Hizb ut-Tahrir (Arabicحزب التحرير) (Translation: Party of Liberation) is an international, jihadist organization which describes its ideology as Islam, and its aim the re-establishment of the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) to resume Islamic ways of life in the Muslim world. The caliphate would unite the Muslim community Ummah[3] )[4] upon their Islamic creed and implement the Shariah, so as to then carry the proselytizing of Islam to the rest of the world.[a][b]
The party was founded in 1953 as a political organization in then Jordanian-controlledJerusalem by Taqiuddin al-Nabahani, an Islamic scholar and appeals court judge qadi (religious court judge) in Mandatory Palestine.[6][7] Al-Nabhani developed a program and "draft constitution" for the caliphate,[8][9][10][11] from Haifa. Since then, Hizb ut-Tahrir has spread to more than 50 countries, and grown to a membership estimated to be between "tens of thousands"[1] to "about one million".[2] Hizb ut-Tahrir is also very active inWestern countries, particularly in England, and also in several Arab, African and Central Asian countries despite being banned by a number of governments. Members typically meet in small private study circles, but in countries where the group is not illegal, it also engages with the media and organizes rallies and conferences.[12]
The basis of the party's ideological structure has been "meticulously thought out and published in many detailed books [13]" that are readily available. Al-Nabhani also developed a program and "draft constitution" for the caliphate,[14][15][16][17] which would be run by a Caliph (head of state elected by Muslims).[18][19] Articles of the constitution detail canons fundamentally related to the economy, society, judiciary, military, education, media and more.[16]
Party yet to decide how it would assume authority.
1960
Hizb ut-Tahrir [HT] begins "Interaction Stage" in Jordan. Party revises its method.[20]
1961
HT adopts the method of seeking support from the influential faction(s) and Muslim military to assume power,[21] specifically by gaining sympathy public opinion and protection from within the army to conduct a coup or nussrah.[22] [23] The party also sent experienced members to seek support in Syria and Iraq.[22]
1964
Announcement that society in Jordan has responded positively to its call, forcing it to attempt to take power in that country.[24]
1968/69
HT allegedly involved in two (failed) coup attempts in Jordan and Syria.[25]
1970
Several coup attempts having failed, yet the Party continued to reach the authority despite the failed coup attempts.[26]
1974
HT allegedly involved in (failed) coup attempt in Egypt.[25]
HT continued to expand under A. Q Zalloum to more Muslim countries.[28]
1979
HT twice accounted Ayatollah Khomeini and asked him to reestablish the caliphate, leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolution, but Khomeini ignored HT's request.[29][30]
1980
Party leadership states that although seeking nussrah is vital, members should remember that the attainment of power also depends on gaining popular support.[29][30]
1980’s
HT expands to many European countries and gains popularity by the various Muslim communities.
1996-7
Internal dispute known as "the Redress". Dissident members accuse the leadership of Abdul Qadeem Zallum of deviating from party principles. Dissenters are led by Abu Rami, a veteran member from the party leadership circle.[31] from the Nakitheen.[32][33]
1998
HT declares that the Khilafah (Caliphate) is now the wish of all the Muslims.[34]
2003 March
79-year-old leader Abdul Qadeem Zallum retires as leader, succeeded by Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah, a Palestinian civil engineer, who takes HT on wider media platforms.[35] US-led invasion of Iraq begins. The invasion and subsequent occupation helps HT by raising consciousness among Muslims of a "global ummah" and by lowering Muslims' opinion of the United States – the leader of the invasion and (according to HT) the "head of Kufr".[36]
2010– 2022
Party works to ignite the Syrian Revolution and heavily invests in it, hoping that the revolutionary fighters would unite under HT's Islamic umbrella and agree upon an Islamic Caliphate.[37][38]
Hizb ut-Tahrir states its aim as unification of all Muslim countries (or as it calls them "Islamic lands"[c] over time in a unitary[41]Islamic state or caliphate, headed by a caliph (Khaleefah) elected by Muslims.[9][10][11] This, it holds, is an obligation decreed by Allah, warning that He will punish those Muslims "who neglect this duty."[42] Once established, the caliphate will expand into non-Muslim areas, through "invitation" and through military jihad,[43][4][44][45][46] so as to expand the land of Islam and diminish the land of unbelief.[11] To "achieve its objective" HT seeks "to gain the leadership of the Islamic community" so that the community will "accept it as her [the community's] leader, to implement Islam upon her and proceed with it in her struggle against the Kuffar (unbelievers) and in the work towards the return of the Islamic State ..."[47]
The nature of the "Islamic state"/caliphate/Khilafah is spelled out in a detailed program and "draft constitution" which notes the caliphate being a unitary (not federal) state,[41] run by a caliph head of state elected by Muslims.[9][10][11] Other specified features include: "The currency of the State is to be restricted to gold and silver"—article 163; "every male Muslim, fifteen years and over, is obliged to undergo military training"—article 56; "Arabic is the language of Islam and the sole language of the State"—article 8; in schools "the weekly lessons of Islamic disciplines and Arabic language must be equal to the lessons of all other sciences in terms of number and time"[48]—article 173. forbidden by the constitution are Such things as copyrights on educational materials (article 175), military treaties (article 190), and memberships by the state in secular international organizations (article 186)[8][49][50][d] In addition to the constitution, "many detailed books" expand on the HT ideology and "method of work", according to its 2010 Information pack.[54]
Although hizb means party in Arabic, in the countries where Hizb ut-Tahrir is active it has usually not registered as a political party or attempted to elect candidates to political office,[55] although it did early in its history.[e] Hizb ut-Tahrir put forward candidates for office in Jordan in the 1950s when it was first formed and before it was banned, according to Suha Taji-Farouki.[57]
One observer Olivier Roy describes the strategy as a "global, grassroots revolution, culminating in a sudden, millenarian victory", as opposed to a slog through a political process "that risks debasing the Koran and perpetuating the ummah's subjugation to the West".[58]
The party plans its political progress in three stages, taking after the process "by which the Muhammad established the Caliphate in thirteen years."[59] This could be summarized in the following three points:
Establish groups of influentials as a community of Hizb ut-Tahrir members who carry the invitation to Muslim societies to support an Islamic state.[60] Members should accept the goals and methods of the organization as their own and be ready to work to fulfill these goals.[61] (This process of building a party attempts to copy Muhammad work in Mecca where he built a core of supporters.[59])
Build public opinion among the Muslim masses for the caliphate and the other Islamic concepts that will lead to a revival of Islamic thought.[61] (This process of what the party calls "intellectual transformation through political and cultural interaction", attempts to imitate Muhammad using his core of supporters to win over the population of Mecca and later Medina.[59][62]) "Stage two involves penetration into government positions and military special forces," according to HT critic Zeyno Baran.[59]|group=Note}}
The government would be replaced by one that implements Islam "generally and comprehensively", carrying Islamic thought to people throughout the world.[61]
HT has for many years made use of the Internet to propagate its message using a number of languages. The party has been often forced to recreate their websites due to being banned or shut down by various government agencies.[63]
HT talks about a "bloodless" coup, a.k.a. nussrah, for the facilitation of "a change of the government". In one document ('Our Method'), it states, "we consider that Islamic law forbids violence or armed struggle against the regime as a method to reestablish the Islamic State."[64][65] A 2004 report by the Nixon Center states that "credible reports" indicate that HT members have been "involved in coup attempts in Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia and Iraq."[66] According to HT, once one or more Muslim countries come under the organization's control (such as Pakistan, Indonesia or a country in Central Asia) this will create a base; subsequently, other Muslim countries will be convinced to join and a "domino effect" will be created to establish a new caliphate.[67][68]
Researchers and scholars have often described HT as a vanguard party (David Commins[f] and Zeyno Baran[g]) or as seeming to be "less interested in a broad mass following than a smaller more committed core of members" (BBC[h]). The "About Us" section of the Hizb ut-Tahrir "Official Website" states "Hizb ut-Tahrir is determined to work within the Ummah in order to implement Islam and achieve its objective by endeavouring to gain the leadership of the Islamic Ummah so that she could accept it as her leader, to implement Islam upon her and proceed with it in her struggle against the Kuffar ..."[i] But according to a former leader in the UK, Jalaluddin Patel, once the caliphate has been established, HT "will never assume the role of a vanguard party".[68][j]
In countries where the party is outlawed, Hizb ut-Tahrir's organization is said to be strongly centralized, with its central leadership based in the Palestinian Territories.[72] To avoid infiltration by security agents and maintain ideological coherence in a pyramid-like group, the party enforces internal discipline and obedience to the central leadership.[73] The party "tolerates no internal dissent".[74][75] A range of disciplinary measures are applied to members who break the rules, with expulsion being the most severe.[73] The network of underground cells resembles that of the successful Bolshevik revolutionaries in Russia.[73] At the top is the central committee (lajnat al-qiyada) of the international party, and the supreme leader (Amir).[73] The main committee or agency is tasked with taking power to re-establish the caliphate by establishing contacts with "the centers of power such as the army and the political leaders". This agency is "the most secretive", and "reports directly" to the "Amir".[k]
Underneath its center are national organizations or wilayas (which actually means "province" since HT believes that nation states are un-Islamic; the only "nation" is the Islamic community[73]), "usually headed by a group of 12, control networks of local committees and circles."[2]Wilayas have an executive committee which is charged with executing the administrative affairs which is elected every two years by the membership of the party in the wilaya.[68] At the provincial level, there is a committee headed by a provincial representative (Mu’tamad) who oversees group activities. The Mu’tamad is appointed by the central committee.[73]
The basic unit of the party is a group of five members, the supervisor of which is called a mushrif. The mushrif leads a study-circle and supervises its members' study of the HT ideology,[73] listening to readings from books by the party's founder, Nabhani, particularly Nidham al-Islam, or The System of Islam, which "lays out Nabhani's vision of an 'Islamic' state" and "refutes" other Arab political ideologies.[77] Where the party is not legal, only the mushrif knows the names of members of other Circles.[72] A candidate for membership swears an oath of loyalty (qasam)[68]
“I swear by Allah Almighty to be a faithful guardian of Islam to adopt the opinions of this Hizb-ut-Tahrir, its thoughts and its constitution by word and deed to trust its leadership to execute its resolutions even if they differed with my own opinion to exhaust all my efforts in order to achieve its objective. As long as I am a member in it and Allah is a witness to what I said.”
Funding for Hizb ut Tahrir is provided solely by its members worldwide only to preserve the purity and integrity of its work and ideas and any foreign grants or sponsorship from any other individuals, parties, charities, organizations or government affiliated institutions are strictly rejected.
Because of its position of being banned in most Muslim-majority countries but legal throughout Western countries, Hizb ut Tahrir is able to convene more public activities. The party adopts Islamic principles and political struggle to achieve its aims and does not seek to assimilate its culture to Western culture in order to seek approval from its critics.
The party principle of overthrowing existing Muslim governments has been questioned as a violation of the ayah:
“Obey God, obey His prophet, and obey those in authority over you.”
Quran4:59 However the stance taken by the Hizb is that the governments in the Muslim lands do not implement the system of Islam in a comprehensive spanning manner. And therefore today’s existing governments do not fall under this category to whom obedience and those in authority falls under.
In the book, The Ruling System by Hizb ut Tahrir, it explains the ayah, “O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority from amongst you.” [An-Nisa: 59] Allah does not command obedience to those who do not exist, therefore the existence of a man in authority is Fard, because ruling with what allah has revealed is an obligation. The order of Allah to obey those in authority is also an order to establish them. The implementation of the divine law depends on the presence of the ruler i.e. the man in authority, while neglecting his appointment results in the non-application of the Shar’a rules. Therefore his presence is compulsory, because that which results due to his absence is the negligence of the Shar’a rules.
These evidences are explicit in that the establishment of the ruling and the authority amongst Muslims is obligatory, and that the appointment of a Khaleefah who takes charge of the ruling and authority in order to implement the [Islam’s] divine laws, not merely for the sake of the ruling and authority alone, is also compulsory.” (page 40)
In the booklet, Hizb ut Tahrir, “To openly oppose (rebel) against a Ruler who rules by Islam is prohibited unless he rules by clear Kufr Islam has prohibited rebellion against a ruler as long as he rules by Islam, even if he commits some injustices; he should be accounted for that injustice, but rebellion cannot be invoked against him on the basis of his injustice. The Messenger of allah said, “He who leaves (comes out of) the Ummah, has surely taken off the ‘necklace’ of Islam from around his neck until he returns.”
In the transmissions (Hadith) of Prophet Muhammad, rebellion against the ruler is clearly prohibited even if they are unjust, except under one condition and that is if they rule by clear Kufr, which is without doubt Kufr by definite evidences. The Messenger of Allah said, “There will come rulers after me and you will see them doing evil, and disapprove. He who commands righteousness will pass and he who disapproves will be safe (on the Last Day), but he who agrees and follows, he will be punished. The companions asked: Should we not fight them (the rulers)? He (saw) replied: No, as long as they establish salah.” The word salah in this hadith is in fact an indication of rule by Islam. ‘Auf ibn Malik narrates (in Muslim), “The Messenger of Allah was asked: Should we not fight them by the sword? He said: No, as long as they establish salah amongst you” In ‘Ubada ibn as-Samit’s hadith, “That we will not wrest power from its possessors until you see clear Kufr of which you have clear proof from Allah.” End.
