On March 3rd 2010 it was the 86th anniversary of the destruction of the Khilafah. Since the day the Ummah lost her leadership we have been divided, weakened, and in chaos.

The challenges and turbulence since the destruction of the Khilafah are too many to name. It is beyond belief that in the 21st century space flight has become a common
occurrence so much so that it no longer makes the news yet the weak and most vulnerable from this blessed Ummah routinely perish for a lack of drinking water and basic sanitation.

While poverty and development occupy the discussions of many policy makers and intellectuals looking at changing our situation, Muslims, who have always desired Islam above all ideologies, have come to realisation that only Islam has the correctness of solutions. The debate seems to be around the practicality of this change in our modern day.

Though the command from the Creator of man, life and the universe to rule by Islam should be sufficient for us to re-establish the Khilafah, a study of recent political history shows strong and visionary political change is possible and has indeed occurred several times.

Otto Van Bismarck oversaw German unification and set the nation on the path to industrial supremacy. Beginning in 1884, Germany established several colonies outside of Europe in order to overcome its shortage of mineral resources. Bismarck managed to achieve unification of the German lands, which many had attempted for nearly a thousand years. Unification meant German resources followed one cohesive policy and Germany could be domestically developed without facing secessionist calls.

Similarly Japan, by the turn of the 20th century, had managed to develop its industries; however the rapid growth of the economy had made Japan painfully aware of its limited natural resources. Japan overcame such disadvantage through a programme of aggressive territorial expansion through conquering the Korean peninsula and surging deep into China in order to exploit labour and resources.

These examples show a nation needs only very basic ingredients to emerge as a powerful state that can very quickly establish a prosperous standard of living for its peoples.

When we look at the potential of the Muslim Ummah, the Muslim lands posses the key building blocks for a new nation. In fact we possess far more than the basic requirement. The reality is in fact that the future Khilafah has all the ingredients to emerge as a very powerful state due to the many strengths it will inherit, which Allah (swt) has bestowed in the Muslim lands. We have an abundance of natural resources, a population spanning half the globe as well as strategic and geopolitical supremacy.

This point is well established amongst Western powers. Even now western powers conspire to prevent the return of the Khilafah. In February 2009 the Guardian newspaper revealed that the British government had declared that to believe in the reestablishment of Khilafah in the Muslim world is ‘extremism’, in their colonial view. Colonial governments on both sides of the Atlantic deliberately mix the issues of Khilafah and terrorism, to fuel their war propaganda. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the Khilafah a ‘murderous ideology’. UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband told the BBC only days later that the Khilafah was unacceptable, though selective implementation of Islam in government was okay!

It is clear to most Muslims that the ‘War on Terror’, is a war on Islam. This war is to maintain colonial power in the Muslim world. In non-Muslim countries they want to silence Muslim voices that object to their policies – hence their talk of ‘extremism’. In both places they try to change and reform Islam, and westernise Muslims, forcing them to believe in secularism, democracy, freedom and the nation state – instead of the unity of the Ummah and Islam’s political system, the Khilafah ruling system.

However, now the Ummah is awakening. After the massacres in Iraq and Afghanistan, torture and detention in Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and Bagram, Muslims can see that the promises of freedom and democracy are false and empty. They can even see that people in the West are questioning Capitalism and this secular way of life. They see society in decline in the West and the sad breakdown of family life. Economies have collapsed, along with promises of making poverty history, due to the Capitalist behaviour of the finance sector.

In some Muslim countries polls show up to 70% of people want the return of the Khilafah. This is not surprising because it is an Islamic obligation. The Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said ‘whosoever dies without a bayah (to a Khalifah) on his neck dies the death of jahiliyyah’ [Muslim]. Also, Muslims know that only Islam can bind people together in the Muslim world, unite people, and bring dignity, justice and security to this Ummah again. The Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said “A single day under a just ruler is better than 60 years of ibadah” [Bayhaqi / Tabarani].

The real question that needs to be asked is how is it possible for a people so rich and so plentiful in resources, to be so poor in reality? There is only one real reason for this and that is the rulers over the Muslim lands have never had any intention of making the right use of such huge wealth for the sake of their people. The Muslim lands possesses all the necessary ingredients to take its own destiny into its own hands, it now just needs a ruler who has the political will to fulfil the destiny of the Ummah.

Any change can only happen with a willingness of this Ummah to bring it into reality; we must remove our treacherous rulers as they have been the thorn in our side for far too long. Our ability to replace them with the Islamic Khilafah system, with an accountable Khaleefah at its head, must be at the forefront of our need for this change.

The Ummah is in need of this justice, after decades of occupation and colonial subjugation. In fact, the world is in need of this justice after the fitna (conflict) and fasad (mischief) wrought by Capitalism for so long.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is working across the Muslim world for the re-establishment of the Islamic Khilafah. Our work has steadily grown over more than 50 years such that our presence is increasingly felt in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Central Asia and the Arab Muslim countries. We ask our brothers and sisters in Islam to work with us and support this call so that Allah makes this work successful and that we all see with our own eyes the promise of the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam) who said

“There will be Prophethood for as long as Allah wills it to be, then He will remove it when He wills, then there will be Khilafah on the Prophetic method and it will be for as long as Allah wills, then He will remove it when He wills, then there will be biting Kingship for as long as Allah Wills, then He will remove it when He wills, then there will be oppressive kingship for as long as Allah wills, then he will remove it when He wills, and then there will be Khilafah upon the Prophetic method” and then he remained silent [Ahmad]