Reinstatement of the Caliphate

OK article from the IHT about Hizb ut Tahriir (party of liberation) and their desire to reinstate the caliphate. It is, I think a pipe dream and impossible, at least on a large scale, because which Islamic government is going to hand over sovereignty to another government? Historically different caliphate-dynasties gained land the old fashioned way: military conquests. That could certainly happen again.

Moreover any caliphate would be riven by the exact same divisions you find in Islamic governments today: many would find it too liberal, many too conservative.

Oh, and this: how do you choose a caliph? I seem to remember an early division in the umma between what are now the sunni and shii'a about this question. And that was within a couple of decades of Muhammad's death.

(Note: Khilafah = Caliphate)

In any case, enjoy the article:

Radical Islamic party convenes in London
by Jane Perlez

[...]During a lunch break in the sunny courtyard of the Alexandra Palace, a 19th-century brick pile in northern London, conference-goers - information technology managers, bankers and teachers - told of the appeal of the ideology of a Caliphate in the Muslim world.

"If you look at the political structure in the Muslim world, it's a police state," said Mohammed Baig, 28, a second-generation British Indian who is an asset manager specializing in corporate governance. "You have the public opinion underground, and then staged public opinion in the media."

Most people in the Muslim world want the introduction of Sharia, or Islamic law, said Baig, who said he had been a member of the group for seven years.

"Our feeling is: What gives Western governments the right to impose a set of values on a people who don't believe in them?" he said, referring to the United States and Britain pushing for democratic values in the Middle East.

Asked about Hizb ut-Tahrir as a conveyor belt to terrorism, Baig said: "I'm not going to say Hizb ut-Tahrir has been a perfect organization for 20 years. There are people who have come and gone in the organization. An atmosphere was created in the youth in the mid '90s, mistakes were made."

Some of the most ardent adherence to the party's ideas about a Caliphate was expressed by women members at the conference.

Rubina Ahmed, 33, a mother of four who came on a charter bus from Manchester, said, "It's the in-depthness of the caliphate that I like." Hizb ut-Tahrir "doesn't compromise on the values of Islam and it's not afraid to speak out for what it wants."

Why did Hizb ut-Tahrir not work for the goal of the Caliphate in Britain, asked someone in the audience during a question-and-answer session.

"We focus our work where we can get the quickest results," Abuzahra said.