in the society and that there is no collective effort to do this getting rid of it whould

start at from aspiration and undoubtably might end up as a mere aspiration. - noting will happen. the kind of socio-political envirornemnt during the pre and post-propehts' time apparently needed to be changed, and we are all aware that changing group of people and societies is not an easy task, it needs a more bigger hand to grip them at once. a kind of change that is collective in effort, a kind of change that calls for 'government's action'.

at this junture the writer would like to ask... what kind of change in government's action that would take away these existing societal illness phenomon? or should I derectly ask, what what change should they do to the type of government and existing political system in order to address these problems? during the time of the holy prophet he initiated massive changed by instituting the type of governmental system anchored on the so-called 'Madinah Constitution' this consitution is based not only from the teachings of the holy Qur'an but from other revealed books as well. a kind of constitution which goal can be summed up into further strengthening the brotherhood among its citizens and adressing the problems of not only the Muslim majority but non-Muslim minority as well. in fact, Prophet Muhammad promoted cooperation between Muslims and

Christians in political arena as well. in one ocassion he selected a nonMuslim, 'Amir-ibn Umayyah-ad-Damri, as an ambassador to Negus, the King of Ethiopia.1 in another acassion, the holy propeht wrote: " "This is a message written by Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to

those who adopt Christianity, far and near, we are behind them. Verily, I defend them by myself, the servants, the helpers, and my followers, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them...[ "Safeguarding monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques is an Islamic cause" 2

After the demise of the holy prophet, his companions continued the kind of treatement to the non-Muslims, Umar (r.a) during his caliphate stated: "This is the protection which the servant of God, Umar, the Ruler of the Believers has granted to the people of Eiliya [Jerusalem]. The protection is for their lives and properties, their churches and crosses, their sick and healthy and for all their coreligionists. Their churches shall not be used for habitation, nor shall they be demolished, nor shall any injury be done to them or to their compounds, or to their crosses, nor shall their properties be injured in any
1 http://www.islam101.com/terror/toleranceftf.htm 2 http://www.islam101.com/terror/index.htm

way. There shall be no compulsion for these people in the matter of religion, nor shall any of them suffer any injury on account of religion... Whatever is written herein is under the covenant of God and the responsibility of His Messenger, of the Caliphs and of the believers, and shall hold good as long as they pay Jizya [the tax for their defense] imposed on them." Numani, Shibli.,(2004)
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a kind of govermental system implicitly showing inclusivity. thus no wonder high state of civility and progressive socio-political order was achieved during these times. as it attracts people of differenct color, race and religious affiliation to come and live together harmoniously helping and cooperating with each other. giving way to the development of new methodologies, new disciplines and new inventions and discoveries in Islamic civilization. as a result it was during these era where Islamic empire became a magnet for intellectuals, gatherring them together and learn from each other's works. they are innumerable in number but due to lack of space the following ar here by enumerated: Chemestry: a chemist Jabir, 8th century, discovered Nitric Acid and described the operations of disillation, sublimenation, filftration, coagulation and crystallization. Astronomy: ib Younus (11th century) invented the sun dial, which, according to John Draper was the most valuable of all chronometric improvements 3 "Makesr of Islamic Civilization: Umar". Oxford University Press: New York, p. 130

Government: Al-Farabi, (10th century), wrote about the model city: "perfectly organized state is one which assures its citizens perfect governemnt and happiness after death.'

however in March 3, 1924 due to incompatibility with Turkey's national interest this magnetic political system that attracts people to come and live together under this goverment was put to an end. and since then movement of varied kinds, from varied national emerged, aiming for the revival of he caliphal system to regain back t glory of Islam. unfortunately, due to the nature of the caliphate's political structure the efforts to put it back was and in fact still is not that easy. as a matter fact since 1924 it had been 89 (eighty nine) years of hopping planning and trying to put it back but none of them succeeded. and after careful reading the nature of the caliphate the following opinon on the possible cause is hereby humbly presented: 1. caliphate is designed to be entrusted to pious leaders, not to corrupt politicians. since the caliph exercised legislation, judiciary and execution of the law it implies that caliphate is a kind of political system which may be characterized by what we now call authoritarian form of government. since the caliph is the law maker, law interpreter and law executer, which can be good if it is utelized by pious leader but at the same rate can be potentially bad if it fell on the hands of a corrupt politicians.

