The Ummah's Charter 

  Hizb ut Tahrir

1410 AH / 1989 CE (Updated 2026)

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The Ummah's Charter

The word charter, linguistically and in the Shariah terminology, means al-‘Ahd (the covenant). Allah ﷻsaid, ﴿اِلَّا الَّذِيۡنَ يَصِلُوۡنَ اِلٰى قَوۡمٍۢ بَيۡنَكُمۡ وَبَيۡنَهُمۡ مِّيۡثَاقٌ﴾“Except those who join a group, between you and whom there is a treaty (of peace) (meethaaq).” [TMQ Surah An-Nisaa’: 90] And He ﷻsaid, ﴿وَاِنۡ كَانَ مِنۡ قَوۡمٍۢ بَيۡنَكُمۡ وَبَيۡنَهُمۡ مِّيۡثَاقٌ فَدِيَةٌ مُّسَلَّمَةٌ اِلٰٓى اَهۡلِهٖ﴾ “And if he belonged to a people with whom you have a treaty of mutual alliance (meethaaq), compensation (blood money - Diyah) must be paid to his family” [TMQ Surah An-Nisaa: 92]. And He ﷻsaid, ﴿اَلَمۡ يُؤۡخَذۡ عَلَيۡهِمۡ مِّيۡثَاقُ الۡـكِتٰبِ اَنۡ لَّا يَقُوۡلُوۡا عَلَى اللّٰهِ اِلَّا الۡحَـقَّ﴾“Was not the covenant (meethaaq) of the Book taken from them that they would not say about Allah anything but the truth?” [TMQ Surah Al-A’raaf: 169] And He ﷻsaid, ﴿وَاِذۡ اَخَذَ اللّٰهُ مِيۡثَاقَ النَّبِيّٖنَ لَمَاۤ اٰتَيۡتُكُمۡ مِّنۡ كِتٰبٍ وَّحِكۡمَةٍ ثُمَّ جَآءَكُمۡ رَسُوۡلٌ مُّصَدِّقٌ لِّمَا مَعَكُمۡ لَـتُؤۡمِنُنَّ بِهٖ وَلَـتَـنۡصُرُنَّهٗؕ﴾“And (remember) when Allah took the Covenant (meethaaq) of the Prophets, saying: ‘Take whatever I gave you from the Book and Hikmah (understanding of the Laws of Allah, etc.), and afterwards there will come to you a Messenger (Muhammad ﷺ) confirming what is with you; you must, then, believe in him and help him’” [TMQ Surah Aali ‘Imran: 81].

In our time, terminologically, it refers to a collection of principles in which the people believe, make their viewpoint in life, and take as a source for their constitution and rules.

The people who adopt a charter are the newly emergent people who have established a state and began a new life other than that which they used to live; as is the case with the African states and with every state which was founded recently and began a new life other than their former life.

When the Arab countries were separated from the body of the ‘Uthmani Khilafah (Ottoman Caliphate) at the end of World War I, each region that had become a state tried to draw up a charter, which they called the national charter, as in Iraq and Syria for example. As for the peoples and nations previously, they did not think of writing a charter. This is because a specific political doctrine had crystallized in them, together with specific principles which they took as their viewpoint about life and as a source for the rulings that they used, instead of a constitution and canons in the case that they did not have a constitution or canons. If they have a constitution and canons, they use these principles as a source for this constitution and canons. These principles are preserved, well known, and agreed upon without any need for them to be written down, and without being called an Ummah’s charter or national charter. This is the case with all ancient states.

The Islamic Ummah is one of the oldest of nations and has a political creed, which is the only true ‘Aqeedah. It has been entrenched within the Ummah’s thoughts and Shariah rulings, which it made its viewpoint about life and took as a source of rulings that organize the state and the rest of the relationships, or what they call constitution and canons. All of this has been recorded in two great sources, which are the Noble Quran and the Prophetic Sunnah. Therefore, it is in no need for a charter called the charter of the Ummah. It is not right that the Ummah should have a nationalistic charter, because the Noble Quran and Prophetic Sunnah oblige it to reject the patriotic and nationalistic bond.

However, the Ummah was affected by the Western thoughts, due to the missionary and cultural invasion, followed by the political and military attack by the disbelieving Western states on the Muslim lands.

The application of Islam in the state and society became far removed from the Ummah after the destruction of the Khilafah state in 1924, and the Noble Quran and the Prophetic Sunnah became lost in the minds of the Muslims within their political and legislative aspect. The Islamic ‘Aqeedah ceased to be a political creed.

As a result of these two matters, the vision of Islam as an ‘Aqeedah and system for life, state, and society weakened.

However, this long-established Islamic Ummah woke up from its slumberafter the intense suffering caused by its distancing from Islam and the domination of the West, its thoughts, systems, and agents. The Islamic Ummah woke up after the West showed its true face and the Ummah perceived the corruption of the Western thoughts and systems, the corruption of the socialist and communist thoughts and systems, and also the corruption of nationalism and regionalism. The Ummah has understood the extent of their danger to it and to its entity as an Ummah.

So, the Ummah has returned to Islam to discover within it the solution to itsproblems. Islam became its hope for salvation and for saving it from its sufferings and hardships. It has begun to view the Islamic Aqeedah as a political creed, and that the Noble Quran and Prophetic Sunnah contain a complete system for life, state, and society, and they both have a political and legislative aspect. The Muslims have come to realize that they cannot be saved or rescued unless the Islamic Ummah returns to the Noble Quran (الكتاب Al-Kitaab) and the Prophetic Sunnah (السنة) and implements them.

Therefore, it is natural when the Ummah feels the need to change thecurrent society and believes in the Kitaab and Sunnah, that it would take this Kitaab and Sunnah as the charter for the Ummah and as the source for the constitution and canons. However, adopting the Kitaab and Sunnah as a charter for the Ummah must be expressed in the form of broad guidelines, in which thoughts are manifested that contain the manner of implementation so that the Kitaab and Sunnah can be taken as a charter. It must include a study on how to correctly define what the Kitaab and Sunnah mean in order to guarantee the right course. It must show how to comprehend the Kitaab and Sunnah and how they will be a source of constitution and canons. It is necessary to explain the identity of the state that will be based on the two sources in order to execute them. Thus, one must adopt the Kitaab and Sunnah as a charter, which is crystallized in the form of broad guidelines that reflect the practical image of the adoption of the charter. It is from this perspective that the idea of this charter has come.

These are the broad lines, which have been crystallized in taking the Kitaab and Sunnah as a charter for the Ummah.