"The khalif who did Rasulullah's ('alaihi 's-salam) task of guidance as he had done was called Khalifat rashida. These were perfect, real khalifs. The khalif who did not carry out this task precisely and who did not obey Islam was called Khalifat jabira.. [Shah Wali-Allah ad-Dahlawi, Izalat al-Khafa, v. II, p.330].

"Rasulullah's ('alaihi 's-salam) task of guidance had three parts. The first one was to have Allahu ta'ala's commands and prohibitions obeyed by using power and force. This is called 'sultanate'. His second task was to teach His commands and prohibitions. His third task called 'ihsan' was to purify the heart. Al-Khulafa' ar-rashidin did all of these three tasks. Those who succeeded them did only the task of sultanate. The task of teaching was given to the imams of madhhabs, and the task of ihsan was given to the great men of tasawwuf." .. [Shah Wali-Allah ad-Dahlawi, Izalat al-Khafa, v. II, p.342. A hadith written on its 567th page calls such a khalif "Malik al-adud", who has been called "khalif" symbolically. The khulafa al-jabira came next.].

"VII: Yazid ibn Muawiya became the khalif in 60 and died four years later in Hawwarin, which is located between Damascus and Tadmur. He was buried there. (23-64)

"VII: Muawiya It ibn Yazid was very intelligent, very pious and very just. He resigned from khalifate after forty days. (44-64)

"IX: Marwan ibn Hakam was a fiqh scholar. He was very clever and very intelligent. He read the Qur'an very beautifully. He abstained from sins and feared Allahu ta'ala very much. He was the beloved son-in-law of Hadrat 'Uthman (radi-Allahu 'anh). It was written on his seal, 'I trust in Allahu ta'ala. I ask from Him.' (2-65)

"X: 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan was a hadith and fiqh scholar. He was famous for having much zuhd and 'ibadat . Imam an-Nafi', a prominent one among the Tabiin, said, 'In Medina, I have not seen a person who was learned in fiqh more profoundly, worshiped more, knew the knowledge and manners of hajj more or read the Qur'an more beautifully than 'Abd al-Malik.' According to many scholars, 'Abd al-Malik was one of the seven fiqh scholars of Medina. Imam ash-Shabi, another prominent one among the Tabiin, said, 'I found myself superior to every scholar whom I interviewed. I found only 'Abd al-Malik superior to me.' He fought Mukhtar, the chief of the rebels who shed much blood and killed him. His khalifate was religiously rightful. He repaired the Kaba. His construction continued till the restoration by Murad Khan IV in 1040 (1631). Before him, Byzantine gold coins and Persian silvers had been used, and he was the one who coined the first Islamic money. He is the conqueror of Adana and Sicily. He sent his son Maslama to conquer Constantinople. Maslama (rahmat-Allahi ta'ala 'alaih) performed salat in the big church of St. Sophia and built the Arab Mosque. (26-86)

"XI: Walid ibn 'Abd al-Malik was very pious and charitable and worshiped much. He read through the Qur'an in every three days. His good deeds and favors were countless. As soon as he became the khalif, he appointed his cousin, 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, the governor of Medina. He had the Umayya Mosque built in Damascus, spending four hundred chests of gold coins. It was Walid who built the first hospital and soup kitchen for the poor in Muslim history. He himself paid the debts of religious men. His commandant, Kutaibiya, took Bukhara peacefully from the Turks. He was the conqueror of Andalusia (Spain), Ankara, Samarkand and India. It was written on his seal: 'O Walid! You will die and be called to account!' (46-96)

"XII: Sulaiman ibn 'Abd al-Malik was learned, zealous, literary, eloquent, charitable and just. He abstained much from tormenting others. One day, a person told him that his farm had been taken from him cruelly. Because he feared Allahu ta'ala much, he got down from his throne, removed the rug and put his cheek on the ground. He took an oath that he would not withdraw his cheek from the ground until an order would be written to that cruel person. The order was written immediately and given to the farmer. (60-99) [Another example showing the justice of Islamic khalifs is written in Hadrat Sayyid Abdulhakim al-Arwasi's (rahmat-Allahi ta'ala alaih) note book: "Khalif Sulaiman asked Hadrat Abu Hazim, one of the Tabi'un, 'We don't want to die. What is the reason?' He said, 'O Sulaiman! You have destroyed your next world and made this world prosperous. Certainly you wouldn't like to go from a prosperous place to a destroyed one.'"]