This is supported by "several notable scholars"—according to Mateen Siddiqui—such as Ibn Nujaym, Al-Bahjouri, and Abu Hanifa.[l] Critics also note a pattern of "a brief spell of support" followed by "failure to take power" in HT's more than 50 years of agitation.[m]
Fadzli Bin Adam discussed in his “The Concept Of Khilafah According To Selected Sunni And Shi’i Qur'anic Commentaries” under the chapter: “The Necessity of the Khiläfah”
The election of a leader was seen as essential after the death of the Muhammad in order to continue his work of preserving the religion and administering the temporal affairs of the Muslim community. Both Sunnis and Shi’is insist that it is necessary to have a leader or khalifah for the maintenance of justice and the preservation of society. However, each sect differs in defining the source for this imperative. The majority of Sunni scholars believe that the maintenance of the khiläfah is a social task and permanently obligatory (tiväjib) on the community. This obligation is claimed to have been established by the sharfah (revelation); at the same time, the scholars deny that it is based on rational grounds. 4 This idea is widely accepted by the majority of both classical and modern Muslim scholars and even by most Muslim political theorists, including such figures as al-Mäwardi, 5 al-Ghazäli, 6 Ibn Taymiyyah, 7, Ibn Jamä°ah (d. 732/1333)8 and Ibn Khaldiin. 9 Imäm Abmad b. Hanbal (d. 241/855)10 emphasised the importance of the khiläfah in the Muslim community. Mu`tazilite scholars, such as cAbd al-Jabbär (d. 415/1025), also provided the Qur'anic justification for the necessity of the khiläfah in the Muslim community. The establishment of the office of imam, al-Mäwardi believed, is fundamental in order to replace and resume the role of the Prophet and previous caliphs in upholding the Islamic faith and administering Muslim affairs. ….Al-Ghazäli stressed it is impossible to have a permanent organisation in worldly affairs without a ruler or a sultan, and an office without such an organisation would be impossible to act according to divine commandments with peace and order. ' 8 (page 21 -23)
The necessity of a Khilafah is outlined in the hadith of the Muhammad and the reiterated by numerous leading Muslim scholars. Al Qadi Abu Ya’la’s book Kitab al Ahkam al Sultaniyyah. Imam al-Mawardi said: The Imamah (Khilafah) is the succession of Prophethood in the protection of the deen and the managing of the worldly affairs, and its contract for the one who fulfils it in the Ummah is an obligation by consensus, even if al-Asamm has strayed from this consensus [In his al Ahkam al Sultaniyyah, p 56]. Imam al Nawawi, one of the most famous of the Shafii ‘ulema, and one of the most prolific writers the ummah has ever known, who wrote on multiple sciences including the field of hadith, also relays the consensus on the obligation of Khilafah in his 18 volume commentary on Sahih Muslim, which is one of the most respected of the commentaries on Imam Muslim’s collection of ahadith. Imam Nawawi said: They (the scholars) consented that it is an obligation upon the Muslims to appoint a Khalifah, and that its obligation is by the shar’, not the mind [In his Sharh Sahih Muslim, 12:205]. Imam Ibn Hajar al Haythami said: Know that the Sahabah consented that selecting the Imam after the end of the era of Prophethood was an obligation. Indeed, they made it the most important of obligations as they were busy with it (giving it priority) over the burial of the Muhammad [In his Sawaa’iq al-Muhraqah, p. 7]. Qadi Abdul Jabbar said: The establishment of the Khilafah is compulsory upon the Ummah, because many of the obligations of Islam cannot be fulfilled without the Khilafah. Muslims cannot meet the full requirements of the principle of Amr bil Maruf wal Nahy anil Munkar because it cannot be established without the Khilafah [In his Sharh al Usul al Khamsah, pg. 759]. Imam al Haramain al Juwayni was towering figure in the Shafi’i madhhab, so much so that in the madhhab when “al Imam” is said without qualification, it refers to Imam al Juwayni. He was a teacher of Imam al Ghazali, and one of the usuliyeen, authoring al Burhan, an authoritative book in the subject. In his primer to the subject of usul al fiqh he said: The command to perform an action is a command to perform it and everything which it requires in order to be carried out. For example, the command to perform salah is a command to perform the purification… [in his al Waraqaat][80]
Positions and policies
The party has been described as being "centralised"[n] in leadership and strategy,[o] with its ideology based on the writings of its (deceased) founder Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani since the party's founding and unlikely to change.[p] The party itself states its "ideology and its method of work" has been "meticulously thought out and published in many detailed books."[q] The methodology of Hizb ut Tahrir is based upon the Muhammad’s method in establishing the Islamic State as Muhammad did in Madinah al-Manawarrah after attaining the Nusrah (the support) from its influential people as such the HT members and followers adhere to this fixed methodology as it is extracted from the Quran and Sunnah. Prospective HT members study the "core books" of HT to become cultured in the concepts of Islam as a comprehensive ideology and its absent systems from society today and how to revive and increase the awareness of the Muslims’ plight worldwide as it is an obligation for Muslims to rule by Islam under a State (Caliphate) on the method of the Prophethood and in preparation for being accepted as members.[68] By studying the life of the Messenger of Allah in Mecca Province until he had managed to establish the Islamic State in Medina Province, it is evident that he went through clearly defined stages, in each of which the Messenger of Allah used to perform specific clear actions. So the Party took from that the method of action, the stages of its action and the deeds which it has to perform during these stages in accordance with the deeds which the Messenger of Allah performed during the stages of his work.[83] Those interested in adhering to Hizb ut Tahrir study the adopted ideas from the publications of Hizb ut Tahrir. Books include The System of Islam, Structuring of a Party, The Essential Elements of the Islamic Disposition, The Institutions of State in the Khilafah (In Ruling and Administration), with the introductory booklets summarizing the aims and concepts of the party, Hizb ut Tahrir and The Methodology of Hizb ut Tahrir for Change to help to build a deeper understanding of Islam from an intellectual, spiritual and political nature. Other books of the party are published on their, The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir.
Critics have pointed out differences between party texts and public statements and accused HT of varying its "message to suit different audiences",[84] or of attempting to "soften" its public image (by deleting pamphlets from its website and other means), "as a defensive reaction to increased scrutiny,"[85] while leaving its original strategy and ideology untouched.[84][85] HT itself claims there is "a lot of ... propaganda and disinformation" about the party[68] and the caliphate being spread by enemies to "demonise" HT.[86] Government funded agencies routinely attack the thoughts of Hizb ut Tahrir and state-media uses blackout tactics or heavy-handed smear campaigns and does not cover the widespread activities including rallies, seminars, and international conferences in an unbiased manner, banning of events sources.
In Kyrgyzstan, officers of the State Committee of National Security (SCNS) detained six women suspected of membership in "Hizb ut-Tahrir". On June 27, 2020, the security forces together with officers from the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Naryn region detained six women. Detention measures were carried out jointly by the SCNS services and the Naryn regional police department. Additional information from the detainees' supporters also appeared on social networks. According to them, the women were set up. Some of those arrested are mothers of many children, and also have elderly parents in their care. It is reported that they are under pressure from the security forces.[87][88]
In Pakistan, 30 July 2018, intelligence personnel abducted Romana Hussain, a respected, renowned teacher of Islam and mother of four children. She is a graduate of psychology and philosophy from the prestigious St. Joseph's College and has a master’s degree in Islamic Studies. Upon finding literature of Hizb ut Tahrir in her home in Karachi…was detained.[89]
In Pakistan, 13 August 2018, security agency personnel raided the home of Dr. Roshan and abducted her along with her husband. Dr. Roshan is a highly respected, well-known and prominent advocate of the Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of the Prophethood in Karachi.[90][91]
In Russia with the tightening of Russian laws against members of Hizb ut Tahrir, the charges became fabricated not on the basis of the laws of "fundamentalism" in the Constitution but on the basis of the laws of "terrorism"; sentences can reach up to twenty years imprisonment. The application of these "laws" led to open persecution in all regions of Russia, including St. Petersburg, where dozens of Muslims have been arrested over the past few years. On the 24th November the security services arrested the wife of one of the detainees who was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, Issa Rahimov, a member of Hizb ut Tahrir. Issa's wife is of Russian descent; she converted to Islam and changed her name from Alla to Jannat Bespalova. She was arrested for her work with Hizb ut Tahrir and was thrown in prison where the criminals are held. It was then decided, in January 2018, to extend her detention for another two months, which means that she will remain in Russia's prisons until 16/03/2018, the date of the next court hearing.[92]
In the United States, April 13, 2018, Holiday Inn & Suites informed Hizb ut-Tahrir America that they canceled the reservation for the annual Khilafah Conference titled, ‘Assault on the Muslim Mind.’ They offered no explanation other than stating this “decision was from corporate and others. Hizb ut-Tahrir does not call for hate speech or advocate violence, rather articulate the fallacies of Secular ideals and offer the Islamic alternative. Government authorities and far-right groups continue to pressure the venues to cancel Hizb ut-Tahrir’s events. In addition, the Muslim communities have come under increasing pressure to silence dissenting voices that speak against the ‘War on Terror’ and the Secular-liberal narratives on Islam.[93]
In Tunisia, Preventing Hizb ut Tahrir from Convening its Conference was a Political Decision in a press release dated 12 June 2016: The Interior Minister Al-Hadi Magdoub, when being questioned by a number of parliamentary representatives about the prevention of Hizb ut Tahrir from holding its latest conference, stated that the decision to prevent came to avoid serious risks that could have resulted from the convening of this conference whilst taking into regard the slogans that Hizb ut Tahrir raises and the societal project that it calls to, and particularly at a time when the country is in a state of emergency.[94]
In Bangladesh, on September 11, 2015 Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh arrested two woman members of Hizb ut Tahrir in Dhaka, Bangladesh for inviting their acquaintances to participate in an online Islamic conference that Hizb ut Tahrir held on Friday, September 4, 2015 titled “Emerging Khilafah…The Inevitable Transformation of Bangladesh’s Politics and Economy”.[95]
In Bangladesh, 07/09/2015, Khilkhet, Dhaka, Regime Arrests Eight Members and Activists of Hizb ut Tahrir to people from joining an online political conference.[96]
Hizb ut Tahrir / Australia was invited to attend a panel discussion on the 20th of October 2014 hosted by the student publication, Woroni, at the Australian National University entitled "The Rationality of Terror". However, after the ANU's office of Strategic Communications & Public Affairs (SCAPA) ‘interfered' with proceedings, leading academics withdrew their participation and the event was forced to be cancelled. Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia noted the following points:
“1. Once again, the Muslim voice is condemned before it is even expressed and assumptions were being made about our positions before they were even articulated. It seems Muslims are only invited into discussions when the parameters are not questioned and where they are expected to only affirm existing narratives, but not challenge them.
2. The circumstances surrounding this event are indicative of the poor state of academia in this country. We were prepared to be interrogated by no less than five leading academics at a leading university before a critical audience. Yet under all these conditions, a lone voice was unable to be confronted.
