Khilāfat of the Banū Umayyah was not a True Islāmic Khilāfat

Now remains the question of the Kings of the Banū Umayyah and Banū ‘Abbās. There is no doubt, that there form of Khilāfat was opposed to true Islāmic teaching. Research scholars have never considered their form of leadership to be in line with Islāmic practice, for this reason, it cannot be presented as an argument. Narrations of history and Ḥadīth explicitly mention that on the basis of erroneous advice, Amīr Mu‘āwiyyah introduced an innovation in the faith. In other words, he practically snatched the right of election from the majority and appointed his own son Yazīd as his successor. Most of the prominent Companions who were alive at the time opposed him and advocated that it was against the teachings of Islām to seek an oath of allegiance for the son of a Khalīfah who was already alive.1 However, Amīr Mu‘āwiyyah did not pay heed and with public support, appointed Yazīd as his successor. As a result, when Amīr Mu‘āwiyyah passed away, although the Companions who were alive at the time remained silent with the thought of preventing unrest, they did not accept the leadership of Yazīd in their hearts, as indicated in history and Ḥadīth. As a matter of fact, Ḥaḍrat Imām Ḥusain(ra) and ‘Abdullāh bin Zubair(ra) considered this practice to be so greatly at odds with the Islāmic teaching that despite an extreme state of weakness, they stood up in contestation to Yazīd. Ultimately, it was in this very struggle that Imām Ḥusain(ra) was martyred in the lifetime of Yazīd and ‘Abdullāh bin Zubair(ra) was martyred shortly thereafter,2 but they did not bow their heads to this autocratic government, which they believed to be in contradiction to Islāmic practice. However, this mistake of Amīr Mu‘āwiyyah became a precedent for those who came after him and from that time onwards, kingship took on the form of a hereditary system.

There is also additional evidence which substantiates that the leadership of Amīr Mu‘āwiyyah and his succession did not constitute true Islāmic Khilāfat, rather, was only a system of kingship. The Holy Prophet(sa) made a prophecy that after his demise, true Islāmic Khilāfat would only remain for thirty years and after this era a system of kingship would be introduced.3 Hence, if one calculates, up to the Khilāfat of Ḥaḍrat ‘Alī(ra) or Imām Ḥasan(ra), this thirty year period comes to a close. From the era of Amīr Mu‘āwiyyah, the time period of that era begins which has been referred to as kingship.