Khilafat-e-Rashidah — Page 11
KHILAFAT-E-R A SHIDAH 11 they were simply done to meet the need of the time. Had they borne religious authority, they would have been a sunnah binding on later generations. This is the natural conclusion which results from this doctrine. Those who turned away from Khilafat-e-Ahmadiyya have always tried to hide this natural conclusion from people for fear that if they declare that the part of the life of the Holy Prophet sa concerned with management of the affairs of the state was only a worldly matter to meet provisional needs of the time, the Muslims would not tolerate it, considering it a defamation of the Holy Prophet sa. Therefore, they have always taken a very irrational approach to this subject. However, Ali bin Abdur Razzaq, one of the scholars of Jamia Al–Azher, has discussed this issue openly and boldly, and has reached the logical conclusion that I just mentioned. It is, therefore, an interesting coincidence that when I started collecting notes on this topic, it crossed my mind that if this argument were stretched to its limits, it would also affect the Holy Prophet sa. One would have to admit that this part of his life was merely a worldly matter which was adopted to meet the needs of that time. I reached that conclusion initially; later, when I read his book, I noticed that he drew exactly the same inference that I drew, though he, being afraid of Muslims, avoided discussing it in detail. He tried to present his perspective like sugar- coated poison. Nevertheless, the crux of his reasoning becomes very clear when he points out that the