3. This incident is indicative of the West's inability to confront what it terms ‘the extremist narrative'. ‘Extremism' only ever refers to Muslims who challenge the government's murderous foreign policies or insidious local ‘counter-extremism' policies. All the talk about confronting ‘extremists' and undermining their narrative has proven to be nothing more than hollow rhetoric.”[97]
The security forces of Jordan prevented the commencement of the women's seminar that had been organized by Hizb ut Tahrir before the Syrian Embassy, entitled: "Hasten to Establish the Khilafah "Caliphate" to Protect the Honourable Women of Al-Sham." The security forces confiscated equipment prepared by the technical personnel to facilitate the conference. April 28, 2013.[98]
In Pakistan, Official Spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir Naveed Butt was abducted by Pakistani ISI security forces on 11th May, 2012 while collecting his children from school. He has not been heard from since. Today marks eight years since his enforced disappearance. Butt was an outspoken critic of the Pakistani government and in particular he spoke out against Pakistan’s role in the US-led “War on Terror”. His criticism included the use of enforced disappearances that began under the leadership of General Pervez Musharraf.[99]
Several campaigns by Hizb ut Tahrir and press conferences were carried out to demand the release and return of Naveed Butt, Official Spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Pakistan, but to no avail by Pakistan’s current nor former rulers or judges.[100][101][102][103]
Naveed Butt's Family Statement was issued demanding the release of Naveed Butt on 16 July 2012.[104][105][106]
“HuT has never been sponsored by the Pakistani state. And unlike the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), HuT does not use violence. In other words, it is neither a trusted proxy nor an active combatant.”[107]
According to his supporters, HuT spokesman Butt disappeared on May 11, 2012 — four days before Pakistani and American officials announced an "imminent" deal to reopen NATO supply routes in Pakistan, which Islamabad had closed the previous November after NATO aircraft accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. This announcement came just after the United States agreed to invite then-President Asif Ali Zardari to Chicago for a NATO summit on Afghanistan — an invitation Islamabad would describe as "critical" for a supply lines deal. Certainly Butt’s seizure alone didn’t prompt Washington’s invitation to Zardari, but it nonetheless could have been a factor (the supply routes would reopen in July, after Washington apologized for the deadly airstrikes).[107]
Hizb ut-Tahrir Pakistan called rallies in all major Pakistani cities on 31 May 2009. In a press release from Naveed Butt, the Official Spokesman of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Pakistan, it is stated "The government sent hundreds of police and intelligence, armed with tear gas and batons, to prevent the people from gathering at the venue for peaceful protest. The government beat Hizb activists and participants of the rally and arrested more than 30 people from Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi. As Hizb ut-Tahrir is a non-violent political organisation and the method it employs has no room for militancy, therefore Hizb, instead of responding to a brick with a rock, opted itself principled stance of non-violence and dispersed peacefully."[108]
Draft Constitution
The Hizb ut Tahrir Draft Constitution or "proposed constitution" is published in two volumes, Part 1: General Rules, The System of Ruling, The Social System; The Draft Constitution Volume I[109][13] and Part 2: The Economic System, The Education Policy, Foreign Policy The Draft Constitution Volume II.[110][13] They contain many party positions, have been described by one former party leader (Jalaluddin Patel),[r] as "the sum of all the work and research" the party has "done in this field", "based on Ijtihad", interpretations of Islamic texts and traditions, and study schools of fiqh and individual scholars, (including Shi'a) and consultation with "various Islamic groups around the world".[68] Patel also told Jamestown that if "the future Caliph" is not a member of Hizb ut Tahrir, the party will offer the constitution to him as a "working document" which he can "accept, amend or indeed reject in favor of his own opinion and Ijtihad (interpretation)".[68]
Khilafah/Caliphate and Islam
Caliphate
Hizb ut-Tahrir texts and websites hold that re-establishing the Khilafah state or Caliphate based on Sharia law, has been decreed by God as the "most important" obligation of Muslims,[111][112] who will be punished if they neglect it.[42] Without the caliphate and true Sharia law, Muslims have been living in a state of jahiliyya (pre-Islamic ignorance).[75][113] "Not a single country or state" is recognized to implement Islam in its entirety including ones that consider themselves to be Islamic states, such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran.[114][115][116] These and all other Muslim-majority states and polities and rulers —Kurds, Turks, Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc. – serve as "agents" of a non-Muslim power- (usually of the United States), and their anti-American rhetoric and policies and their fighting amongst each other notwithstanding,[116] they are actually "working harmoniously within US policy".[116]
One HT website (Hizb ut Tahrir / Britain) states that the Caliphate "dominated 95% of Islamic history" as a "stable, independent, accountable and representative state",[86] and that the party goals of unifying all Islamic countries into a single Islamic state where Sharia law is strictly applied have strong support in the Muslim world.[117][118] The caliphate will bring stability, the party argues, by providing a political system that is "accountable" and ruler who is legitimized by virtue of elected representation; by returning the Muslim world to Islamic practice and traditional readings of Islamic values and history; and because it is "the only institution able to provide credible leadership on Islamic issues and for Muslims".[86]
The ruler of the caliphate, the Caliph (Khaleefah), should be elected, not chosen through blood lines or imposed on Muslims, according to the Hizb ut-Tahrir Draft Constitution, and should be given a pledge of loyalty (ba’iah) by the Muslim community following his election. The Muslim community would have "no right to dismiss him after he has legitimately attained the ba’iah of contracting."[119][120]
HT sources (an HT "Information Pack" issued to British media by HT Britain circa 2010 (no longer available on HT website but copied to another site), and the Hizb ut Tahrir Britain magazine New Civilisation) describe the ruler of the proposed caliphate as "an elected and accountable ruler" and a "servant to the masses, governing them with justice",[103] "legitimate only through popular consent"[121] who can be removed at the demand of the people through "the independent judiciary" of the caliphate,[122] and whose judicial opinion on adopting a law does not prevent further debate and amendment.[122][123] Along with "an independent judiciary, political parties" and the elected representative of the Majlis al-Umma ("the council of the Muslim community", whose decisions are binding on the Caliph according to Nabhani's book, The Ruling System in Islam[13][124]), the caliph rules a state that is uniquely representative,[121] will provide "rule of law and equal rights for minority groups",[125] and so bears no "resemblance to a totalitarian state", criticism notwithstanding.[121]
But critics complain that the HT draft constitution describes the Caliph as simply "the State".[126][127] The constitution states that the Caliph "possesses all the powers and function of the State ..."[126] appointing and dismissing the governors and assistants of all the provinces of caliphate, the directors of departments, the heads of the armed forces and the generals, the chief judge and most judges, "who are all responsible to the Khaleefah [Caliph] and not to the Majlis al-Ummah" (according to Article 35e of the constitution).[128] The founder an-Nabhani, in his book The System of Islam, specifically notes that the shura (consultative) body of the caliphate (the Majlis al-Ummah), "is for seeking the opinion and not for ruling", so that if the Caliph neglects the majlis "he would be negligent, but the ruling system would still remain Islamic. This is because of the shura (consultation) in Islam. This is contrary to the parliamentary system in democracy."[129]
In Islam, shura is referred to the process whereby the Khalifah carries out a consultation process on matters which require expert research, advice and recommendations. This is in the mubah (permitted) areas of Islamic law and also in areas of detailed policy. The process of shura does not apply to deciding what is right or what is wrong, because the clear cut right and wrong matters are decreed by Allah in the Quran and demonstrated through the Sunnah of the Muhammad. Allah says in the Quran: “The rule (legislation) is to none but Allah” [TMQ Yusuf : 40][130]
There is also no limitation on the Khaleefah's period in office, "so as long as he abides by the sharia’".[131] Critics (Houriya Ahmed and Hannah Stuart of The Centre for Social Cohesion[132]) complain that non-Muslims living in the caliphate are not included among those giving "popular consent" nor able to serve in the government ruling positions,[9][121] while the judges ruling over any recall attempt of the caliph are appointed by him or by a judge (the Supreme Judge) who is appointed by the Caliph.[s] Non-Muslims have the right like the Muslims to be represented in the council of the Ummah, and to be representatives of their electorate in it, so as to express the opinion on their behalf regarding the misapplication of the rules of Islam upon them, and the oppression of the ruler that might fall upon them as stated in The Institutions of State in the Khilafah (In Ruling and Administration) published by Hizb ut-Tahrir.[134]
First Regarding debate and amendment of legal rulings of the caliph, articles 3 and 35a of the proposed constitution stipulate that they must be obeyed.[121][135][136] One issue not open to "popular consent" or differing opinion (according to HT doctrine) is seceding from the Caliphate. According to the second Amir of the party, "preventing the dismemberment of any country from the body of the Khilafah" is imperative, "even if" it leads "to several years of fighting.[137]
Islamic lands
"Islamic lands" to make up the Caliphate include not only Muslim-majority countries but also include Muslim-majority regions—such as southern Central Asia (in China); the Caucasus, and Kazan (in Russia), even though they have been part of non-Muslim countries for many years; and states/regions which have had a non-Muslim majority population for many years—such as northern India, East Timor, southern Spain, Sicily, Crimea, Serbia, Croatia, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Myanmar and the Philippines—that were once ‘ruled by Muslims under the authority of Islam’.[c]
Hizb ut Tahrir founder an-Nabhani, explains[138] that while some believe that a country "whose population is of non-Muslims", like Spain, "is not an Islamic country; ... This conclusion is false. ... because a country is deemed Islamic if it was once ruled by Islam or if the majority of its population is of Muslims." So that "Spain is indeed an Islamic country".[138]
Expansion to non-Muslim lands
Hizb ut-Tahrir sees the Caliphate as eventually replacing not only Muslim states but Western non-Muslim ones,[4][44][45][46][43] through the carrying of the message of Islamic call to the people to embrace Islam. Secondly calling to the people to abide by the system of Islam to the other countries. Thirdly material force if necessary to remove obstacles to the implementation of the Islamic system. Many instances in the Islamic history where lands embraced Islam without any armed struggle like in Malaysia, Indonesia but whether it calls for violence to achieve this is deliberately misconstrued by current regimes particularly in the Western countries to further propaganda against political Islam and increase Islamophobia.
The HT "Information Pack" for the Britain Media states that "the suggestion that Hizb ut-Tahrir will be permitted to engage in an armed struggle when the Caliphate re-emerges, is absolutely false"[139][t] but Michael Whine[u][45][140] quotes HT founder An-Nabhani urging Muslims to follow the example of the original Islamic empire attacking and conquering adjacent territory of Persia and the Byzantine Empire, noting "what are we to say about the Ummah today; numbering more than one billion, ... She would undoubtedly constitute a front which would be stronger in every respect than the leading superpowers put together".[5] However this statement is concerning the foreign policy of the Islamic State, rather than the methodology of Hizb ut Tahrir.
Another HT text (The Ummah's Charter, quoted by Ahmed and Stuart), states that the Caliphate "must rise to declare Jihad against the Kuffar without any lenience or hesitation,"[46][141] and a HT pamphlet (quoted by Dave Rich) predicts, "In the forthcoming days the Muslims will conquer Rome and the dominion of the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) will reach the whole world and the rule of the Muslims will reach as far as the day and night. And the Dīn of Muhammad will prevail over all other ways of life including Western Capitalism and the culture of Western Liberalism".[4]
Criticism
Among the criticisms of HT's vision of the caliphate are historical inaccuracy and danger of violence involved in re-establishing the caliphate:
the historical Abbasid and Ottoman caliphates were "ignored or opposed by five of the civilizations [HT] seemed to think it had governed". (legal historian Sadakat Kadri)[v]
eras of great Islamic cultural achievement occurred not under rulers who strictly applied Sharia, but "under open-minded rulers whom the group would consider heretical: the Mu'talite caliphs and Shi'a sultans of the ninth and tenth-century Baghdad, for example and the eclectic emperors who emerged out of Anatolia, Persia, and central Asia after the Mongol invasions." (Sadakat Kadri)[142]
"during its heyday" the society of the Abbasid caliphate, "thrived on multiculturalism, science, innovation, learning and culture", not strict enforcement of sharia, and had famous free thinkers (Al-Maʿarri) and irreverent, impious poets (namely Abu Nuwas). (Journalist Khaled Diab)[143][w]
that rather than being protected and purified by the caliphate, the religion of Islam "throughout Muslim history has operated as an alternative, in tension with the caliphate: it was a repository of ideals of justice and equity, and its purpose was to speak the truth to the vainglory of institutions of power." (Ziauddin Sardar)[145]
How would the "security, safety and peace in the Muslim world" come about "through the forceful removal of all current Muslim governments" in the creation of a unified caliphate state, especially in light of Abdul Qadeem Zallum's statement in a "party text" that "if necessary millions of Muslims and non-Muslims will be killed"?[146][137]
Defence
Responsibility for defense in Hizb ut-Tahrir's constitutional vision of the caliphate would go to the Amir al-Jihad who would be "the supervisor and director" of four governmental departments comprising "the army, the police, equipment, tasks, armament supplies", internal security, foreign affairs, and industry ("all factories of whatever type should be established on the basis of the military policy"). The Amir al-Jihad does not serve as the commander-in-chief, who, along with his immediate subordinates, is appointed by the Caliph.[147]Conscription is compulsory for all capable male Muslims 15 and over in the proposed state "in readiness for jihad."[148]
Economy
The draft constitution also details an economic system that allows private enterprise, but requires that "the State" should "provide employment"[149] and "basic needs" for its citizens.[150] To provide for this the state will draw from "permanent" sources of income from special taxes such as zakaah (annual Islamic charitable donation of 2.5% of a Muslim's total savings and wealth excluding a minimum amount)[151] and Ushriyah (collection of one-tenth of produce) kharaj[152] (land conquered from non-Muslims in jihad).[151] In addition, spoils or fei` (fai) (spoils of jihad when the non-Muslim enemy has surrendered or fled), jizyah (a poll tax on non-Muslims),[153] Jizya is taken from non-Muslim men who are sane and mature as determined by several factors taken into consideration such as their wealth and is not a fixed amount to be determined by the Caliph and it is not taken from the youth, the insane or the women. The Jizya is waived by embracing Islam, so whoever embraced Islam, the Jizya enforced on him is terminated, whether he became Muslim at the beginning of the year, in the middle, at its end or after its elapse, thus no Jizya is obliged on him at all. (Funds in the Khilafah State by Hizb ut Tahrir) Non-Muslims do not pay any tax except the Jizya (Book of Islamic State p. 267), Taxes also includes a "tax" of one/fifth of discovered buried treasure (rikaaz) and other taxes if necessary due to state emergency or unexpected natural disasters if the State Treasury was in deficit.[154]
The constitution also reserves public ownership of utilities, public transport, health care, energy resources such as oil, and unused farm land. Constitutionally forbidden activities include: "squandering, extravagance and miserliness", "capitalist companies, co-operatives", usury (riba), "fraud, monopolies, gambling and the like",[155] leasing of land for agriculture, and the failure of a land owner to use their land, (such as leaving land fallow for more than three years).[156] For monetary policy, the constitution calls for use of the Gold Standard, and gold and silver coinage.[157]
Hizb ut Tahrir in Bangladesh organized an Online Economic Conference entitled “Economic Vision of the Islamic Khilafah” on July 5, 2019. The conference was broadcast internationally by al-Waqiyah TV.[164][165]
Hizb ut Tahrir in Turkey organized an International Islamic Economic Conference entitled “Fundamental Solutions to Economic and Financial Crises” on March 3, 2019. Presentations included Dr. Abdurrahim Şen highlighted the income disparity in capitalism-dominated societies through striking examples in his talk titled, "Capitalism is the Main Cause for Crises". Prof. Dr. Hakan Sarıbaş presented a lecture titled, "Islam's Approaches Towards Today's Economic Issues". Muhammet Hanefi Yağmur presented a lecture titled, "Foundations of the Islamic Economic System", and Prof. Dr. Mohammad Malkawi presented a lecture titled "How Will Islam Solve Economic and Financial Crises?". Almost 1000 people attended the conference across the world, while several hundred viewers followed the conference via live-streaming on the social media channel of Köklü Değişim Media. The conference talks were translated simultaneously in English and Turkish.[166]
Jihad
Hizb ut Tahrir texts define Jihad as "war undertaken for the sake of Allah (swt) to raise high His (swt)[x] word" and requiring an army (Institutions of State in the Khilafah).[167][168] They declare the necessity of jihad so that Da'wah will be carried "to all mankind" and will "bring them into the Khilafah state," and the importance of declaring "Jihad against the Kuffar without any lenience or hesitation;" (Ummah's Charter),[141][169]
On the other hand, public statements by Hizb ut-Tahrir deny "Hizb ut-Tahrir will be permitted to engage in an armed struggle when the Caliphate re-emerges, ... The party is not waiting for any order to begin an `armed struggle`".[y][139][141] Hizb ut Tahrir does not engage in any militant style methods or styles nor does it have a militant wing as it goes against Hizb ut Tahrir’s fixed methodology in how to achieve its aim of establishing an Islamic society par Muhammad’s methodology as firmly established throughout its publications and teachings.
