As Salamu Alaikum my question is an Islamic State/The Khilafah/The Caliphate have Treaties/Treaty and Trade and or have Relations or and or Military Alliances with Non Muslim Nations which are not under Islamic Law/Sharia can anyone give me any Examples from Islamic History ? Did'nt the Ottoman Empire have an Military Alliance with Germany during World War 1 is it ever ok to Ally with Non Muslims if it seves Muslim Interests if even for a Temporary Time ? Also could Non Muslims from other Non Islamic States visit the Caliphate also would Muslims living outside of the Caliphate be welcome to Immigrate to the Caliphate would it cost them money to go live in the Caliphate since a Person needs Money to Travel ? My final question is that many Non Muslims think Islam promotes Imperialism/Colonialism/Offensive Jihad/Empire to force Sharia on Non Muslim Lands/Nations is this true or false or taken out of context I have also heard that Offensive Jihad is to remove Oppession do the the people than have the choice of Sharia or force I did bring up Treaties because some Non Muslims may think that the Caliphate must be in a Eternal War with all Non Muslim Nations and that there can never be any Peace thank you for replying ?
Hello truthseeker63,
Wow. There is a lot there in your paragraph! I can not provide you with any information about what Islamic scholars would say on the subject. So to your question I can not say if it is "right" for Muslim countries to ally or make treaties with Non-Muslims.
What I can provide you is with is the perspective of a scholar of Political Science. Yes, Muslim states should seek alliances with Non Muslim states DEPENDING on the circumstances. There is a concept in International Affairs study know as Realpolitik. Central to this is that states seek their best interests and when pursuing their foreign policies their internal composition of a country (for this instance, whether they are Muslim or Christian) does not matter. What does matter is the balance of power. If a Muslim state is forced to choose sides between two potential enemies (one Muslim, one Christian) according to Realpolitik its decision should be made not based off what religion these states are but how powerful they are. For instance, if the other Muslim state is weaker than the Christian state they should ally with the Muslim state. If the Christian state is weaker than the Muslim state they should ally with the Christian state. If they ally with the stronger state they will just make it stronger and they will have no way to counterbalance it. But if they ally with the weaker state, they keep the stronger state from being able to overpower them. History is flush with examples. Cardinal Richlieu ensured that France would enter the Thirty Years War on the side of the Protestant states even though France was Catholic. If they sided with the Catholic powers they would only ensure that the Hapsburgs would achieve hegemonic power in Europe and France would be unable to stand against them. Therefore it was preferable to check Hapsburg power by siding with the weaker Protestant states. During the Cold War Nixon formed a del facto alliance with Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese against the Soviet Union. This was not based on any affinity for the Communist Chinese state. It was simply a recognition of the fact that the Chinese were weaker than the Soviets so it made sense to ally against the strongest enemy.
Concerning whether Non Muslims could visit a proposed Caliphate state, again, I can not give you a religious verdict. All I can say is that it would depend on the political modernization of the state. All of the current Muslim states in the world to varying degrees seem to allow Non Muslims to visit. As for immigration, that might be different. I imagine a Caliphate might be more restrictive on immigration than travel as all states are.
I do not think that Islam promotes imperialism, at least not anymore than any other religion. I think imperialism mostly depends on the particular states that it performing the action. Thus it is not the religion that matters so much as what the historical and political position of the state is.
As for whether a Caliphate must be in a Eternal War? Well, in a way all states are in a eternal struggle for survival. The Caliphate's future relations will partly be the result of its own doing (the decisions of elites, the political culture of the Caliphate, etc) and it will also depend on the international scene. Whether the structure of the world is Unipolar, Bipolar, Tri-polar, or Multipolar.
I hope this was helpful.
