“Imam Ghazali”;
Abu Hamid Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Muhammad bin Ahmed al-Ghazali (436-489 A.H/1058-1111 A.D — age 53) was born in Taraban near Khurasan district in Iran. His family was famous as yarn merchants. He wrote many books on political issues. He is known for his great masterpiece Ilhya-ul-Uloom (The Revival of Religious Sciences).
Caliphate is a Muslim political-religious state comprising of a Muslim community and lands under the influence of the Islamic Sharia, ruled by a caliph who is selected as the spiritual and political head of the state and is among the most pious and politically strong among the masses. A caliph is considered as the leader of the entire Muslim community and the Muslim community has to follow his orders.
According to Imam Ghazali caliphate is a divine state and Allah is the supreme authority. He believed that caliphate is necessary to protect Muslim’s religious, political and social rights and from internal and external conspiracies. A caliph according to him was believed to be the protector of the realm, the guider of the Quran and Sunnah and the commander in chief of the Muslim army.
Imam Ghazali was from an era where the Abbasids and the Seljuks were in power and the Abbasid caliphate was in power. It was a time when the Fatimid Caliphate had emerged in Egypt and posed a great opposition to the Abbasids. Imam Ghazali was also appointed as the Madrasah Nizamiyyah in 484 H and was a popular personality of that era. He was also sought for advice by the ministers and the noble men for important affairs.
During Imam Ghazali’s lifetime a view began to emerge that the Imamate was of no significance because of the occupants of the office of the Imam/Caliph and it was believed that they lacked the right amount of qualifications. Imam Ghazali opposed this view and developed a new theory to reconcile the existing political realities. He based his theory on the principle of inevitability of accepting the existing power structure and the need to preserve the community’s religious life. The alternatives given by Imam Ghazali were a state of anarchy and disruption of social life where as to preserve the community’s religious life he accepted some of the qualities of the Imam.
To maintain the Muslim religious community’s integrity Imam Ghazali developed a new theory about the relationship between the Imam and the sultan. He proposed that the sultan should appoint the caliph and thus have the constituent authority, but the reliability of the sultan’s own rule should be dependent upon his own oath of allegiance to the caliph. The sultan on the other hand is in some measure the authority for the caliphate. However according to Imam Ghazali the actual government of Islam is taken care of by the sultan, the circumstantial authority is not concerned sufficient to legitimize the government. Whereas the only way in which the sultan’s government is valid and authorized is through the recognition of the caliph.
He believed that by maintaining discipline and stability of the state, the application of the Sharia would be ensured by the sultan, thus allowing Muslims to live their lives according to the divine will as revealed by Allah in the Holy Quran and by the Holy Prophet. Despite the recognition of Imam Ghazali of the sultan’s power, his theory implicitly conditioned the imposition of that power to trigger the Islamic practices to become common in everyday lives so that the perseverance of the religious community can be ensured. The implicit bargain between the realities of political power and the requirements of Islam would become the rule across the Islamic realm, until the bargain was broken by the secularization policy of the ruling elites of the modern era.
Imam Ghazali proposed that functional authority was something which authorized the separate acts of a caliph, without any question on his appointment. Whereas institutional authority claims that there shall be an institution as the caliphate. In a logical scenario the institutional authority was certainly precede functional authority keeping in mind that the office and its duties are conceptually bonded. Furthermore the constitutional authority would be a process of selecting the caliph.
In Imam Ghazali’s theories the caliphate still depended on the totality of the Islamic government and was composed of three elements: the caliph, the sultan and the jurist which were the Ulemas. The jurists were also significant in the functioning of the Islamic Sharia, which they expressed by approving the sultan’s choice of caliph through the Bayans and Fatwas (Legal Opinions).
Imam Ghazali also published works on the duties of the caliph, which were compulsory if he was to be accepted as caliph. He proposed that a caliph must be able to wage Jihad, should discharge the duties of his office directly or indirectly through experts and ministers, should have knowledge for the purpose of ijtihad along with consultation of religious experts, must be pious for to carry one his office as a political and religious entity, must establish justice and settle cases with fairness, must have knowledge of Sharia and wisdom to endorse it as the rule of law, should be a practical Muslim and must show a reliable Muslim character, must be aware of the official matters and the performance of his administrators, should seek aid from the men of caliber to speak about the affairs of the state, must keep his morality and should avoid immoral practices.
Imam Ghazali also proposed the qualities of an ideal ruler. He believed that a ruler i.e. caliph should know the importance and danger of the authority trusted to him. A caliph should always be seek advice from the Ulemas but should be aware of their worldly ambitions. He also believed that a caliph should always be just in his actions, should always try to discipline his officers, servants and troops with his motivation and shouldn’t tolerate any unjust conducts by them and should make the utmost effort to behave gently and avoid harsh measures. A caliph is the holder of authority for that he should not be driven by pride as pride would lead him to be unjust and could make him angry and anger is the evil genius of blight of the intellect. Furthermore he believed that a caliph should not believe that in some way or the other he is superior than his subjects and should not form a habit of indulging his passion. A caliph shouldn’t disregard the presence of petitioners at his court and should be aware of the dangers of doing so. A caliph should try his best to keep his people pleased with him but should not please a person whose actions are not in compliance with the Islamic Sharia.
Imam Ghazali believed that the caliph comprehends the necessary power to accomplish the maintenance of the order and it symbolizes the collective unity of the Muslim community and its historical continuity. As its functional and institutional authority is derived from the Sharia, it is the only legitimate form of government in Islam. Imam Ghazali believed the caliphate was the legitimate form of government and he found it superior to democracy and the other forms of government. If a caliphate failed to have control over substantial affairs, he no longer can be entrusted with circumstantial authority and should be replaced.
It is clear that Imam Ghazali agreed that an Islamic state should be a divine state in compliance with the divine law under the guidance of an Imam/Caliph who can ensure the imposition of those laws and can protect the interest of the state. I believe that his claims about caliphate being the most legitimate form of government was also in support of the Abbasid caliphate to enlighten the masses about their duties as he was in favor of them and to make the stance of the Abbasids stronger in front of them. His theories acted as a camouflage in covering up the Dynastic succession of the Abbasids and due to the popularity of his theories the Fatimid claim had been weakened as most of them opposed the idea of insurgencies and opposition against the caliph. Imam Ghazali also believed that the Islamic Sharia was the only ultimate form of government and the Muslim community should any how follow it’s guidance for the betterment of the community’s future. It can also be derived that if the theoretical implications of Imam Ghazali’s thoery were limited to the functions of a caliph once appointed so as a consequence the appointment of a particular caliph or the authority of the institution becomes ambiguous.