Other HT texts differ over whether jihad is by nature offensive rather than defensive (supported in The Inevitability of the Clash of Civilisations),[170][171] or encompasses both "defensive and offensive war" (supported on a different page of The Inevitability of the Clash of Civilisations).[172] The party does support "defensive jihad" in Iraq and Afghanistan against American occupation—defensive jihad not requiring the "appropriate political and military capabilities" of an Islamic State, it need not wait for either a caliph or amir.[68] A known global norm where people and nations have the right to defend themselves from foreign attack.
Shariah
Along with the establishment of an Islamic State, Hizb ut-Tahrir's other main principle/objective is the enforcement of shariah law to regulate all aspects of human life— politics, economics, sciences, and ethics.[73] The law will be based upon the Qur'an, the Sunnah, consensus of the companions (Ijma al-Sahaba), and legitimate analogies (Qiyas) drawn from those three sources.[173] The Islamic state will not "adopt a particular" Madhhab (school of fiqh).[z]
Regarding traditional hudud penal code, the HT text Concepts of Hizb ut-Tahrir describes their abandonment as part of the "misinterpreted the Islamic rules to adapt them to contemporary life" that started in the late 19th century.[174] HT Islamic texts state adultery should be punished by stoning and pre-marital sex by lashing,[175] apostasy from Islam by death.[176] "Brigandage" and murder would be punished by execution, crucifixion or amputation.[aa]
one of the benefits of the caliphate is that in its court system, there has never been "even one case ... settled according to other than the Islamic Shari’ah rules",[184] (This is disputed by historians who are advocating the separation of religion from life.[185])
Unlike many court systems the caliphate would have no courts of appeal or cessation. 'If the judge pronounced a sentence, it would become binding, and the sentence of another judge would not under any circumstances reverse it.'[186] (However, if circumstantial evidence changed, a judge could reverse a decision.[175])
Punishment for apostasy
In the HT Draft Constitution, Article 7 declares that Muslims who "have by themselves renounced Islam... are guilty of apostasy (ridda) from Islam are to be executed."[187] At least one HT text (How the Khilafah was Destroyed written by Abdul Qadeem Zallum, HT global leader from 1977 to 2003) emphasizes the importance of the "rule of Shariah" calling for the killing of apostates from Islam (those who have left Islam). Abdul Qadeem Zallum warns that the abolition of the caliphate in 1924 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a consequence of wayward Muslims like Atatürk no longer feeling any fear that they might be killed (since according to HT ending the caliphate was an act of apostasy). To prevent this from happening again, "it is imperative to put back this issue in its rightful place and consider it to be a vital issue, by killing every apostate even if they numbered millions."[176]
After several Western governments, condemned sentence, Hizb ut-Tahrir issued a statement affirming that 'the ruling of the Legislator, Allah the Almighty, for apostasy is death' and that a Muslim should not 'seek the satisfaction of the hostile Kaffir West upon the descent of the Shar’i provision.'[188][189]
Women
The HT draft constitution states "the primary role of a woman is that of a mother and wife. She is an honour ('ird) that must be protected."[190] It declares that "Women have the same rights and obligations as men, except for those specified by the shar’i evidences to be for him or her."[191] These limitations include not being able to hold ruling positions such as caliph, chief justice,[ab]provincial governor, or mayor; being required to cover their body (except face and hands) in public;[191][192] not being able travel without a male mahram[ac] more than a span of a day and night, not to disobey her husband, or marry a non-Muslim.[194] According to HT founder an-Nabhani, "the husband performs all work undertaken outside of the house. The woman performs actions normally undertaken inside the house to the best of her ability."[195] "Segregation" of the genders is "fundamental" in the HT constitution, and men and women should not meet together in seclusion (khulwa) at all,[191] or in public except in special shariah-approved activities such as trading or making Hajj pilgrimage.[196]
Hizb ut-Tahrir forthrightly advocates women's (i.e. Muslim women's) suffrage or right to vote,[9] the right of Muslim women to choose a (Muslim) partner freely, right to seek employment, serve in the military, have custody of children after divorce even if she is not Muslim,[197] and run in elections (for positions that do not involve ruling).[194]
While opponents may consider this unequal status, Hizb ut-Tahrir maintains:
Women in the Khilafah are not regarded as inferior or second class citizens. Islam gave women the right to wealth, property rights, rights over marriage and divorce as well as a place in society. Very recently Islamists established a public dress code for women – the Khimar and Jilbab which promotes women to cover themselves up as "part of the well known attire of the dress code for Muslim women" based on "widely recognised Islamic sources".[198]
Some critics claim HT sources differ over whether dress for women is a matter of choice or not. At Hizb ut Tahrir / Britain’s 2003 annual conference, an HTB member warned the audience:
Inevitably western attitudes are beginning to affect Muslim thinking. Sometimes Muslim women will say that they wear a headscarf as a matter of choice. ... A truly Islamic woman would say she wore her headscarf in obedience to the Creator whether the Creator gave reasons or not."[199]
Three years later, HT Britain signed a statement in support of "a woman’s right to wear the veil" as a "human and religious right".[ad]
However, there is no contradiction between the two above-mentioned statements. The first statement from the conference is in relation to the correct Islamic motive for Muslim women to adopt the Islamic dress whereas the second statement is in relation to the responsibility of any just civilized state to guarantee the religious rights of its minority groups but have been repeatedly violated in the today’s secular states.
In the organization itself, Hizb ut Tahrir’s membership includes women as well as men,[201] and women playing an important and "active role" in "intellectual and political work" such as the organization and participation of numerous national international conferences, seminars, rallies, press conferences and global and regional campaigns organized by the women of the party,[202][203]
A Profile of the Role of Women in Hizb ut Tahrir
This includes the valuable work of the female members of Hizb ut Tahrir organizing rallies, pickets, seminars, regional and international conferences, as well publishing various brochures and booklets. Dr, Nazreen Nawaz is the current director of the Women’s Section of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir.
Global campaigns include but not limited to:
2 November 2021: In response to the 26th United Nation’s International Climate Change Conference, COP26, in Glasgow aimed at addressing what many have described as the ‘Climate Emergency’ facing the planet, plans to reduce high global emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2, created mainly from the burning of fossil fuels and mass deforestation. The Women’s Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir addressed the true causes of this environmental crisis as well as presenting the solutions that the ideology and system of Islam offers as an alternative to Capitalism in addressing the environmental problems that affect this world today. Explaining the Islamic principles, laws and approach to protecting and preserving this planet, including the management of resources in a way which is in harmony with nature while also ensuring economic progress and development for humankind.[204]
21 August 2020: “STOP the Terrorizing of the Pious Muslimahs of Kyrgyzstan!”.[205] This campaign was launched by the Women’s Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir to call for the immediate release of these innocent Muslim women from the dungeons of Kyrgyzstan and an end to the continuing persecution and terrorization of Muslim women by the Kyrgyz regime.
Another campaign “25 Years on Lessons from Srebrenica”[206] (6 July 2020) to tackle the issues of the years following the Srebrenica massacre, the world promised, “Never Again” and that lessons would be learnt from this dark stain in modern history. However, today we see the slaughter and crimes of the Bosnian war and the Srebrenica genocide replicated against Muslims in lands across the world – including in Syria, Myanmar, Kashmir, Palestine, Yemen, East Turkestan and India while the world again watches on.
March 2020, the Women’s Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir launched a global campaign entitled, “Beijing+25: Has the Mask of Gender Equality Fallen?” The campaign sought to challenge the dominant narratives of ‘Gender Equality’ and its claims of advancing women’s rights and the progress of nations, and present Islam’s unique comprehensive blueprint of detailed principles, laws and systems as implemented by its political system, the Khilafah (Caliphate) based upon the method of the Prophethood, that would provide an alternative credible vision to raise the status of women, secure their rights, elevate their standard of living and achieve true progress within a state. The Campaign concluded with a global Women’s Conference on 4 April 2020 and the release of a booklet by the same name as the campaign.
May 2019, the Women’s Section in The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir Launch its Ramadan Theme: “From DARKNESS Into LIGHT”.
March 2019, the Women’s Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir organized a campaign entitled, “The Khilafah: My Guardian! My Shield!”, presenting the vision of how the Khilafah Rashidah, the Righteous Khilafah which is based upon the Method of the Prophethood, embodies the principles, laws and systems to practically solve Muslim problems and ensure the protection of Muslim lives, property, honour and belief. This is detailed extensively in the literature and draft constitution of Hizb ut Tahrir which provide a comprehensive blueprint of how the Islamic state would function and look after the needs and interests of its people and Islam.
October 2018, the Women’s Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir launched a global campaign entitled, “The Family: Challenges & Islamic Solutions” culminated in an international women’s conference at the end of October attended by speakers from across the world. This campaign and conference, therefore, sought to highlight the dangers of the changing face of the family structure in today’s world, as well as identify the key factors harming the institution of marriage and harmony of family life, including the role of the media and governments in fueling this crisis. They also “exposed national and international agendas to secularise the Islamic family and social laws to distance Muslims further from their Deen”. And finally, they showcased the Islamic social system and demonstrated how its unique view towards regulating gender relations, alongside its sound principles, values and laws, including its clear definition of the roles and rights of men and women within family life, protect marriage, nurture tranquility within marital life, elevate motherhood to the great status it deserves and establish and preserve strong unified family units.#SaveTheFamily[207]
February 2018, in light of the heart-breaking atrocities seen in Ghouta, Syria, the Women’s Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir launched an online campaign titled, “Who will Defend the Children of Ghouta?” with the official press release outlining the urgency of rescuing the people of Syria under the war.
August 2017: The Women’s Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir launched a campaign “Yemen’s Children: Victims of a Forgotten War” to bring international attention to the heartbreaking plight of the millions of children of Yemen who face a horrifying humanitarian crisis due to the ongoing brutal war in their country. The innocent children of Yemen have been the primary victims of a war that has sown utter devastation on the lives of its people. This humanitarian catastrophe has been termed, “a children’s crisis” by aid agencies due to the overwhelming impact the conflict has had on the young. This campaign “exposed how this war is not a sectarianism-driven conflict, nor a battle against terrorism, nor is it only a military struggle between regional powers for their selfish nationalistic political ambitions”.
March 2017, the Women’s Section of Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir held a global campaign titled: “Al-Khilafah "Caliphate" & Education: Reviving the Golden Age” culminated in an International Women’s Conference on March 11, 2017 in Jakarta, Indonesia. The conference featured notable speakers from around the world. This campaign and conference sought to present a vision of the Education Policy of the Khilafah "Caliphate" and how it will practically build a first class education system which will revive a golden generation of scholarship. It addressed the general Education Crisis in the Muslim lands and its Causes. It gave guidance on the Islamic education of Muslim children in the absence of the Khilafah "Caliphate". A special issue of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir magazine, Mukhtarat was issued to commemorate the global conference including the booklet.
November 2016: In a campaign launched by the Women’s Section of Hizb ut Tahrir in Tunisia under the title: “I am a Woman and I am against the Regime”, the Hizb held a conference reiterating the following:
1. The capitalist system is the cause of everything that the woman is suffering from in terms of calamities and evils in the case where the woman has been afflicted on all levels.
2. The woman in all segments of the society has become aware of her reality and fully realises that the system is the cause of her misery.
3. The Women’s Section of Hizb ut Tahrir works with the Ummah to expose the corruption of the regime, its plans and styles that make of the woman a tool. She is exploited in the western projects in the name of freedom, modernity and secularism. The Hizb also presents a rooted and detailed alternative for the Islamic social system that guarantees a dignified life for the woman and her family and happiness in both this Dunya and the Hereafter.
April 2016: The Women's Section of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir explored the challenges and current state of the future generation of the Muslims as one of the most vital issues for Muslim Ummah (Islamic nation) and the future of its Deen. This global campaign and international women’s conference, “Muslim Youth Pioneers of Real Change” sought to “Counter the global agenda to secularise the Muslim youth! Highlight the detrimental impact the capitalist liberal way of life and system has had upon young Muslims! Present Islam’s vision for the Muslim youth as well as how to build and preserve their Islamic identity and make them ‘Pioneers of Real Change’!” Conference Booklet of the Speeches.
October 2015: The Women's Section of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir organized a widespread campaign titled: "Khilafah "Caliphate" Rashidah is the Liberator of Al-Aqsa and the Protector of Its Honourable Women." In confirmation and clarification that the righteous Khilafah "Caliphate" is the liberator of Al-Aqsa and protector of its women, the Women's Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir carried out a campaign to highlight the policy of oppression, humiliation, and cold-blooded murder executed by the Jewish entity. It will also highlighted the sacrifices made by women, children and the young people of Palestine in light of this hateful occupation, which is the result of their strong Islamic creed, and illustrated the failures of the conventions and international organizations to protect the lives of these women and children. Furthermore, the campaign sought to emphasize the duty of the scholars regarding the Blessed Land and the place of the Isra' of the Messenger of Allah (saw), as well as the duty of the Muslim armies to move to defend it and its women by giving the support to Hizb ut Tahrir to establish the second righteous Khilafah "Caliphate" state on the method of the Prophethood, which is the only way to protect women and children and liberate the Blessed Land. The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir is pleased to offer its followers and visitors on the websites of the Central Media Office with its DVD entitled, "Khilafah "Caliphate" Rashidah is the Liberator of Al-Aqsa and the Protector of Its Honourable Women".
