Is the Khilafah ruled by a military regime ?

The Khilafah is not a military regime. The Khaleefah is commander in-chief of the armed forces and appoints all the army generals and the Chief of staff.²⁰ The Khaleefah is not a ceremonial commander in-chief as found in some western states but he alone is the one who supervises the military and war policies, internally and externally for the state. This ensures the armed forces are fully under the executive control of the government and cannot become independent and carry out a coup d'état against the government as we have seen happening on numerous occasions in Muslim countries such as Turkey and Pakistan. However, this in no way implies that the Khilafah is a military regime enforcing the law through the army.

Military thinking is kept completely separate from the political thinking needed to look after peoples' affairs. Although military thinking is important within its narrow sphere of building a strong military apparatus and carrying out the war policy, it should never exceed this role. This is because when soldiers fulfil their work in their military capacity, they fulfil it as people of expertise. They do not permit into their considerations the impact of world public opinion, diplomatic efforts, spiritual and moral strengths or the value of political manoeuvring. Their opinion is just one opinion among many other considerations that the Khaleefah uses when formulating his political judgement on a matter.²¹Preventing misuse of the Armed ForcesThe military is not a monopoly of the Khaleefah for him to use for his own personal interests. The armed forces can only be used for legitimate shari'ah reasons. They cannot be used illegally and to commit oppression. If for any reason it is deemed that the armed forces have been misused by the Khaleefah then the independent judicial court the Court of Unjust Acts (Mahkamat ul-Mazalim) will investigate the matter and make a judgement to resolve the dispute.²² 


Ref:

²¹ Taqiuddin an-Nabhani, ‘The Islamic Personality,' Op.Cit., Chapter ‘The Meaning of the Khaleefah Supervising the Army's Leadership' 

²² Taqiuddin an-Nabhani, ‘The draft constitution of the Khilafah State,' Op.Cit., Article 78