Is It Crucial to Maintain Khilafah Islamiyah in Indonesia?

Nowadays, the mainstream Islamic groups have developed in Indonesia. One of them is HTI; HTI stands for Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia. Founder of HTI, Syaikh Taqiyuddin an-Nabhani, stated that Muslims will bear a grave sin if they oppose to participate in maintaining Khilafah Islamiyah (Islamic governmental system). This fatwa is written in his book titled al-Syakhshiyyah al-Islamiyah (Basic Law of Islam). HTI industriously struggles for Khilafah Islamiyah. They argue that maintaining Khilafah Islamiyah as in Rasulullah era is done for the sake of this nation -Indonesia. This fatwa is clearly radical, strongly extreme and untrue for several reasons.

The first reason is about Muslims’ obligation in appointing a leader. It is obvious that a nation or state must have a leader to regulate the people. In this case, Muslims do not have to appoint a leader in the name of Khilafah. It is permitted to appoint caliph or king. Whoever the leader is –caliph, king, prime minister or president- as long as he or she can regulate the state well, it will bring the prosperity for the people.

Second is about Muslims’ obligation in appointing leader. Muslims are required to appoint one leader as the symbol of world Muslim unity. It must be done if Muslims are regarded as capable in doing the duty. If not, that obligation is dropped.

Next, the one to blame for a nation’s vacuum of power are ahlul halli wal ‘aqdi (MPR) and people who are proper to be a leader. It is based on the argument of Imam al-Hafizh Abu Amr ad-Dani. He stated that when Muslims are able to appoint a leader, yet they choose not to do, consequently, the sin of being in vacuum of power belongs to people mentioned above.

Then, if Muslims are unable to appoint one leader to unify them to be in one region, it is justified to have a local leadership. Each region has autonomy right and Muslims are divided into many states and its leadership as happened recently. Imam Haramain, in his book titled Ghiyatsul Umam fi Iltiyatsiz Zhulam, argued that a leader should be a smart and intelligent person. Also, his or her commands are able to be followed by the people.

The fifth is the argument of Ahlus Sunnah Waljama’ah Scholars of thirty-year of Khilafah merely occurs in four caliphs’ era. Imam Najmuddin an-Nasafi said in his book, al-Aqidatun Nasafiyyah:

والخلافة ثلاثون سنة ثم بعدها ملك وامارة

“Khilafah goes on for thirty years, then after that kingdoms and governments”

It is also based on Rasulullah utterance:

عن سعيد بن جمهان قال حدثني سفينة رضي الله عنه قال قال رسول الله صلي الله عليه وسلم: الخلافة في امتي ثلاثون سنة

Sa’id bin Jumhan saying that Safinah telling him that Rasulullah SAW has said that Khilafah in his people has passed off for thirty years –four caliphs’ era. The four caliphs of Islam are Abu Bakar Ash-Shiddiq, Umar bin Khattab, Utsman bin Affan and Ali bin Abi Thalib (God blesses them, Amen). Abu Bakar has reigned over 2 years, Umar 10 years, Utsman 12 years and Ali 6 years. So, the total is 30 years of Khilafah.

The last reason is Rasulullah SAW has never ever commanded his people to participate in fighting for appointing a caliph. Yet, Rasul noticed us to stay far away from group(s) which may lead to disintegration of Islam itself and consistently follow Ahlus Sunnah Waljama’ah. It can be seen on a Hadith of Bukhori [7084] and Muslim [4890].

PS: this article is composed, arranged and changed as needed from a question and answer section of a magazine.

To sum up, it is not a must for Muslims to maintain Khilafah Islamiyah over a state for reasons explained above. IMHO, being in a country with various religions, ethnics, and races as Indonesia, it is impossible to apply Khilafah Islamiyah. Perhaps, people joining HTI who strongly preserve applying this governmental system has already forgotten that Muslims are not the only religion exists in Indonesia. Yeah, Indonesia is one of big Muslim-populated countries. But remember! Non-Muslim also takes a big part in fighting for Indonesians’ freedom sixty-seven years ago. That is why, in Pancasila, it is written that ‘Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa’ not ‘Allah Yang Maha Esa’.

In addition, it is not fair applying this Islamic governmental system in Indonesia. They also had better to consider that this country does not belong to them themselves but more than two hundreds millions people! Have they considered Bali in which Muslim as a minor population? Bali contributes a huge income from its tourism. Are you guys of HTI ready for living a happy life without it? I am brave for gambling, that deep in your heart, you are also happy seeing those foreign tourist sunbathing in Kuta, Sanur and the like (Hahaa *evil laugh*). How about the Eastern of Indonesia –Maluku, Papua, etc- whose Christian population is bigger than Muslim? They have struggled for Indonesia’s freedom and they deserve to stay in this country as long and as they want.

In the name of those people, please make HTI yourself comes in useful for people around you! It is worthier if you are able to either teach or educate the youth to be both respectful and responsible for the future rather than doing ‘geje’ demonstration.