2. in the history of the Umayyads (644-750), Abbasids (750-1258) Ottoman Turks (1338-1924) we learned that calips are vested into power by hereditary succession. that only those who belong to the royal lineage may have the privilage to be the caliph, regardless of where they are pious or wicked, cruel or kind, intellegent or not, at the right age or minor etc. they are the sons or relatives of the caliph and therefore they have the legitimate claim to the caliphate. and on the other hand, any common citizen who have the potential to be leader may ascend only to the position of adviser, whose advises if contradicts with the will of the caliph may be rejected anyway. 3. caliphate form of governement are mostly cruel to the minorities. like the the case of the The Sunni rulers under the Umayyads sought to marginalize the Shia minority and later the Abbasids turned on their Shia allies and further imprisoned, persecuted, and killed Shias. The persecution of Shias throughout history by Sunni co-coreligionists has often been characterized by brutal and genocidal acts. Comprising only around 10-15% of the entire Muslim population, "...non-Muslims ,whom are living in Islamic countries,are under continuous Persecution,fear of death,humiliation,unequality & hatred fed always against them by Mullahs through Mosques And here are some of The Islamic laws (Sharia) which Christians & Jews lived under.

1-They can not pass on the right of A Muslim but on the left 2-They can not testify against Muslims in court of law. 3-They can not ride a horse or a camel but only a donkey or a mule. 4-They should wear special costumes to be identified ,when walking in the streets 5-They should wear tag in their neck as prove that they have paid their Taxes (Jizyah) 6-They can not own any weapon to defend themselves. 7-They are not allowed to defend themselves ,i.e .if they were beaten by a Muslim,but they may try to cool him down 8-Religious celebrations in Public are not allowed, crosses in Public and on Churches are not allowed...."
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Conclusion the Islamic governmental system in undoubtably very good in nature. especially when the power is left at the hand of a pious leader, however if it is not then that is where the major problems comes in.

4 http://members.tripod.com/joe_matalski/

Recommendation. In view of the above presentation especifically on nature of caliphate and the desire to revitalized it, the following are here by recomended: and that the calipahte can only be put in place again only if: 1. there is separation of power, - tria politica, that the caliph should no

longer has the control on the law making aspect of governance nor should it has power over the Law interpreting body. that these three major branches of government (the legeslative, Judiciary and Executive) should be

separated. the idea of sepation of power is to install the principle of "check and ballance" in governace each branch while exist co-equal to each other may be held responsible against one another. the goal is to make sure the caliph being the leader of the Muslim ummmah is left no choice but to be caliph in its strick litteral meaning of the word. 2. the selection to the post should not be hereditary, that all are given the privilege to be caliph, and the selection should be based from the consensus of the entire ummah he is representing. however, while the post may be given widely open to the public the aspirant must have the following qualifications: a. not necessarily Quraish nor Arab, the Arab might be the first recepient of Islam and thus fit to rule, but history tells us that in most cases the Intellecutal Giants like that of ibn Khaldun, Jalal al-Din al-Rumi, Jamal alDin al-Afghani, Ata Turk, Sayd Qutb and Bukhari are neither Qur'ish nor

Arabs. suggesting that Allah spread his mercy and blessed people with intelligence not only to the Arabs in fact never to the Arabs. hence Caliphate is open to all but exept only for those of hight intelligence. b. not necessarilly male, in the old days women were kept confined within the four corners of the house to attain to their primarily resposibility of taking care of their husband and childrens, as a result their time were spent there and exelled there too. they never had the change to go out for school or work and made a remarkable performace in such field. thus women may sometimes know about economics, politics and society issue but they can never surpass the experienced and much exposed men, therefore this might be the reason why men are prepered to be the leader. but today there are almost many PhD women as men. in almost all professions wemen are

there. thus making them now qualified to be leader of the ummah. c. caliph's Educational background must be related to Leadership and Administration. this is to make sure that the leader of the Ummah is equipt with necessary knowledge and skills to run the Government and not make the office of the caliphate as training ground for adimistration and governance. d. the caliph must be Muslim, this requirment may be unfair to the nonMuslims in theory but in practice sounds fair enough as no non-Muslim state would allow Muslim to be the leader of the country as well. and since the Muslim ummah is the caliph's primary subjects are Muslims might as well he

should be Muslim too. 3. in the Parliament each sector must have due representative, this is to assure that no one is left behind. inluding the dhimmis, the dimmish may should also have representative who is non-Muslim too. the same must be with the case of the women and respective state regarless of size or population.