“Whoever removes his hand from obedience (to the ruler) will meet Allah with no proof for himself, and whoever dies without the Bay’ah (pledge of allegiance to the Khaleefah) upon his neck dies a death of Jahiliyyah”

[Muslim]

The ’Bay’ah’, or pledge of allegiance, that this hadith refers to is the pledge taken between the ruled people and their ruler. This was exemplified by the Prophet (SAW) and his companions after him, to rule the people by the Qur’an and Sunnah and in return to be obeyed.

The ’death of Jahiliyyah’ is an indication in the hadith that to die without having the pledge of allegiance upon one’s neck is prohibited, and therefore the existence of the pledge of allegiance is obligatory, which in turn necessitates the existence of the Khalifah with whom that pledge is made, as mentioned by scholars such as Imam Taftazani. He explained that the obligation of Khilafah is text based:

“The adoption is that it is obligatory upon the servants by textual evidence because of the saying of the Messenger, ”Whoever dies not having known the Imam of his time, dies the death of the days of ignorance.” Also, the Ummah agreed that this was the most important duty following the death of the Messenger (SAW), so important in fact that they considered it more important than the matter of his burial, and so also has it been after the death of each Imam.”

It is compulsory upon every Muslim to have a Bay’ah on his neck, and the hadith describes that the one who dies without having a Bay’ah on his neck dies a death of Jahiliyyah (ignorance). The absence of the Khilafah means we are unable to discharge this duty, hence we are in a serious situation due to the graveness of the sin, and we must work to re-establish the Islamic system in order to fulfil the Bay’ah. This work is obligatory from the principle “whatever is required to fulfil a wajib is wajib”, and this is an obligation which encompasses all Muslims due to the use of ’whoever’ in the hadith, which indicates a general rule.

Dear Muslims, it is an abnormal situation for the Ummah to be living in the absence of the Islamic system of governance that implements Islam, takes care of the Ummah’s interests and rights, organises its army and collects and distributes the Zakaah. The generations before us did not face such a reality as the one we face today. A Muslim living in the absence of Islam is very much like a ’fish out of water’. A Muslim should feel suffocated and yearn to return to his natural habitat much like the fish yearns to return to the water, because its life depends on it.

Therefore, the Muslim should work via the Prophetic method for the resumption of the Islamic way of life in an urgent manner and must continue to do so, even if death takes him while trying, as his salvation depends on it.

“O you who believe, respond to Allah and His Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life. And know that Allah comes between a man and his heart and that to Him you will be gathered.”

[Surah Al-Anfaal, 8:24]