"XIII: 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan (rahmat-Allahu ta'ala 'alaih) was a good, just Muslim. (61-101) [Maodudi, too, praises him. He says that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz was the first mujaddid and writes about some of his innumerable good deeds, but he does not attribute any share of these good deeds to Khalif Sulaiman who had designated Umar as his successor. To him, the khalifs spoilt the institution of khalifate by designating their sons or relatives as their successors and thus governed the Islamic republic dictatorially like kings. He searches for and counts all their faults and defects and disgraces them with unbelief, but he does not ever see their good deeds. Whereas, they designated them with the intention of following Islam. Then, religion reformer speak ill of the followers of Islam but praise those who adapt Islam to their own thoughts and points of view.]

"XIV: Yazid ibn 'Abd al-Malik had been formerly addicted to pleasures. But when he became the khalif, he became pious and just. (71-105)

"XV: Hisham ibn 'Abd al-Malik was very intelligent, efficient in governing and benevolent. Everybody liked him. His goodness and justice were known far and wide. When some goods were brought to the bait al-mal, he would not accept it unless forty persons bore witness to that they were taken in a halal way. (71-125)

"XVI: Walid ibn Yazid was literary, eloquent. Because he was seen to be mentally deficient, a year later he was killed while reading the Qur'an. (92-126)

"XVII: Yazid ibn Walid ibn 'Abd al-Malik was intelligent, clever and devoted to the religion. He prohibited alcoholic drinks. (90-126)

"XVIII: Ibrahim ibn Walid ibn 'Abd al-Malik was the khalif for seventy days which elapsed fighting Marwan. (?-126)

"XIX: Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan was brave, intelligent and efficient in administration. He conquered many lands. He fought the Khawarij and killed their chief Dahhak. He was overcome and killed by the 'Abbasids. (72-132)

"XX: 'Abdullah Saffah ibn Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas was learned, intelligent, provident, eloquent and generous. He died of small-pox. He is the first khalif of the 'Abbasids. (104-135)

"XXI: Mansur ibn Muhammad had much knowledge and decency. He did not care for amusement. He was brave and patient. He worshiped much. (95-158)

"XXII: Mahdi ibn Mansur was learned, brave, intelligent and very generous. Everybody liked him. His itiqad was very pure. He killed the renegades. (126-169)

"XXIII: Hadi ibn Mahdi was learned, intelligent, eloquent and generous. It was written on his seal, 'I believe and trust in Allahu ta'ala.' (147-170)

"XXVI: Harun ar-Rashid ibn Mahdi performed a hundred rak'as of salat every day and every night. He went on hajj one year and on ghaza every other year. He followed Islam in everything he did. He had in himself all the beautiful habits. (148-193)"

Al-Imam al-azam Abu Hanifa, Imam al-Ghazali, Imam an-Nawawi, Ibn Hajar, al-Imam ar-Rabbani and Khalid al-Baghdadi (Radhi Allahu Anhum) and many other great scholars were like these. It is obvious that people like Mawdudi, Sayyid Qutb and Hamidullah have remained outside this circle. Nothing can be so credulous as regarding as Islamic scholars the people who do not know anything about Islamic knowledge and Islamic scholars and who cannot penetrate into the inner essence of Islam but observe it from the outside like non-Muslim orientalist authors. The branches of knowledge taught in madrasas which are called "scholastic knowledge" by Mawdudi are 'ulum an-naqliyya (religious knowledge). And what he calls "rational knowledge" is 'ulum al-'aqliyya (scientific, literary knowledge). Both of these make up the Islamic knowledge. It does not befit a Muslim to say that fiqh and hadith scholars have known one of these branches of knowledge without knowing the other. Islamic scholars have been the very exalted people praised in the Qur'an and Hadith. They are the heirs of prophets. They have organized the division of labor among themselves, each undertaking the job of disseminating a separate branch of knowledge. This division of labor confuses the ignorant, and they suppose that Islamic scholars have not been exalted in other branches of knowledge. Hadrat 'Abd al-Wahhab ash-Sharani wrote at the beginning of his book Al-mizan al-kubra: "Hadrat Abu Hanifa, the founder of and expert in the knowledge of fiqh, was a great wali like Hadrat 'Abd al-Qadir al-Geilani . He was a man of karamat like him. But he did not undertake to spread the knowledge pertaining to the heart or to purify the souls. He undertook the task of spreading all kinds of worship done with the body, that is, the knowledge of fiqh. The mujtahids whom he educated were like him." It is seen that the insidious enemies, who want to demolish Islam from the inside, try to blemish Islamic scholars in this respect also in order to deceive the Muslim youth. They may praise Islamic scholars through false, roundabout words exaggerating them greatly in order to conceal their destructive plans. We should not believe them.

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