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Ibn Taymiyyah said:

"It is obligatory to know that the office in charge of commanding over the people (ie: the post of the Khaleefah) is one of the greatest obligations of the Deen. In fact, there is no establishment of the Deen except by it....this is the opinion of the salaf, such as al-Fadl ibn 'Iyaad, Ahmad ibn Hanbal and others"

Source: Siyaasah Shariyyah - chapter: 'The obligation of adherence to the leadership'

What or are there any conditions that have to be in place and fullfilled prior to establishing the office of the Khalifa, or is the establisement of the office a priority that takes precedence over all other needs of the society?

Niya wrote:What or are there any conditions that have to be in place and fullfilled prior to establishing the office of the Khalifa, or is the establisement of the office a priority that takes precedence over all other needs of the society?

Good question. I am not a scholar myself but I think that establishing a khilafat is as important if not more as establishing any other form of government. You need a stable government for any country to function, so I think that a muslim state needs an islamic head. Although you will find many muslim countries that function well even in democracy e.g. malaysia, I think what the sheikh is saying is that as muslim individual it essential for any muslim sovereign state to be governed in accordance with the shariah, and this in turn means establishing a khalif as head of the ummah. Any other form of Governance is sin, essentially that is what he is saying.

Famous Khalifs include:

Abu Bakr - First Rashidun (Four Righteously Guided Caliphs) of the Sunnis. Subdued rebel tribes in the Ridda wars.

Umar (Umar ibn al-Khattab) - Second Rashidun. During his reign, the Islamic empire expanded to include Egypt, Jerusalem, and Persia.

Uthman Ibn Affan - Third Rashidun. The Qur'an was compiled under his direction. Killed by rebels.

Ali (Ali ibn Abu Talib) - Fourth and last Rashidun, and considered the first imam by Shi'a Muslims. His reign was fraught with internal conflict.

Muawiyah I - First caliph of the Umayyad dynasty. Muawiyah instituted dynastic rule by appointing his son Yazid I as his successor, a trend that would continue through subsequent caliphates.

Umar ibn AbdulAziz - Umayyad caliph considered by some (mainly Sunnis) to be a sixth true and legitimate caliph under Islamic Laws of electing Caliph.

Harun al-Rashid - An Abbasid caliph during whose reign Baghdad became the world's prominent centre of trade, learning,
and culture. Harun is the subject of many stories in the famous work One Thousand and One Nights. *

Suleiman the Magnificent - Early Ottoman Sultan during whose reign the Ottoman Empire reached its zenith.

Abdul Hamid II - The last Ottoman Sultan to rule with absolute power.

Abdülmecid II - The last Caliph of the Ottoman Dynasty, the 101st Caliph in line from Caliph Abu Bakr and nominally the 37th Head of the Ottoman Imperial House


* I read that these fellas used to drink khamri