Abu al-Hasan
al-Mawardi in his book al-akham
as-sultaniyah said that the main task of a Caliph is to maintain the unity
of people and the defense of country.
The rights of a Caliph:
- Make
war and build armies to maintain security and border of country
- Uphold
justice and righteousness
- Strive
to make al state agencies separate between the good with the bad,
deplorable thing according to the provisions of Quran
- Supervise
the government and withdraw taxes as a source of financial
- Become
a judge who adjudicate legal dispute, punish those who break the law and
prohibit all kinds of oppression
- Confirm
about Aqidah and laws which
already agreed by scholars
- Not
entitled to interfere legislative power
- Do
centralization to keep the unity of people
Appointment of a caliph can
be done with:
a. Agreement of the society
b. Appointment of the previous caliph
To change
Prophet Muhammad’s position as a leader of the people and the head of the
country, the people chose a substitute which is called as Caliph from among the
Prophet’s companion.
Prophet’s
companion is alive people in the Prophet’s time, become a friend of Prophet
Muhammad in propagate Islamic teaching. From among the circle of Prophet’s
companion, Abu Bakar Siddiq was chosen as the first Caliph. After he died the
second, third and forth caliphs were Umar bin Khattab, Usman bin Affan, and Ali
bin Abi Thalib. The governance of this four caliph occurred for 30 years, from
632M to 662M. In the history, these four caliphs are known as al-khulafa rasyidin, which means, the caliph
who led the Islamic people to the right road.
The
governance of khulafa rasyidin is
important if you look at the development of Islamic law because it is become
the model or example of the next generations, especially for the generation of
Islamic experts in the modern era, about their way to find and apply Islamic
law at that time.
(1) Abu Bakar Shiddiq
(632M-634 AD)
He is the
highest quality of law experts. He was the right choice as the first caliph because
he was an honest and respected people, he also developed and propagated Islamic
teaching actively and because of his relationship with Prophet Muhammad, he had
a deep understanding about the soul of Islam more than anyone.
There are
many actions that Abu Bakar Shiddiq had done that were written in the Islamic
history:
·
His speech when
he was inaugurated, which said about the relationship between the people and
the authority which basically said that if he did the right thing then the
people should follow and help him, if he did something wrong then the people
can be compliant to him.
·
The way to solve
the problem among the citizen. At first, to solve the problem, you should look
at God’s revelation. If it wasn’t written there, you could search it in Sunnah of the Prophet. If there wasn’t
in there, then Abu Bakar would ask to Prophet’s companions that were gathered
to one assembly then they will do itjihad
together or collective itjihad and
then, the decision or consensus that was called as ijmak about certain problem. In the Abu Bakar governance, often
achieved what was called in documents as ijmak’s
companion.
(2) Umar bin Khattab (634-644 AD)
Caliph Umar is
well-known as a person who courage and wisdom in establishing the legal
provisions contained in the Quran to solve problems that arise in the community
based welfare.
There are some examples
of Umar’s action in the field of law:
1)
Enacting three divorces, the divorce is considered reconciliation
impossible (again) as husband and wife, unless one party (in this case ex-wife)
first mating with others, based on the considerations to protect women from
abuse of the right of divorce was in the hands of men.
2)
Stop giving alms to convert, based on the consideration
that Islam has a strong Converts: new people in Islam who is protected because
it is still weak in the faith, and because they converted to Islam, their
relationship with their family are disconnected.
3)
Do not carry the threat of punishment against thieves
severed hand, based on consideration of the circumstances (emergency) and
welfare (soul) community
4)
Prohibit intermarriage that allows Muslim men to marry
women Ahl-ul-book (Jewish and
Christian women), based on consideration of the status of women in order to
protect Islam and security (secret) state.
(3) Usman bin Affan (644-656 AD)
When selected, Usman
was old (70 years old) with weak personality. This weakness was exploited by people
around him to pursue personal profit, luxuries and wealth.
During his
reign:
Ø
Incurred nepotism which tendency to privilege or
benefit relatives (his family).
Ø
The expansion of Islam continued to areas west
to Morocco, to the east towards India and to move towards the north of
Constantinople.
Ø
Copying the Quran into five manuscripts (set of
written sheets) to overcome differences and greeting phrases about verses of Quran
that spread through rote.
(4) Ali bin Abi Talib (656-662 AD)
After the death
of Usman , the expert choose Ali bin Abi Thalib to become the forth caliph. He
reigned from 656 until 625 M. His relationship with Muhammad is so close, for
instance Muhammad often appoints him to replace him to solve some important
problems. Not only that, he’s also nephew and son in law nephew and son in law
of Muhammad because he’s married to Siti Fatimah binti Muhammad.
During his
governance, there’ are so many problems everywhere and finally the climax is
civil war because the state is not stable which is brings two dominant groups
as the impact:
1.
Ahlus sunnah wal
jama’ah : a group which is belief in the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad
2.
Syi’ah : Ali bin Ali
Tahib followers.
Many differences
of opinions about politic case between these two groups contain about who is
the most competent to be a caliph. From that problem, some new problems develop
again such as misunderstanding about aqidah
, implementation of worship, law system and solidarity.
The source of Islamic law in this
era (Khulafa Rasyidin) is Al-Quran, al
sunnah, Ijma’ of friends and qiyas.
#Summary from book entitled Hukum Islam. The author of this book is Prof. H. Mohammad Daud Ali, S.H.