June 2015: The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir launched a campaign titled “Rohingya: Stateless at Sea or Part of Khairu Ummah”. Female opinion-makers from across South-east Asia gathered at an event in Malaysia as part of the campaign. The gathering aimed at bringing international attention to the heartbreaking plight of Rohingya women and children in Myanmar, and to address the immediate actions and fundamental solution needed to save the Rohingya Muslims. Attendees included members from NGO’s and human rights organisations, including those representing the Rohingya, as well as lecturers, activists, community leaders, female scholars and members of political parties and student associations.[208]
Capitalism, democracy, freedoms, and pluralism
Capitalism
"Capitalism" is defined by HT as a political system of democracy and freedom (a definition many critics of HT, especially leftists, regard as risible), not just as an economic system based on private ownership, and is frequently condemned by the party. Freedom of ownership is one of capitalism's freedoms, along with freedom of belief and opinion and "personal freedom". Capitalism is based on the idea of "the separation of religion from life",[209] and supported by the "pillars" of democracy,[210] "pluralism" (the recognition and affirmation of diversity and peaceful coexistence of different interests, convictions and lifestyles), "human rights and free market policies".[211] Another facet of "Capitalism" opposed by the party is the Western concept of "compromise"[212][213][214]—an example of its un-Islamic nature is the proposed compromise solution of allowing both Jews and Muslims to have a state in Palestine.[215] Critics complain HT has invoked "freedom of speech, tolerance, ... human rights and democracy"[216] when it was under threat of proscription in 2005.[217] Like other Islamist groups, HT texts describe Islam as an alternative economic system to both capitalism and communism and superior to both.[218]
Democracy
Hizb ut-Tahrir draws a distinction between giving authority to the people in government (which is Islamic) and giving sovereignty to the people (the essence of democracy and unIslamic).[219] Because Western[220] democracy gives not just authority but sovereignty to the people, it is "deeply flawed"[219]—a "Kufr system" that violates sharia,[75][221] is "controlled by large corporations and largely indifferent to the needs of ordinary citizens".[219]
Rights or freedoms
Regarding other aspects of "Capitalism" condemned by HT – "Pluralism", "Human Rights", and the Freedoms of Belief, Expression, Ownership, and Personal Freedom[222]—the 1996 HT work, The American Campaign to Suppress Islam, argues that while "many Muslims are attracted" to the slogan of "human rights ... because of the oppression, torture, and persecution they suffer from their rulers", these rights are based on the Capitalist ideology's view of the nature of man as "inherently good", when in fact man is good when he obeys God's law and bad when he does not.[223]
Muslims who claim that the freedom of belief does not contradict Islam are among the "trumpets of the Kuffar" (unbelievers).[224] It warns that a Muslim who calls for human rights is either a sinner [fajir] (if they do not realise the contradiction between "human rights" and Islam), or a Kafir "[unbeliever]" (if they believe in human rights "as an idea emanating from the detachment of deen from life."[225][226] (Muslims who "have by themselves renounced Islam... are guilty of apostasy (ridda) from Islam are to be executed" according to Article 7 of the HT Draft Constitution.[187])
American-based academic David Commins writes that, "within well-recognized bounds, the Muslim enjoys much freedom" under HT's hypothetical caliphate.[227] The HT constitution also include rights such as assumption of innocence until proven guilty, due process, a ban on torture.[228] Should the caliphate violate its citizens' rights, however, critics note that those citizens would have no right to rebel, because shariah law (according to HT text The Ummah's Charter) "has urged obedience to those who assume authority over the Muslims, whatever injustice they committed and however much they violated the people's rights."[229][230] Under the tenets of Hizb ut Tahrir emanating from the Islamic creed, the freedom of belief contradicts the core belief of Islam of the Oneness of Allah and the final Messenger and Muhammad after realizing the conviction of this belief through rational conviction, otherwise reaching the state of apostasy after belief.
Pluralism
Also opposed is pluralism,[231] and the idea of "multiple overlapping identities" (such as someone being a `British Muslim’), which are an example of kufr (unbelief).[232] In all its political actions HT works to "purify" the Islamic community from "the effect of the kufr thoughts and opinions".[233] HT has distributed pamphlets at mosques in Britain urging Muslims not to vote in elections for example (to the disapproval of other British Muslim organizations).[234][235] In a pamphlet titled ‘An Open Letter to the Muslims in Britain regarding the Dangerous Call of Integration’, it warns that Integration into Western society and secularism are a way to "keep Islam completely away from their lives such that nothing remains of it but spiritualistic rituals conducted in the places of worship and a few pages in books of history".[236]
Non-Muslims and the West
Non-Muslims
Regarding non-Muslims living under Islam, the British HT media Information Pack describes its position as a "matter of public record", and will follow the teachings of Muslims scholars who call for Muslims to "take care of their [non-Muslim] weak, fulfil the needs of the poor, feed the hungry, provide clothes, address them politely" and even "tolerate their harm" to Muslims.[237] It also states that non-Muslims under Muslim rule for thirteen centuries "enjoyed equal rights, prosperity, happiness, tranquillity and security."[237]
According to former Media Representative for Hizb ut-Tahrir UK and member of its executive committee, Taji Mustafa,
rights of Jews and other non-Muslims are enshrined within statuary Islamic Law (Sharia). These were laid down by Muhammad when he established the first Islamic State in Medina in the 7th century. He said, "Whoever harms a dhimmi (non-Muslim living in the Islamic State) has harmed me."[238][239]
However, the Hizb ut-Tahrir draft constitution for its unified Islamic state, forbids any non-Muslims living in the state to serve in any of the ruling offices, such as the position of caliph, or to vote for these officials. Muslims have "the right to participate in the election of the Khaleefah [head of state] and in giving him the pledge (ba’iah). Non-Muslims have no right in this regard." However non-Muslims may voice "complaints in respect to unjust acts performed by the rulers or the misapplication of Islam upon them." Non-Muslims have the right, like the Muslims, to be represented in the Council of the Ummah, and to be representatives of their electorate in it, so as to express the opinion on their behalf regarding the misapplication of the rules of Islam upon them and the oppression of the ruler that might fall upon them. Every citizen who is adult and sane, has the right to be a member of the Ummah Council or the Provincial Council, whether they are male, female, Muslim or non Muslim; the non-Muslim member is restricted to raising complaints regarding the oppression of the rulers or the misapplication of the laws of Islam. (Draft Constitution of the Islamic State The Necessary Evidences for It Volume 1 The Draft Constitution Hizb ut Tahrir)[240]
Non-Muslim would be subject to the same laws and in addition would be subject to a special tax jizya and the land tax of Kharaj. like the Muslim citizens. Muslims pay zakat while non-Muslims do not pay zakat. Both Muslims and non-Muslims pay the Ushriya. HT founder an-Nabhani explains that the taxes on Non-Muslims in the caliphate are a "right that Allah enabled the Muslims to take from the Kuffar [disbelievers] to protect them."
"The Jizya is taken from the Kuffar as long as they remain in Kufr [unbelief]; if they embrace Islam it will be waived from them."[65][241] ... The Kharaj ... is a right imposed on the neck [title] of the land that has been conquered from the Kuffar by way of war or by way of peaceful agreement, provided that the peace agreement stipulates that the land is ours (i.e. belonging to the Muslims) ... Each land conquered from the Kuffar after declaring war against them is considered Kharaji [land subject to Kharaj] land, and even if they embraced Islam after the conquest, the land remains Kharaji."[65][179]
In regards to foreign policy, the draft constitution states that while "it is permitted to conclude good neighbouring, economic, commercial, financial, cultural and armistice treaties,"[242] "the State is forbidden to belong to any organisation that is based on something other than Islam or which applies non-Islamic rules." (It goes on to specify "the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and regional organisations like the Arab League.")[243]
In the "About Us" section of the English language section of its "Official Website" (as of 9 February 2016), HT lists "Exposing the plans and the conspiracies of the Kuffar [unbelievers]", as one of the four "actions" it "undertakes".[ae] Some researchers (such as David Zeidan) have noted how HT founder Nabhani emphasised (what he believed) was the hatred of the West towards Islam, where European colonialism was (he believed) simply a continuation of the Crusades:
Sheikh Nabhani considered Western animosity to Islam as a constant ever since the Crusades. [This animosity] is fueled by a wish for revenge and manifests itself in ‘oppression, humiliation, colonization and exploitation. ...’ Modern Europe is engaged in a cultural Crusade against Islam. . . . Orientalists and Christian clergy continue to support all anti-Islamic activities in the world, conspiring against Islam, slandering its history, and degrading Muhammad and his Companions.[244][245]
The West
Western capitalistic states, led by the United States, are the "most vicious enemies" of Islam according to HT.[246]
Hizb ut-Tahrir sees Western influence as the cause of stagnation in the Muslim world, the reason for its failure to re-establish the caliphate thus far, and something in need of being attacked and uprooted. The Australian HT Media Pack describes Western governments as "the major obstacle to positive change in the Muslim World".[247] Founder Nabhani has been described (by David Commins) as preaching that "British plots in particular and western imperialist conspiracies in general pervade the modern history of the Muslim world and ultimately explain its main lines of political evolution."[8] In his book, The System of Islam, which is studied by all Hizb ut-Tahrir members, Nabhani states:
If not for the influence of the deceptive Western culture and the oppression of its agents that will soon vanish, then the return to the domain of Islam in its ideology and system would be quicker than the blink of an eye.[248]
According to the same book, the Muslim world fell behind the West, (or other non-Muslim societies) not because it has failed to borrow some political, cultural or social concepts these civilizations had to offer, but because it did:
Muslim stagnation commenced the day they abandoned this adherence to Islam and ... allowed the foreign culture to enter their lands and the Western concepts to occupy their minds.[249]
Western intellectual and cultural influence as well as its political and economic influence must be "uprooted" from the Muslim community.[250][251][252] According to late HT global emir Abdul Qadeem Zallum, "The fierce struggle between the Islamic thoughts and the Kufr thoughts, ... will continue ... – a bloody struggle alongside the intellectual struggle – until the Hour comes and Allah (swt) inherits the Earth and those on it. This is why Kufr is an enemy of Islam, and this is why the Kuffar will be the enemies of the Muslims as long as there is Islam and Kufr in this world,..."[252][253]
According to the HT work Dangerous Concepts, among the tools used by Kufr nations to "finish off Islam by destroying its Aqeedah (creed) as a political Aqeedah" are such activities as "inter-faith and intercultural dialogues, and the viewpoint that both the Arab and Jewish races are the sons of Abraham."[254][255]
Regarding the activity of Hizb ut Tahrir in Western countries, HT texts emphasize the necessity of Muslims choosing between an Islamic identity and a Western one.[256] A British HT media Information Pack states that it opposes assimilation in Western countries by Muslims but also "isolation". The party claims it "works to cultivate a Muslim community that ... adhere[s] to the rules of Islam and preserv[es] a strong Islamic identity"; to "project a positive image of Islam" and "engages in dialogue with Western thinkers, policymakers and academics", but "does not work ... to change the system of government".[125] However, HT founder An-Nabhani writing in his book The Islamic Personality, Vol. 2, stresses that the need to fight kufr extends to Muslims living outside the land of Islam (Dar al-Islam). In a land "ruled by kufr" where disbelievers "reside", the Muslim "is obliged ... to fight its people until they become Muslims or pay the jizyah and be ruled by Islam."[257] In fact, unless he is not "able to manifest his deen [i.e. his religion] and perform the requested Shar’a rules", the Muslim is forbidden to leave Dar al-Kufr (land of unbelief) and return to Dar al-Islam,[257][af] as this would be "fleeing from the jihad."[258] Critics (Ahmed & Stuart) complain that this amounts to a call for Western Muslims to "fight" their country's (non-Muslim) "people", and demonstrates "the internal contradiction" between HT's avowed "nonviolent" political ideology and its plans for subversion and violent jihad to eventually expand its proposed caliphate into non-Muslim lands.[259]
Although in public pronouncements the party has criticised the 9/11 and 7/7 terror attacks, it has declared the "war on terrorism" to be not just overreach or arrogant disregard for Muslim lives, but a "disguise" for a "ruthless campaign against Islam and Muslims".[236]
The real motive for waging "War Against Terrorism" is not to counter terrorism. The real motive is clearly to establish and strengthen US hegemony and influence over the Islamic lands, their people, and their resources in order to repress any semblance of Islamic political resurgence.[260]
United States
The "head of Kufr (unbelief)" is the United States[261][ag] and its international domination "a danger to the world" which "only the Khilafah can save" it from, according to HT statements.hizb-ut-tahrir[262]
Attacks on Muslims, whether they be arrest and torture in Uzbekistan, executions in China, or attacks by Hindu mobs in India, are actually "orchestrated and sanctioned by the head of Kufr, America".[236] Although it has its "agents" in power throughout the Muslim world, the US is using capitalism (i.e. "Democracy, pluralism, human rights and free market policies"), to suppress Islam", as it fears the revival of Islam and "the return" of "the Khilafah State",[263] which will "destroy" US influence and interests not only over the Muslim world but "over the whole globe."[264]
One observer (Zeyno Baran) has argued that statements by US President George W. Bush (the war on terrorism is a "crusade", "you are either with us or against us")[36]) and at least one US military leader (U.S. Army Lt. General Jerry Boykin: "I knew my God is bigger than [Osama bin Laden's"]),[265] and actions such as civilian deaths in the War in Iraq, have alarmed many Muslims[266] and played into the HT message.[267]
Zionism
Hizb ut-Tahrir (which was founded in Palestine by Palestinians) strongly opposes Zionism and existence of the state of Israel, or any compromise or peaceful relations with that state. According to scholar David Commins, the "liberation of Palestine" from Israel was the original "primary concern" of Hizb ut-Tahrir, with the project of setting up a unitary "Islamic state that would revive the "true" Islamic order throughout the Muslim world coming later."[8] According to scholar Suha Taji-Farouki, "while in theory the issue of Israel and the Jews remains peripheral to [HT's] main efforts, the party has consistently addressed it throughout its career".[268]
In the 1990s, Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah, (HT's current global leader and former spokesman), proclaimed that "peaceful relations with the Jews" or settling "for only part of Palestine" (such as the post 1967 territory of the West Bank and Gaza) is "prohibited by Islamic Law". "None of the Jews in Palestine who arrived after the destruction of the Ottoman Empire have the right to remain there. The Islamic legal rule requires that those of whom are capable of fighting be killed until none survive".[269]
Later statements by HT spokespersons also emphasize the importance of Islamic control of every bit of Palestine (Taji Mustafa in 2008[85][270][271]) and rejecting negotiation in favor of military Jihad (Imran Wahid, January 2009[272][273])
Another source [ah] describes HT as supporting the "destruction of Israel", but seeing this as the job of the Caliphate, which must be founded first for this to take place.[274]
Hizb ut-Tahrir has used the term "one state solution" for the Israel/Palestine dispute ("Palestine – why only a one state solution will work").[275] This refers not to a Binational solution (usually thought of in that context), where the "one state" is a united Palestinian state with no official/state religion and equal rights for all religions, but rather to the proposed HT Islamic state/caliphate which would include Palestine and where everyone, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, would follow statutory shariah Islamic law.[275]
Charges of anti-Semitism
Among the more high-profile charges of anti-Semitism against HT include the 1994 call by a British MP for it to be prosecuted for anti-Semitism (among other charges);[276][277] the guilty verdict of the HT spokesman in Denmark for distributing "racist propaganda" (which included a quote from the Quran: "And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out," followed by a passage stating: "the Jews are a people of slander... a treacherous people");[278] its banning from public activity in Germany in 2003 by a German Interior Minister Otto Schily for what he called spreading violence and hate and calling for the killing of Jews;[279] a "No Platform" order against the group by the British National Union of Students in 2004 for (what the NUS called) spreading antisemitic propaganda.[280] and the dismissal of an HT member and trainee journalist by The Guardian, in part because of statements discovered on the party's website (which stated among other things that "the Jews are a people of slander ... a treacherous people ... they fabricate lies and twist words from their right places").
