The Political Ideology of the Taliban

Abstract

The state formation by the Taliban movement was based on their interpretation of the Islamic principle of Khelafat. In accordance with the Taliban, Mullah Mohammed Omar Mujahed, the leader of the movement, is amir-ul-mumanin (the leader of believers), which makes him respectable among all Muslims in the world. In Afghanistan, the amir-ul-mumanin also is the khalifah, who rules the territory under his control in accordance with the Islamic law, shari’ah. All Muslims and non-Muslims who live in such a territory are obligated to obey the Khalifah. A khalifah is selected by a small council of leaders who have religious capacity and communal trust. Despite Taliban interpretation, issues such as elections are not a lawful way for selecting a khalifah and forming a khelafat. Previously, the Taliban criticized the ex-Mujahideen leaders for not following the Islamic way of forming a government. As a close source to the Taliban, Mohammed Mossa from the Darul Ifta-e-Wal Irshad writes:

Thus the selection of a Khalifah, the formation of a government was extremely sensitive and important in those blessed days of long ago [the first thirty years of Islam after the Prophet Mohammed], and here in the present times the Mujahideen were asked to form a government in installment! This was the biggest mistake, as it provided an opportunity for creating disturbances to every enemy of Islam. Another greater mistake was that Khalifah was purposely not mentioned anywhere, faithfulness to the shahadah’s (martyred) blood had demanded the use of terms Khalifah and Khelafat instead of president and prime minister. A Khelafat should have been established based upon the golden rules of Sharee’ah, but this was not so.¹