This is a new translation of the chapters on al-Khulafa’ar- Rashidun from as-Suyuti’s Tarikh al-Khulafa’. These chapters shine with a genuine light.

I have continued beyond the first four khulafa’to include al-Hasan ibn cAli ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, because he was the fifth of the khulafa’ and he legitimately transferred the khilafah to Mucawiyah, may Allah be pleased with him.

The translation lacks the majority of references to the books which are the sources of the hadith quoted, because whoever is interested will find the Arabic text easily available.

Furthermore the translation stays as close as possible to the original Arabic at the risk of a slight awkwardness in the English.

Where necessary I have added within parentheses whatever seemed necessary for an understanding of the book.

The history outlined in these pages is further illuminated by a work which is even greater than it, but is itself an exposition that assumes a knowledge of what is in these pages, that is al-cAwasim min al-Qawasim (‘Defence Against Disaster’) by Qadi Abu Bakr ibn al-cArabi, may Allah show him mercy Whereas as-Suyuti gives the most authentic traditions relating to these khilafahs, Qadi Abu Bakr lays bare the real significance of many of the events which as-Suyuti so expertly relates.

Living as we do in ‘later times’ if not necessarily ‘last times’, it is fruitful to bear in mind Imam Malik’s saying, may Allah be merciful to him, “Only what was right for the first of this ummah will be right for the last of it.” This is even more clear to us ‘late ones’, since the fantasy of evolution, progress and development is increasingly being exposed for the hollow fiction it is.

The best of mankind and the best generations of humanity have already lived and passed on. We who are alive now hope to model ourselves on them, and so this book will be of greatest value to those who take it in hand as an aid and inspiration for establishing a just and illuminated civilisation in the present age.

Having realised the greatness of these men, the first khulafa, may Allah be pleased with them, it is also vital for the reader to grasp the greatness of the most recent khulafa’, the Osmanli (Uthmaniyyah or Ottomans). Their history is proof that the khalifate of Islam has endured right down to our own day, since the demise of the Uthmaniyyah (1923) is, historically speaking, only yesterday. It is important to realise this - otherwise we may become trapped in the helpless idealism of those who romanticise the Khulafa ar-Rashidun and then regard the rest of Islamic history as a continuing and irreversible decline, rather than as a series of cycles of emergence, greatness, decline and renewal as natural and as breathtaking as the life-cycle of a flower. To counter that false picture of decline, I can recommend nothing better for the reader than Osmanli history, 1289-1922: based on Osmanli sources by Professor Mehmet Maksudoglu.

It is clear from the whole texture of the lives of the great men painted so graphically within the pages of the book now in your hands, that they were not building a so-called ‘Islamic state’ - but that rather they typified the very form of prophetic Islamic governance, which has nothing in common with the modern bankers’ control technique that is statism. This is confirmed by the work of Professor Maksudoglu, who was the first to refuse to refer to the Osmanlis as the Ottoman ‘Empire’, and who went on to conclude that neither were they a ‘state’, since a state is a fictitious entity that legislates, whereas a dawlah' brings Allah’s revealed ahkam (judgement-rulings) into effect.2

It remains to draw the reader’s attention to Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi’s book, The Return of the Khalifate, which exposes in most extraordinary detail the actual technique used to destroy the most recent khalifate of Islam - the names of the principle parties, the dates, and the sums of money involved. It was not by military conquest or superior technology that the destruction occurred, but by means of an unstoppable, exponentially growing, usurious debt which was presented to the Osmanlis as the only means of achieving a developed technology and systems culture.

Little was meant to have changed in this edition apart from a slight expansion of the appendix and the placement in the footnotes of some text previously located in parentheses in the body of the book, but then we restored as-Suyuti’s own accounts of the sources of his hadith and narrations. It is probably the greatest indication of the profound changes that have taken place in the interim since its first publication, when it was felt unnecessary and perhaps even burdensome to the reader to include that material. The reader must on his part follow the author in his careful explication of this science and not reduce it to the simplistic search for only traditions from the two Sahih collections.

After extensive research I found no reason to revise the footnote about the death of al-Hasan, may Allah be pleased with him, and the alleged hand of Yazid in it.

Ironically, this book is being widely cited by Shicah sources because of its luminous chapter on Sayyiduna cAli ibn Abi Talib, may Allah honour his face, but it would be a serious mistake to take that chapter out of the context of all of these Khulafa’ and Companions, may Allah be pleased with all of them without exception. As-Suyuti's penetrating insight is best illustrated by the fact that the chapter on Sayyiduna Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, is equal in volume to all of the other chapters combined, and contains proof after proof of his uniquely high standing and his prior right to the khalifate, many of them transmitted from Sayyiduna cAli ibn Abi Talib, may Allah honour his face.

Finally, I have included the Arabic text of the duca taught by the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to al-Hasan in a dream, as it is a part of the last words from him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in the book, and for the blessing of this wonderful duca.

Abdassamad Clarke, Norwich Tuesday 4th Rajab l429/8th July 2008