Fatima.Mernessi_The-Forgotten-Queens-of-Islam-EN

32 Queens and Courtesans
to be at the head, to lead and conduct people on the sirat almustaqim
(the right path), the most common meaning of which is
the leading of prayers. The imam of a mosque is the one who leads
the prayers. The origin of the word caliph is very different; it derives
from khalafa, which means to come afterward, to succeed someone
in time. The first to bear the title of caliph was Abu Bakr; he was
called caliph because he replaced the Prophet after his death. The
caliph necessarily inherited both the spiritual and the material leadership
of the Muslims, since the Prophet ensured well-being on
earth and in Heaven through the shari'a, the divine law. The very
nature of power is religious: the political leader's function is to
enforce the law of God on earth. This is the only way to guarantee
order and justice. The caliph's duty is to use religion to harmonize
the political administration of the universe, politics and religion
being inextricably linked. This cosmic entangling of Heaven and
earth, and the caliph as the executor of divine will on earth, necessarily
imply the exclusion of women, the divine being both One and
male. We are taught at school that the caliph is the representative
of God on earth, and repeating this formula mechanically makes
women's exclusion an inevitable cosmic law.
However, at the beginning the first caliph, Abu Bakr (from 11/632
to 13/634), known for his great modesty, was a little frightened by
the title and advised the Companions not to call him 'caliph of God
on earth'. He told them: 'Call me the caliph of the Prophet - may
the prayer of Allah and his peace be upon him - because one can
only take the place of someone who is absent. One cannot take the
place of him who is present.' 13 At any rate, it is because of this
entangling of the spiritual and the earthly, explains Ibn Khaldun,
that 'we call the caliphate the greater imamate [al-imama al-kubra]
by contrast with the lesser imamate [al-imama al-sughra], which
consists of leading the prayers. The responsibility of the greater
imamate, or the caliphate, includes the leading of the prayers [alsalat],
legal consultation [al-futya], adjudication [al-qada', the function
of qadi], holy war [al-jihad], and municipal administration [alhisba].'
So the leading of the prayers (the lesser imamate) is only
one of the functions of the caliph, who is both head of state and
head of government and fills all the important cabinet posts, if we
want to use modern terminology. He is at one and the same time
minister of justice, finance, and defence. Since for many religious
authorities the lesser imamate, the simple act of leading the prayers,
already excluded women, one understands that for the greater
imamate the question seems superfluous.