HT in return states that it rejects "decisively" the charge of anti-Semitism which, it says, arises from HT's anti-Zionism,[ai]
The main propagators of anti-Semitism politicised those who reject the occupation of Palestine to opposing Jews – which is something completely different; taken out of context to censure the people from voicing their opinion and rejection from anti-Zionism and that Jews lived under peace in the Islamic State notoriously finding sanctuary in the Islamic State and living under prosperity and protection under the Islamic State escaping previous persecution. Notably, large numbers of Jews worldwide do not support the Zionism.
Accusers cite a number of HT statements about the innate (negative) characteristics of Jews and the need and duty of Muslims to eradicate them. In a 2000 article entitled "The Muslim Ummah will never submit to the Jews", Hizb ut Tahrir lamented what it saw as the innate behavior of Jews: O Muslims: Your brothers in Palestine are calling you, and you feel the pain to help them. But the treacherous rulers stand in the way of your help. They obstruct you from undertaking the obligation Allah has obliged upon you, the Jihaad and the eradication of the Jews.
Neturei Karta opposes Zionism and calls for a "peaceful dismantling" of the State of Israel, in the belief that Jews are forbidden to have their own state until the coming of the Jewish Messiah and that the state of Israel is a rebellion against God.[2][3] While the Neturei Karta describe themselves as true traditional Jews, Neturei Karta’s Rabbi Weiss remarked: "The Zionists use the Holocaust issue to their benefit. We, Jews who perished in the Holocaust, do not use it to advance our interests. We stress that there are hundreds of thousands Jews around the world who identify with our opposition to the Zionist ideology and who feel that Zionism is not Jewish, but a political agenda. ... What we want is not a withdrawal to the '67 borders, but to everything included in it, so the country can go back to the Palestinians and we could live with them ..."[284]
Corbyn is a member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, [401] campaigning, for example, against the killing of Palestinian civilians during conflict in Gaza.[402] In 2012 and again in 2017, Corbyn called for an investigation into Israeli influence in British politics.[403] In August 2016, Corbyn said: "I do support targeted boycotts aimed at undermining the existence of illegal settlements in the West Bank."[404] In his keynote speech at the 2018 annual Labour Party conference, Corbyn said that, if elected, his government would immediately recognise the Palestinian State as a way of supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He declared that the Labour Party condemned the "shooting of hundreds of unarmed demonstrators in Gaza by Israeli forces and the passing of Israel's discriminatory nation-state law".[407]
In May 2019, Corbyn said the Labour Party condemned the "ongoing human rights abuses by Israeli forces, including the shooting by Israeli forces of hundreds of unarmed Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza – most of them refugees or families of refugees – demanding their rights".[285]
The Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent also played a role in protecting the Jewish subjects of his empire for centuries to come. In late 1553 or 1554, on the suggestion of his favorite doctor and dentist, the Spanish Jew Moses Hamon, the Sultan issued a firman formally denouncing blood libels against the Jews.[286]
According to HT critics, labelling Muslims who "do not adhere" to HT positions, "Jews" is "not uncommon" in HT.[216] Self-identified Muslims alleged to be Jews by the party include Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, (the founder of the modern Turkish state who disbanded the Ottoman caliphate),[287] and Islam Karimov, (the authoritarian ruler of Uzbekistan[287] who has reportedly detained HT members without charge or trial for lengthy periods, tortured and subject them to unfair trials).[288][289]
Violence
Hizb ut-Tahrir has been described as a "radical"[12] or "revolutionary"[290] but "non-violent".[291][292][aj]
Hizb ut Tahrir is in no way responsible for the misinterpretation and/or misapplication of the information found in their publications or activities by misinformed individuals, and condemns the alleged ties being made to these people and the organization that intentionally or indirectly incites hatred and fear of Hizb ut Tahrir. The organization is unequivocal in its stance that Islam is against violence against innocents. And it is prohibited in Islam and the means to establish the Islamic state through violence contravenes the Islamic texts.
Examples of arbitrary arrests:
Turkey: Yilmaz Celik HT TURKEY’S YILMAZ CELIK JAILED FOR 15 YEARS AFTER SHAM PROSECUTION[295]
Examples of arbitrary arrests/ prison of members of Tatarstan in Russia:
On April 26, 2019, the Prevolski Military Court sentenced five members of Hizb ut Tahrir from Tatarstan. The court accepted fabricated charges of “terrorism” according to the laws of the Russian Federation. The sentences were as follows:
Gimazidinov Anas, born in 1965, was sentenced to 18 years in high-security prison and one-year restriction on movement.
Mohammedov Arik, born in 1988, was sentenced to 18 years in a high-security prison and one-year restriction on movement.
Zajeif Azat, born in 1990, was sentenced to three years in high-security prison.
Khananov Renate, born in 1986, was sentenced to 13 years in high-security prison.
Shangarev Emil, born in 1993, was sentenced to 13 years in high-security prison.
During the trials, the members pointed out that the accusations of "terrorism" are purely a lie, as the hidden witnesses are only the staff of the security services. However, the judge rejected everything that leads to the withdrawal of charges and pronounced the verdict without scrutinizing and investigating the case.[296]
On March 13, 2019, the military court of Privolsky in Russia sentenced five members of Hizb ut Tahrir from Tatarstan and considered them guilty under the criminal law which considered Hizb ut Tahrir a terrorist movement, thus membership of Hizb ut Tahrir became a crime punishable by law. The court considered the accused to be involved in terrorist activities and were sentenced as follows:
- Sungatov Ruslan, born in 1977, was sentenced to 22 years imprisonment, including two years in solitary confinement.
- Yamaliev Rustem was born in 1985, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, including two years in solitary confinement.
- Zinnatov Ilnar was born in 1984, was sentenced to 19 years imprisonment, including a year and a half in solitary confinement.
- Marat Tulyakov, born in 1979, was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment, including a year and a half in solitary confinement.
- Irek Nasirov, born in 1985, was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment.
As the Russian lawyer Henry Reznik said, “What can I say if the court is under the control of the Fifth Special Forces?” "We are jailed in Russia while Russia declares its war on Islam and Muslims. We see the aggressiveness of the security forces when they storm the house of an elderly woman, 82 years old, in Crimea, on charges of “terrorism” who then dies in the hospital as a result of the shock. We see the aggressiveness of the security forces in Chelyabinsk when they torture a disabled man for a long time in interrogation cells. We see how Muslim youth in the Caucasus are being killed without any guilt they committed. We see how Muslims are prevented from their freedom along the Volga River. We also see the security forces threatening the older people who are trying to donate part of their pensions to the children of Muslim detainees. They try us in military courts as if we were criminals in the ranks of the army.”
Tatarstan: The end of the month of January, at the start of the year 2014, witnessed a significant rise in the injustices carried out by the Russian state against Muslims in Tatarstan, and the arrest of dozens of Muslims there. The arrested Muslims were exposed to torture and placed in the prisons of Tchewskaya Nizhnekamsk, where the Russian security forces commit illegal acts of repression and torture against Muslims in general and against the members of Hizb ut Tahrir in particular. Therefore, a delegation from Hizb ut Tahrir / Wilayah Turkey headed to the Russian embassy in support of their Muslim Brothers in Tatarstan, in order to utter the word of truth against the Russian injustice, and submitted a request to meet with the Russian ambassador to discuss these grievances. When the delegation's request was met with rejection, the delegation handed over the statement issued by Hizb ut Tahrir / Russia to the embassy officials, which is entitled "The Security Services in Tatarstan Harshly Oppress Muslims" in Russian, Arabic, Turkish and English.[297]
The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir launched a global campaign to cast light upon the crimes that have been perpetrated against the Muslims in Uzbekistan generally and in the prisons and detention centres specifically. This is under the heading: “Karimov’s Crimes Rage against Muslims in Uzbekistan”[298] The final Statement of the Campaign and Picket: “Karimov is Spiteful of Islam” was issued on May 9, 2015.[299]
However, numerous sources describe HT in terms such as never having "been overtly involved in any violent actions", and having "long claimed it wants to achieve its objectives through nonviolent means"—the words of one unsympathetic source, Globalsecurity.org. According to Global Security the U.S. government "has found no clear ties" between Hizb ut-Tahrir and terrorist activity, no "involvement in or direct links to any recent acts of violence or terrorism", and no proof of "financial support to other groups engaged in terrorism."[6]
Among the sources agreeing with Globalsecurity.org that HT has never been overtly involved in any violent actions,[6] are Hazel Blears, then UK Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, who stated in February 2009 that HT 'falls short of openly advocating violence or terrorism.'[300] In support of its claim to being a non-violent group, (and against the British government's proposed proscription of it), HT quotes from Oxford Analytica, a government minister (Bill Rammell), two Home Office documents, an ex-ambassadors (Craig Murray), International Crisis Group, Pakistani journalist (Ahmed Rashid), academic (John Schoeberlein), a High Court in Pakistan (Multan Bench), UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and "senior officers".[301]
In public statements—such as its Information Pack for the British media—the party states that it "has no history of violence or militancy anywhere in the world. ... Unlike Western notions of political expediency, we do not believe that the ‘ends justify the means’";[282][302] that proof of their commitment is the number of members who "have been imprisoned, tortured and even killed for their beliefs," but resisted resorting to violence;[303] and that the party helps channel Muslim "anger and frustration over events in the Muslim world towards positive political work".[304]
On the other hand, opponents of the party have suggested that its opposition to violence is conditional, "superficial",[305] and far from complete. Critics argue:
that Hizb ut-Tahrir teaches that using violence against (what it declares) enemies of Islam is righteous and justified, but must follow a declaration of jihad by legitimate Islamic authority (such as the caliphate);
that it has urged and supported the use of violence against some non-Muslims in some circumstances (against Israel, against the US in Afghanistan,[261][306] Iraq, against Hindus occupationin Kashmir);
and/or that its positions justifying violence[290] have led to violence and terrorism by young Muslims impatient for the return of the caliphate.
According to two scholars (Emmanuel Karagiannis and Clark McCauley), HT's position on violence can be describe as either being "committed to non-violence for fifty years", or "waiting fifty years for the right moment to begin violent struggle."[292] (Critics casting aspersions on HT's putative nonviolence include Sadakat Kadri,[307] ex-party member Hadiya Masieh[308] the British National Union of Students,[309] Zeyno Baran,[ak][al]
and the Daily Telegraph of Australia.[311])
Despite the massive violence against the members of HT from widespread suppression and oppression from government regimes, HT and its members have never resorted to reply with material means to defend themselves in accordance to their beliefs.
