Mahaguru58, a frequent contributor to Malaysiakini, believes that a “major reason why Muslims are suffering today in this world is because we have no Khalifah watching out over us.” To Mahaguru58, a Caliph to Muslims would be what the Pope is to Catholics.

I beg to differ.

The Pope is a religious leader. He has no power over the running of governments and non-Catholics. Whereas a Caliph exists in a Caliphate, and Sharia law would be the law of the land.

Dr Abdelwahab El-Affendi, author of Who Needs an Islamic State?, thinks that instead of calling for a Caliphate Muslims would be better off with an EU-style confederation of democratic Muslim states.

“I believe it may be necessary to work towards a more modest objective: the creation of a leading Muslim state. The function of such a state would be to play a role similar to that being played by the United States as a leader of the west. This is much less ambitious than a caliphate and falls well short of the building an EU-type union of Muslim states, but could lead to it eventually.”

No doubt, Dr Abdelwahab El-Affendi has been labeled a liberal Muslim, but to the non-Muslims, he is the kind of Muslim of whom they have nothing to fear.

The following is a video of a debate on “Who Needs an Islamic State?” between Dr Abdelwahab El-Affendi and Taji Mustafa from Hizb-ut Tahrir, two Muslims with divergent views. Watch it because you’ll find it instructive on what a Caliphate would be like, if the likes of Mahaguru58 and Taji Mustafa have their way.