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But it is not permissible to invoke a specific verse from the Qur’an as applying to an event that has occurred 1400 years after the verse was revealed. How can Abu Muhammad Al-Adnani say that ‘God’s promise’ is this so-called Caliphate? Even if it were supposed that his claim is correct, he should have said: ‘this is of God’s promise’. Moreover, there is another linguistic error; wherein he has appropriated the word ‘istikhlaf’ (succession) to refer to the so-called caliphate.
Proof that this is not the correct usage of the word can be seen in the following verse: { He said, “Perhaps your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you successors (yastakhlifakum) in the land, that He may observe how you shall act”.} (Al-A’raf, 7:129). Succession (istikhlaf) means that they have settled on the land in place of another people. It does not mean that they are the rulers of a particular political system. According to Ibn Taymiyyah, there is no tautology in the Qur’an5. There is a difference between ‘khilafah’ and ‘istikhlaf’. Al-Tabari says in his exegesis (tafsir) of the Qur’an: { make you successors (yastakhlifakum)}: Meaning He will make you succeed them in their land after their destruction; do not fear them or any other people.6’ This proves that the meaning of { istikhlaf } here is not rulership but, rather, dwelling on their land.
People need to understand that the Prophet ﷺ and his noble Companions made do with as little material means as possible, without complicated technology, but they were greater than all of us in understanding, jurisprudence and intellect, and yet only a small number of Companions were qualified to issue fatwas. God 
says in the Qur’an: { ... Say: “Are those who know equal with those who do not know?”...} (Al-Zumar, 39: 9). God also says: { ... Ask the People of the Remembrance if you do not know.} (Al-Anbiya’, 21: 7); and: { ... If they had referred it to the Messenger and to those in authority among them; those among them who are able to think it out, would have known it from them ...} (Al-Nisa’, 4: 83).
Thus, jurisprudence is no simple matter, and not just anyone can speak authoritatively on it or issue fatwas (religious edicts). God says in the Qur’an: { ... But only people of cores remember.} (Al-Ra’d, 13:19). And the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: ‘Whoever speaks about the Qur’an without knowledge should await his seat in the Fire7.’ It is also high time to stop blithely saying that ‘they are men, and we are men’; those who say this do not have the same understanding and discernment as the noble Companions and the imams of the Pious Forebears (al-Salaf al-Saleh) to whom they are referring.
says in the Qur’an: { And those who were given the Scripture did not become divided, except after the clear proof had come to them.} (Al-Bayyinah, 98: 4). As for praiseworthy difference of opinion, God says: { ... then God guided those who believed to the truth, regarding which they were at variance, by His leave ...} (Al-Baqarah, 2: 213). This is the opinion expressed by Al-Imam Al-Shafi’i in Al-Risalah, the other three imams and all the scholars for over a thousand years.
5 Ibn Taymiyyah says in Majmu’ Al-Fatawa (Vol. 13, p. 341), ‘Tautology in [the Arabic] language is rare and in the Qur’an, it is even rarer or nonexistent.’ Al-Raghib Al-Asfahani says in Mufradat Al-Qur’an (p. 55), ‘This book is followed ... by a book that informs the use of synonyms and their subtle differences. By doing so, the uniqueness of every expression is distinguishable from its synonyms.’
6 Tafsir Al-Tabari (Vol. 9, p. 28).
7 Narrated by Al-Tirmidhi in Tafsir Al-Qur’an, no. 2950.
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Read the full letter here: Open-Letter-To-Al-Baghdadi [pdf]
lettertobaghdadi.com (problem with this site 20230130)
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