Scriptural/Doctrinal basis of non-violence
The British website of Hizb ut Tahrir states that the party uses the methods "employed by the Prophet Muhammad [who] limited his struggle for the establishment of the Islamic State to intellectual and political work. He established this Islamic state without resorting to violence."[312]
Political scientist Emmanuel Karagiannis notes that after the establishment of an Islamic state in Medina, violence was resorted to. Jihad can lawfully be declared and violence and military force used (according to the party) once a true Islamic state is established. Karagiannis quotes HT: `when the Messenger of Allah waged wars, they were not fought by individual ... rather they were fought by individuals who belonged to a state. Therefore, the army was an army that belonged to a state.'[313] Globalsecurity.org, describes Hizb ut Tahrir's position as not being "against violence as such ... just against the use of violence now."[314]
Researchers Houriya Ahmed and Hannah Stuart quote another HT critic (and former member of HTB's national executive committee Maajid Nawaz), as saying that HT differs from some other Islamist jihadist groups in that rather than creating its own army for jihad, HT plans to "use pre-existing militaries".[315][316] An August 2008 HT conference in London ended its presentation with the statistic that the Islamic world has, "4.7 million armed personnel – more than the USA, Europe and India combined."[317][am] (Some (Zeyno Baran) have expressed skepticism of the HT doctrine that Muslim governments would be overthrown non-violently to create a new caliphate, given government officials natural desire to stay in power and out of prison (or a firing squad), and the force of arms at their disposal to fight coup attempts.[319] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, several unsuccessful military coups by pro-HT factions were attempted in countries in the Middle East,[320][321] and at least one involved fatalities.)
Seven days after the September 11, 2001 attacks Hizb ut-Tahrir issued a statement that "the rules" of the Islamic Muhammad "message forbids any aggression against civilian non-combatants. They forbid killing of children, the elderly and non-combatant women even in the battlefield. They forbid the hijacking of civilian aeroplanes carrying innocent civilians and forbid the destruction of homes and offices that contain innocent civilians."[322][323]
There are also instances of the party calling for violence against specific targets: Karagiannis quotes an HT pamphlet as saying `the martyrdom operations that are taking place against [occupied Palestine] are legitimate. The whole of Palestine is a battlefield whether it is the parts usurped by the Jews in 1948, or afterwards.`[324][an]
In an August 2006 speech Ata Abu al-Rashtah, the global leader of Hizb ut Tahrir, called for the "destruction" of Hindus occupation living in Kashmir, Russian occupation in Chechnya and Jewish occupation in Palestine.[ao]
In the wake of 9/11 attacks when the US invaded Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban, HT issued a communique calling on the armies in the "Islamic Ummah" to unite against the US and UK in retaliation for its "waging war on Afghanistan".[261][306] to remove the occupation military invasion and the foreign colonial intervention of these foreign presence in Afghanistan and not a war on America or its populations. And a 2008 HT press release called the reluctance of Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to "fight a war with America" "shameful", citing Pakistan's possession of "nuclear weapons, missiles technology and half a million brave soldiers who are ready to attain martyrdom for Islam".[326]
Hizb ut Tahrir states that it "has been on the public record on several occasions stating that in our Islamic opinion the killing of innocent civilians such as in the London bombings of 7th July 2005 and the attacks of September 11th 2001 are forbidden and prohibited."[327][328]
The British branch of Hizb ut Tahrir was among the many Muslim groups in Britain that condemned the 7 July 2005 London bombings.[329]
Critics claimed that its spokesman did not initially condemn the attacks however,[330] and the Terrorism Research Centre complained that the initial response to the London 7/7 bombings was "to urge British Muslims to be strong in the face of an anticipated backlash" and to attack G-8 world leaders for taking advantage of the London attacks "to justify their ‘war on terror.'"[331] Later statements asserted that "American tyranny and arrogance has reached a level that led many to believe that the only way to dent her pride is to rub her nose in the sand",[332] and that the "U.S. and Great Britain declare war against Islam and Muslims".[332]
The possibility of re-establishing an Islamic superstate notwithstanding, critic James Brandon has called the "real significance" of the party "likely" to be its increasingly important role in "radicalizing and Islamizing" the Middle East, such as spreading ideas such as that the conflict between Western democracies and Islamists is an irresolvable and "inevitable clash of civilizations, cultures and religions".[18] Other critics warn that (they believe) the party is and/or will provide "justification for the instigation of terrorism" (Ahmed & Stuart);[333] "paving the way for other, more militant groups to take advantage of the opening it has made" (Zeyno Baran).[334] spreading radical Islamist ideas to "millions of Muslims" through "cyberspace, the distribution of leaflets, and secret teaching centres" (Ariel Cohen);[2] and in each country's native language (Zeyno Baran).[335]
Scholar Taji-Farouki writes that according to HT teachings Jews and Christians are disbelievers who have formed a ‘united front against Muslims, and are engaged in a permanent effort to destroy Islam'.[336] Critics Ahmed and Stuart quote HT as describing the bombing of the Taliban by the US and UK as "a brutal war against ... the defenceless Muslims",[261] and the placing of the groups "like" Islamic Jihad, Hamas, al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya in Egypt (whose acts of resistance have killed numerous civilians)[337]) "on the list of terrorist organisations".[338] as an example of the anti-Muslim wrongdoing by Westerners.
Others describe HT as "entry level" Islamism,[290] or the first part of a "conveyor belt" (Zeyno Baran)[339] for young Muslims that initiates a process leading to "graduation" (Shiv Malik)[2][340] to violence. Zeyno Baran argues that Hizb ut-Tahrir safeguards its mission as "an ideological and political training ground for Islamists" by avoiding violence, and acting within "the legal system of the countries in which it operates".[341] Other organizations handle the planning and execution of terrorist attacks.[342]
Baran argues that as members become "impatience with the lack of success HT has had so far in overthrowing governments", they leave the party to create/join "splinter groups" less wedded to the idea that attacks on "enemies of Islam" must wait for a caliph.[339] Baran lists four groups involving former HT members,[ap] the most noted being Omar Bakri Muhammad's group Al-Muhajiroun.[343] Bakri, Muhajiroun and/or it front groups desire to turn the UK into an Islamist state,[344] have praised the 9/11 hijackers as "magnificent", and bin Laden as "a hero who stands for divine justice and freedom from oppression",[334][345] claim to have recruited many young British Muslims for ‘military service’ jihad in Afghanistan.[346][347][348] however the aim of the Hizb is distinct from any other Muslim organization and the party has ardently argued against using violence as a means to achieve political change. Hizb ut Tahrir states that they are not responsible for the ideas and actions of past members or followers or supporters of Hizb ut Tahrir who go on to adopt material actions as part of their beliefs as HT strictly condemns military methods.
Hizb ut Tahrir states that they are not responsible for the misinterpretation and/or misapplication of the information found in their publications or activities by misinformed individuals, and condemns the alleged ties being made to these people and our organization that intentionally or indirectly incites hatred and fear of Hizb ut Tahrir. The organization is unequivocal in its stance that Islam is against violence against innocents. And it is prohibited in Islam and the means to establish the Islamic state through violence contravenes the Islamic texts.
HT "reject(s) the charge" of "incit[ing] others to commit violent acts", maintaining that there are "many academics that reject the allegation".[aq] HT points out that the British government, in a classified report, discounted the conveyor belt theory, stating "We do not believe that it is accurate to regard radicalisation in this country as a linear 'conveyor belt' moving from grievance, through radicalisation, to violence … This thesis seems to both misread the radicalisation process and to give undue weight to ideological factors."[350] (In reply conservative columnist Andrew Giligan writes: "In fact, at least 19 terrorists convicted in Britain have had links with al-Muhajiroun, including Omar Khayam, sentenced to life imprisonment as leader of the "fertiliser bomb" plot, and Abdullah Ahmed Ali, the ringleader of the airliner "liquid bomb" plot, who is also serving life."[350]) However, Hizb ut Tahrir continues to state that they have no links with no other party or organization and its ideas and methods and means of work are distinct and non-violent.
Political spectrum
HT has been incorrectly compared to both the political left and to fascism. Its Critics claim its "methodology and linguistic foundations",[351] some "organizational principles"[352] are said to have resulted from heavy "borrowing from socialist concepts"[353] or to have "Marxist-Leninist undertones"[351] (utopian ultimate goal—communism or Caliphate,[354] dislike of liberal democracy,[354] well-organized centralized[ar]vanguard party[69] made up of secretive cells,[73][354] high importance placed on spread of its ideas/ideology,[354] worldwide ambitions[354] for revolutionary[355][356] transformation of the social/political system), or to resemble a "Socialist student movement", with many pamphlets and "fiery speeches delivered by a small cadre of speakers from within their party structure".[357]
Australian writer and journalist Ramon Glazov describes HT's marketing of its ideology (though not its substance) as "similar to pushing libertarianism as a 'neither Right nor Left' cure-all ideology."[69]
However, Hizb ut Tahrir states that it is a Standalone Political Party, it does not represent anyone nor is it represented by anyone beyond the party ideas and members.[358]
Hizb ut Tahrir states, on its website:
“1. Hizb ut Tahrir is a political party whose ideology is Islam. It works for the re-establishment of the Islamic way of life by following the method of Islam in establishing the Khilafah state, derived from the work of the Prophet peace be upon him.
2. The Party has identified its approach as an ideological and political struggle, the Party refuses to perform any violence or armed struggle in its work, as a commitment to the method of the Prophet peace be upon him.
3. What the Party seeks to achieve through establishing the Khilafah state is the commitment to the Legislative rulings that oblige the Muslim Ummah at large to work collectively to destroy the corrupt systems that the West had imposed on the Ummah, then giving bay'ah (pledge of allegiance) to a Khalifah who will govern by the laws of Allah (swt). Therefore, the work to re-establishing the Khilafah is not limited to Hizb ut Tahrir, but it is an obligation upon the Muslims at large.
4. There are parties, organisations and groups that follow different methods with the aim of establishing the Islamic state or the Khilafah state. And although we at Hizb ut Tahrir continuously remind the Ummah of its obligation to work for re-establishing the Khilafah, yet we are not connected to any party regardless of what it is, neither do we have any organizational relationship with any party, and the Hizb does not have any other branches, sections or organisations.
5. The members of Hizb ut Tahrir raise the flag of Islam in their activities, both flag types – Rayah (black) and Liwaa’ (white), both bearing the Shahada: “La Ilaha Illa Allah Muhammad Rasoolullah”, and they do not carry any other slogan or flag. The flag of ‘Oqab is the flag of the Muslims, so if any Muslim, or a group of Muslims or an organization carry this flag, it does not necessarily mean that they are directly or indirectly affiliated with Hizb ut Tahrir.
6. Hizb ut Tahrir has its own media representatives in its own field; it issues leaflets showing the Party’s stance on issues and events appended with the Party’s signature. Based on this, media outlets should be very careful as they transmit any position and opinion and attribute it to Hizb ut Tahrir, and the communication with the widespread party’s media offices is easy, including the Party’s Central Media Office in Beirut, therefore media outlets cannot claim that communicating with the Party’s media representatives is difficult. We also hope that the public opinion is aware and always investigates for the truth in what is hearsay and what positions are promoted and attributed to Hizb ut Tahrir, whether this was done with good intention or otherwise.
7. Hizb ut Tahrir has explicit and strict positions on adopting the Islamic perception on concepts and on imported and foreign doctrines like secularism, nationalism, democracy and other concepts such as communism, capitalism and “sovereignty belongs to the people not to the Legislator”, these are all dangerous concepts which are rejected by Islam in their entirety.
8. The Party does not accept seeking the help of any Kaffir state, nor any system that is an agent to the West, but rather it works for the demolition of these entities that were created by the West and used as a means to separate the unity of the Muslim Ummah.
9. As for the Party’s position towards the Islamic organisations, it is based upon communicating with them and advising them for the sake of the work for re-establishing the Khilafah state as long as these organisations abide by the Islamic Creed and Legislative Rulings in their method. The Party has previously taken several positions in supporting their Muslim brothers in other Islamic organisations against the oppression they faced by the oppressive regimes, despite the intellectual contrast or different opinions adopted on different issues. As for the organisations who went to the extent of interpreting and justifying misguided concepts; we exerted them with sincere advice hoping for them rectitude in words and actions.”[358]
Activity by region
The Heritage Foundation in the US reports the organization is active in 40 countries, with 5,000 to 10,000 "hardcore" members and tens of thousands of followers.[359] Shiv Malik in the New Statesman magazine estimates Hizb ut-Tahrir has about one million members.[2]
It is proscribed in Russia,[360] Kazakhstan,[361] Turkey, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan[362] and in all but 3 Arab countries.[18] However, it is permitted and active in Australia and the UK after clearance from the
In 2006, there were a spate of Hizb ut Tahrir campaigns and related arrests throughout the Arab world, demonstrating a growth in its popularity. There were arrests in Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, and visible public activities in the Palestinian territories, Zanzibar, and Lebanon, enjoying growing support among senior army staff, government officials, and the intelligentsia.[18]
Egypt
HT expanded to Egypt in the mid-1950s, but according to Jamestown Foundation it has not shown "significant traction" since Egyptians are "reluctant to see their distinctive historical, ethnic and cultural identities submerged within a caliphate".[18]
It was banned after its alleged involvement in Saleh Sirriyah's precoup attack in 1974 on Egypt's Military Technical Academy. The attack was followed by the overthrow of Anwar el-Sadat's regime to help HT establish its state. Sirriyah believed that sudden political revolt was necessary for HT to establish its state, differing with the party's strategy of engendering popular support and seeking nussrah.[320][as]
In 1983, the government arrested and charged 60 HT members with 'working to overthrow the regime with the aim of establishing the Caliphate.'[366] In 2002, 26 men including three British nationals were arrested and convicted in 2004 for being members of HT and for 'attempting to revive' the party in Egypt.[at] In general, however, party support in Egypt remains weak when compared to competing Islamist groups, such as the MB.[au]
According to Amnesty, four Muslim Britons and several Egyptians were tortured in Egypt for suspected affiliation with Hizb ut Tahrir.[371] Eventually 26 were put on trial for what observers in Egypt considered "contradictory" and "weak" charges.[372]
The Egyptian government banned Hizb ut Tahrir in 1974 after an alleged coup attempt. Since the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, Hizb ut Tahrir has been increasingly active due to the lifting of the ban upon it. Hizb ut Tahrir has held demonstrations in Tahrir Square and has held conferences calling for the return of the Caliphate. Furthermore, Hizb ut Tahrir in Egypt appear on a weekly television show on the Khaleejia satellite TV channel called 'Thuma Ta Kuna Khilafah.'
