To know that Khilaafat had been a great state for centuries and that it was a superpower on the world stage, the statement given by the father of modern economy is a great testimony.
Adam Smith, the 18th Century founder of modern economics whose picture is printed on the current UK £20 note, was exceedingly inspired by the Islaamic method of governing.
He proclaimed that:
“…the empire of the Caliphs seems to have been the first state under which the world enjoyed that degree of tranquility which the cultivation of the sciences requires. It was under the protection of those generous and magnificent princes, that the ancient philosophy and astronomy of the Greeks were restored and established in the East; that tranquility, which their mild, just and religious government diffused over their vast empire, revived the curiosity of mankind, to inquire into the connecting principles of nature.”
( Adam Smith, ‘History of Astronomy’, The Essays of Adam Smith (London, 1869), p. 353)
Hence it was a leading state in economy, science, technology, commerce, architecture and jurisprudence. The Khilaafat provided peace and security for its citizens, allowing them to live in harmony together as a single state. The Khilafah even provided sanctuary for those who were persecuted because of their beliefs.
With the removal of the sole legitimate leadership of the Muslims, the Caliphate, the lands of Islaam were divided in to numerous statelets and disputed territories. These new entities were established along the lines of ethnicity, sectarianism and racism by the colonialist powers of the day in an attempt to ensure that Muslim Ummah would never rise again. Nationalism that was nurtured by the colonialists in the run up to the destruction of the Caliphate helped to ensure that these new entities would remain at loggerheads, never to think of uniting again. Any attempts to replicate the power of a unitary leadership of the Muslim world were replaced by pathetic and impotent bodies such as Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC). These organizations were designed to perpetuate disunity and division as they preserved the borders and barriers between Muslims that the colonialists had established. These states have never had the interests of Islam and the Muslims at heart.
Western colonialism put in place a motley crew of dictators, monarchs, autocrats that have served them in a manner more loyal than their own populations.
The Muslim world has indeed seen destruction, devastation and calamity for the past 90 years, despite the fact that the Muslim ummah is the richest in natural resources, manpower, army, land, technological capability, wealth and most importantly Ieemaan in Allaah Kareem
