Source: Express Tribune
A new pope was elected in the Vatican this month on March 13, 2013. Born in Argentina as Mario Bergoglio, he is now the 266th head of the Roman Catholic Church. The pomp and glory, the global publicity, the weeping crowds and the race to the finish held the world transfixed. One hundred and fifteen red-robed cardinals had been locked away for two days in the Sistine Chapel, the home of all the Papal Conclaves since 1858. They judged the needs of a 21st-century church tarnished by scandals of child abuse by pastors and priests, cases of bank fraud, support for murderous dictators and declining church attendance in the US and Europe. Eventually, white smoke rose from the Chapel signalling that the holy old men had agreed upon a successor for Pope Benedict XVI. They hoped that their selection would somehow revive an ancient and powerful institution that claims direct succession from the apostles of Christ.
Categories: Asia, Belief, Catholics, CHRISTIANITY, Interfaith Leader, Khilafat
A thought provoking article but regrettably lacked the spiritual side of concept of Khilafat.
According to the explanation given on the website of alislam.org, The word Khilafat means succession, and the Khalifa is a successor to a Prophet of Allah whose goal is to carry to completion the tasks of reformation and moral training that were seeded by the Prophet. The community of followers of a Prophet of Allah continues to nurture its faith and practices under the blessing of the institution of Khilafat for as long as Allah wishes. Allah says in the Holy Quran:” Allah had promised to those among you who believe and do good works that He will surely make them Successors in the earth, as He made Successors from among those who were before them; and that He will surely establish for them their religion which He has chosen for them; and that He will surely give them in exchange security and peace after their fear: They will worship Me, and they will not associate anything with Me. Then whoso is ungrateful after that, they will be the rebellious. (Surah Al-Nur, Verse 56).
God Almighty does everything through wisdom and foresight, and there is always a good reason and logic behind it. According to nature’s physical laws, man has only a limited life span, but the task of reformation and training of society requires a much longer time. So, Allah has established the system of Khilafat after the system of Prophethood. The Khalifah continues and carries on the task of the Prophet. The seed sown by the Prophet is protected and nurtured by the Khalifah till it becomes a strong and sturdy tree. It shows that in fact Khilafat is an offshoot or branch of the system of Prophethood, that is why the Holy Prophet sa says that after every Prophet, the system of Khilafat is established.
Just as Allah appoints a Prophet, it is He who appoints a Khalifa as well. He chooses the person who is most eligible to become a Khalifa, and guides a group of pious believers into manifesting His Will through a process of selection of the Khalifa. Thus, it may apparently seem that the Khalifa is chosen by a group of pious people, but it is in fact the Will of Allah that guides their faculties into choosing the Khalifa of His Choice. Once a Khalifa is selected, he remains a Khalifa for the rest of his life as a living testament to Divine Will.
Khilafat establishes the authority of Allah on earth, and the Khalifa strives to uphold that authority within the community of followers. For the believers, Khilafat is an embodiment of Allah’s Unity, as they choose to take divine authority through the person of the Khalifa. The believers partake of the blessings of Khilafat by holding firm to their faith and practices, united under him.
Above is the real concept of Khilfat in Islam. Ahmadiyya group which has been thrown out of the pale of Islam is following this concept. Since it is a theological discussion and majority of Muslims consider Ahmadiyya as infidal so it has to been if remaining Muslim Ummah can revert back to the concept of Khilafat. Apparantly it looks impossible as Khilfat has to continue after the prophethood and according to current popular belief of Muslim no prophet can come so no chance for revival of Khilafat.