Islamists misunderstand the Islamic Caliphate: Report on the launch of the Faith Matters report, “The Tanzimat: Secular Reforms in the Ottoman Empire”
Extremist Muslims who campaign for the return of an Islamic Caliphate are deluded in their understanding, and in fact the true Caliphate was a model of secular reform, according to a report.
Faith Matters, the respected interfaith think-tank, debunks extremist claims about the caliphate in an investigation of the secular reforms of the Ottoman Empire.
Far from presiding over strict Sharia, the caliphate in the 19th century in particular was a forerunner to secular Western democracies in many of its reforms. It decriminalised homosexuality, moved away from punishments such as stoning and did not implement the death sentence for apostasy.
Al-Qaeda is among the groups that would like to see the re-establishment of an Islamic Caliphate. The late Osama Bin Laden called for Muslims to re-establish the caliphate. He said: “The righteous Caliphate will return with the permission of Allah.”
Hizb ut-Tahrir also campaigns for a caliphate, which is a system of government with ruler, or successor to the Prophet Muhammad, who governs by Sharia.
Fiyaz Mughal, founder and director of Faith Matters, says in the report: “Faith Matters is launching this paper to offer a brief insight into the secular reforms of the Ottoman Empire, in order to analyse and debunk claims by extreme groups such as al- Qaeda, who portray it historically as an Islamic Caliphate, strictly governed by Sharia. The Ottoman Empire is often presented by such groups as a model political system upon which to rebuild a global caliphate.”
Ishtiaq Hussain, the report’s author, shows that rather than inserting narrow religious laws into the state’s legal framework, the Ottomans attempted to secularise.
Mr Mughal says: “Islamists often bypass these facts and use a warped interpretation of history to weave their own narrative into mainstream debate.”