Another view that is being addressed to the Ummah is the concept of fighting the rulers and that through military struggle Islam will return to the world stage. Again this is based upon a particular Hadith. It has been narrated from many sources including Imam Muslim that the Prophet (saw) said, “Do not challenge the people of authority unless you see explicit Kufr of which you have clear proof from Allah(from Islam)”. Ibn Kathir in his Tafseer states that if the Khaleefah reverts to the rule of disbelief, he would be fought until he returned to the implementation of Islam and the Shari’ah.

Ibn Hajr in his Fateh al-Bari also states that if he becomes a Kafir, or changes the Shari’ah he should be fought and removed. This view is also mentioned in Nayl al-Awtar and supported by Imam Shawkani. That is, if the ruler rules by other than the Shari’ah he is fought until he either repents or is removed. However that is the only situation that it applies to i.e. the ruling of a Khaleefah who resorts to the Kufr ruling and disobedience to Allah. It does not relate to the Khaleefah becoming tyrannical and also does not relate to his personality becoming corrupt. In which case obedience to him is binding and the Muslims should still pray behind him and fight Jihad behind him.

However, these Ahadith are not connected to the current situation. They are all connected to revolt and rising against the Khaleefah and are titled under the subject of ‘Khurooj min al Khaleefah’ i.e. rising against the authority of a Khaleefah or an Imam.

The current situation is not that of the Khulafaa’ who used to rule by Islam and then turned away from Islam. The current problem is also not merely related to removing a ruler by killing him. Rather, entire systems of Kufr have been implemented over Muslims for over 76 years, none of the rulers have ever ruled by the Shari’ah and none of them are Khulafaa’ within a Khilafah. The systems that they are applying are either monarchies or Capitalistic with some sort of democratic framework. Hence, the reality isn’t that of removing a bad Khaleefah within an Islamic State. The reality is of uprooting an entire Kufr system, including it’s ruler, to again establish Dar ul-Islam. The current rulers are not comparable in any way to Khulafaa’ who have introduced one Kufr law into the Khilafah. Hence these Ahadith, which have always been understood in the context of Dar ul-Islam i.e. where Islam is implemented and the Muslims possess the security, do not apply upon the current situation. The reality which they address is that of removing a Khaleefah who rules with Kufr within the Islamic State, not that of uprooting an entire Kufr system merely by fighting and killing the ruler of that system.

The only situation that is comparable from the evidences is the establishment of the Islamic State for the very first time by the Prophet (saw) and the struggle which he (saw) went through in order to establish this State and change Dar ul-Kufr to Dar ul-Islam. This is the struggle which he (saw) referred to in the Hadith of Hamza and as is illustrated in the Books of Sunnah and Seerah. As that is the only instance in which a complete system of Kufr existed and was changed to a complete system of Islam. So the matter is regarding the changing of a system, not merely a ruler. The Ahadith of fighting, apply to changing a ruler i.e. a Khaleefah who has gone astray not a system, only the struggle of the Prophet (saw) in Makkah applies to the changing of a system. So military struggle is not the method of re-establishing the Khilafah.