Fazl-e-Umar — Page 106
Fazle Umar 106 philosophy of this school of thought is that when religious leadership is corrupted, it cannot be reformed through democracy or dictatorship. Moreover, in this situation, it is always God Almighty that chooses a leader from among men and under His guidance enables him to create, educate and train a new movement. After his demise, this educated and well-trained Movement elects a pious person from amongst its members, according to the Will of God to become a Successor of the deceased Mes- senger of God. In this way, once he is appointed their Imam according to the will of Allah Almighty, he remains their Imam till his death. No worldly power can take this mantle of leadership from him. The successor of the Prophet of Allah, referred to as Khalifa, is not accountable to any human being but is only answerable to God. However, as far as religious democracy is concerned the masses definitely become the tools of the will of God Almighty but the supreme authority remains in the hand of God. Although the Khalifa is appointed through elections, in fact, God Almighty is guiding the members towards the election of a righteous and able person. This is precisely the institution of Khilafat that the Seal of the Prophets, Hadhrat Muhammad Mustafa [saw] left behind and in which Hadhrat Abu Bakr, Hadhrat Umar, Hadhrat Usman and Hadhrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with all of them, occupied the seat of Khilafat one after the other. Hence, the question was which of these three systems would prove appropriate and beneficial for this Movement, which the Promised Messiah [as] established by treading in the footsteps of the Holy Prophet [saw] for the revival of Islam. The manner in which the Movement unanimously elected the Khalifa to succeed the Promised Messiah [as] was akin to the example of the Guided Khilafat (Khilafat- e-Rashida). The Movement rejected the outmoded systems of sainthood (Pirs, Gaddis) and monarchy as well as secular democracy – born out of Western Philosophy.