A conference was held by Hizb ut Tahrir in Egypt in July 2012.[373]
Iraq
In 1969, when the son of Iraq's highest Shia AyatollahMuhsin al-Hakim was arrested and allegedly tortured, during widespread persecution of Shia, Abd al-Aziz al-Badri, a Sunni Islamic lawyer(Alim) and local Hizb ut Tahrir leader, criticised the regime, and was killed under torture. A Sunni member of Hizb ut Tahrir is thus seen as the first martyr for the rights of Shia in Iraq, against the old Ba'athist regime.[374]
Saddam Hussein repressed HT members in Iraq in 1990, but when his army invaded Kuwait in 1990, like many Islamist and grassroots Muslim groups, HT saw the annexation as an act of unifying ‘Islamic lands’ supporting the idea of the unity of the Muslim lands. Farid Kassim, HTB's first deputy leader and spokesperson at the time stated, "From the Islam point of view, it is correct that any border should be removed, we are described in the Koran as one nation. The borders were not put there by Muslims, but by Europeans."[375] British HT members gathered outside London Central Mosque in Regent's Park in an attempt
to persuade others to join what they termed as Saddam's jihad. Party representatives also went to the Iraqi Embassy in London to ask Saddam to announce himself as Caliph.[376] Not withstanding this support, 11 HT members were executed in Iraq in 1990 for calling on Saddam to abandon Ba'athism and to adopt an Islamist state.[377]
After Saddam's removal in 2003, HT announced it would be opening an Iraqi branch.[378] One HT member in Iraq, Abu Abdullah Al-Kurdi, claimed in a 2008 interview that the party has two offices in Baghdad, which American forces allegedly bombed, killing one HT activist.[379]
In the civil war that followed the US invasion, HT has called for Sunni, Shia, Arab and Kurdish citizens to unite.[380]
Two prominent HT members (Adel Al-Rammah and Ahmad Sadoon Al-Ubayde) were reportedly murdered there in 2006, their bodies showing signs of torture.[381] Regarding the hanging of former president of Iraq Saddam Hussein, Ismail Yusanto, spokesman of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Indonesia, said: "The punishment should have been given to Saddam, because Saddam killed many Iraqi people and also members of Hizb ut-Tahrir there," and that President Bush and Tony Blair "deserved no better."[382]
After fifty years of covert activity in Lebanon, the Lebanese government approved the registration of HT as a political party. (This may have happened because the government wanted to offset other influences such as those of Syria and Hezbollah, both of which are opposed by HT's leadership. HT called a press conference on 19 May 2006, where its local spokesman, Dr Ayman al-Kadree, stated that HT would be registered into a political party, after the Lebanese government arrested some of its members on terrorism-related charges. The head of the HT media office stated that "the party will concentrate on an ideological and political call (da’wah) using argument and persuasion and conducting lectures, philosophical and political conferences, campaigns, forming and sending political delegations, etc."[383][384]
Jordan
At the time of HT's founding in the West Bank that area was under the control of the Kingdom of Jordan, and one HT member (Ahmad Ad-Da’ur) won a seat in Jordan's parliament.[385] However, as the party considered the Kingdom (like all non-caliphate states) illegitimate, called supporters to not recognize the constitution or state laws. Unsuccessful attempts to overthrow the government (sometimes planning to assassinate the king) using military elements in 1968, 1969, 1977 and 1993, have led to arrests, and prosecution and imprisonment of those found guilty of affiliation with the party.[386]
Palestine
Most of the founding members of HT were Palestinians, the three leaders it has had since found have been Palestinians, and Palestinians have "dominated the Hizb ut-Tahrir's leadership".[73]
According to a 2007 report by Globe and Mail reporter Mark MacKinnon, Hizb ut-Tahrir has been "capitalizing on public unhappiness with the recent bloodshed between the mainstream Hamas and Fatah movements that has split the Palestinian cause in two. A recent rally in the West Bank drew a crowd estimated in the tens of thousands." He quotes Hizb ut-Tahrir Sheik Abu Abdullah as preaching to Muslims
Why are we watching infidels prosper in this world and not stopping them? ... Muslims in China, Indonesia, Pakistan and everywhere in their thousands are asking for God's government through the Caliphate. They demand the return of God's rule on Earth.[342]
According to HT, in July 2009, hundreds of its activists were arrested and authorities stopped the HT 2009 annual conference from being held.[387] In September 2009, HT along with al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya
(the Lebanese branch of the MB), Hizbollah and Hamas, met in Lebanon to oppose US President Barack Obama's Arab-Israeli peace plan. The leaders issued a statement concluding that the plan ‘poses one of the most dangerous American plans in the region.’ They also said that the plan: ‘… needs to be opposed in all possible forms, in particular by increasing acts of resistance […] and opposing Israeli efforts towards a normalisation of their relations with Arab countries….’ The leaders further added that the "monopolisation" of Palestinian leadership by President Abbas must be challenged, and the choice of resistance against US plans should
be encouraged. The Islamist groups agreed to keep in touch to discuss further issues of mutual interest.[388]
Libya
Under the regime of Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, thirteen HT members were murdered according to the organization.[389] Mohammed M. Ramadan, a Libyan journalist and announcer at the BBC's Arabic section in London, was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir and opposed to the regime of Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi. He was assassinated on 11 April 1980 by Libyan operatives outside London's Regent's Park Mosque. Several other members were killed in extrajudicial detention in Libya during the 1980s.[390]
Hizb ut Tahrir described its organization along with the Muslim Brotherhood as the "important organizations causing anxiety" for the Libyan regime with Hizb ut-Tahrir endorsing "armed resistance" and successfully recruiting "students from the universities and military academies."[391]
Sudan
The international conference organized by Hizb ut Tahrir in Sudan was held under the title “Lifeline” on Saturday the 3rd of May 2014, which was held in Al-Sadaqah Hall in Khartoum, in which the Hizb presented an Islamic vision of the proper treatments for Sudan’s crises without the Arab Spring setbacks in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and other revolting countries.[392][393]
Syria
Prior to the civil war, in Syria, party members, along with their relatives and acquaintances, were subject to repeated extrajudicial arrest. Representatives of HT claimed that 1,200 of its members were arrested by Syrian security forces in December 1999 and January 2000, according to the December 2000 issue of Middle East Intelligence Bulletin. Members of HT were among the political activists arrested in Syria in 2005 and tried before military courts, according to a 2006 report by Amnesty International.[394] Since the civil war started in 2011, HT reports that it is engaged in dawah in Syria as of 2013,[395]
and Syrian Democratic Forces reported finding Hizb ut-Tahrir flags and writings after taking Tell Rifaat from Ahrar al Sham in February 2016.[396][397]
ISIS
While HT has been compared to ISIL and both groups share the goal of re-establishing a caliphate that unites the Muslim world, the groups have acted as competitors rather than allies.[398] In late 2014, HT reported that a "senior member" of its group had been executed by ISIL in Aleppo for "questioning Baghdadi's self-proclaimed Caliphate".[398][399] William Scates Frances argues that the groups are "embroiled in a bitter and ongoing feud" and are quite different in organizational structure, and—at least in Australia—in their supporters culture and demographics.[398]
Hizb ut Tahrir issued in its press release dated November 18, 2014, “That mob [Daesh / ISIS] has killed the martyr Mustafa because he exclaimed words of Haqq [Truth] in front of them…They killed him, and they killed many before him, and they still kill the pure souls just like the tyrants rulers have done, but rather the crime of ISIS is worse, as the tyrant rulers used to kill the carriers of Dawah in the name of Secularism, and these kill the carriers of Dawah in the name of Khilafah "Caliphate" in order to distort its image... So, the West rejoiced, with America in the lead, when they found who can distort the image of Khilafah "Caliphate" for them and kill its callers, and all that in the name of Islam, an aggression against it… We have mentioned before in our publications how this mob kills innocent souls and transgresses sanctities until their crimes go beyond humans extending to trees and rocks. And we have aimed warnings to them about the consequences of these crimes which will bring them disgrace in the Dunya and a painful torment in the Afterlife...”[400]
Tunisia
HT was established in Tunisia in the 1970s. In 1983, 30 men, including the head of the Tunisian HT branch, were arrested, charged with membership of an illegal organization and attempting to overthrow the government in order to replace it with a Caliphate. Of the 30 arrested, 19 were military personnel, and the remaining 11 were said to have incited army officers to join the party.[401]
A May 2008 press statement issued by HT's media office in North Africa reports that 20 activists were imprisoned in that month on charges of ‘participating in reestablishing an "illegitimate" organization (Hizb ut-Tahrir), holding unauthorised meetings, preparing a place for holding un-authorised meetings and in possession
of leaflets deemed as disturbing public order.’[402]
Following the Tunisian Revolution and the fall of the Zine El Abidine Ben Ali regime, HT has been called the "main hard-line Islamist group to emerge".[403] It organized a female conference in Tunisia in March 2012.[424] On the 10th March 2012, the week of International Women’s Day, the women of Hizb ut-Tahrir hosted a historic International Women’s Conference in Tunisia entitled, “The Khilafah: A Shining Model of Women’s Rights and Political Role.” The conference gathered female political activists, writers, academics, journalists, teachers, community leaders, representatives of women’s organisations and other female opinion-makers from across the world to present a detailed vision of what the Khilafah system of governance based upon purely Islamic laws and principles would mean to the status, rights and lives of women.
Turkey
The Hizb ut-Tahrir is outlawed in Turkey. However, it is still in operation as a clandestine organization.[404] As early
as 1967, leaders of HT Turkey were arrested, and have been frequently since then.[405]
According to Today's Zaman, lieutenant Mehmet Ali Çelebi, detained in the Ergenekon investigations in 2008, allegedly had links with Hizb ut-Tahrir.[406] Çelebi was allegedly the key that made possible the arrest of five Hizb ut-Tahrir members in September 2008.[406] Despite the charges, Çelebi was found innocent. Although his cell phone was claimed to have sent signals for one minute and 22 seconds to the Fatih base station,[407] police officials (widely considered to be members of the Islamist Gülen movement)[citation needed] admitted that they had entered the group's phone numbers in Çelebi's phone by accident during the investigation.[408]
On 24 July 2009, Turkish police arrested almost 200 people suspected of being members of Hizb ut-Tahrir.[409]
Köklü Değişim Publications participated at the 6th International CNR Book Fair in Istanbul, Turkey from 9–18 March 2019. The fair was organized on an area of 15,000 square meters with 200 national and international participants. On 10 March 2019, Theologist Abdullah İmamoğlu and Musa Bayoğlu held a panel discussion under the title, “What is the Khilafah’s promise to the Islamic Ummah?”[410]
Major conference in March 2016 was held by Köklü Değişim (Radical Change)[410]
In Central Asia, the party has expanded since the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s from a small group to "one of the most powerful organizations" operating in Central Asia.[411] The region itself has been called "the primary battleground" for the party.[412]Uzbekistan is "the hub" of Hizb ut Tahrir's activities in Central Asia,[413] while its "headquarters" is now reportedly in Kyrgyzstan.[414] Estimates of the party's size in Central Asia range from 15,000 to 100,000.[413][415]
Hizb ut Tahrir is banned throughout Central Asia,[416] and has been accused of terrorist activity or assisting in terrorist activity.[6] however HT refuted these are false accusations based on trumped up charges. HT is unequivocal in its stance that Islam is against violence against innocents. And it is prohibited in Islam and the means to establish the Islamic state through violence contravenes the Islamic texts. Central Asian governments have been accused of torturing Hizb ut-Tahrir members and violating international law in their campaigns against the group.[417]
The party's "primary focus" in Central Asia is "socioeconomic and human rights issues", calling for "justice" against "corrupt and repressive state structures".[418] From there it seeks to "guide" Central Asians towards support for the re-establishment of a Caliphate.[418] It engages all people from unemployed, pensioners, students and single mothers; "representatives of local power structures", who can protect party cells from surveillance and prosecution; and "law enforcement personnel" who can "facilitate access to sensitive information".[419] engages all sectors of society and backgrounds.
Among the factors attributed to HT's success in the region are the religious and political "vacuum" of post-Soviet society there; the party's strong organization, use of local languages; the answers it provides to problems of poverty, unemployment, corruption, drug addiction, prostitution and lack of education; its call for unification of the Central Asian states.[420][421] Hizb ut Tahrir was first started in Central Asia in Ferghana Valley in Uzbekistan[422] and most HT members in the former Soviet Union are ethnic Uzbeks.[6]
In addition to the five ex-Soviet states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, the adjacent republic of Afghanistan, which was never part of the Soviet Union, and Chinese province of Xinjiang, are (or at least traditionally were in the case of Xinjiang) Muslim majority areas of Central Asia.
Afghanistan
HT supports the Muslims of Afghanistan from foreign occupation -against what it calls "the two enemies of Islam and the Muslims, America and Britain, waged an unjust war against the poor and defenceless Afghan people ...".[261][423]
Azerbaijan
Hizb ut-Tahrir is thought to have several hundred members in Azerbaijan as of 2002. Dozens of its members have been arrested.[424] (Azerbaijan is considered West Asian rather than Central Asian by many, but like many Central Asian states possesses a Turkic culture.)
HT was banned there in 2005[425] and has many fewer members in Kazakhstan than in neighboring countries—no more than 300 as of 2004.[421]
Kyrgyzstan
Hizb ut-Tahrir was banned in Kyrgyzstan around late 2004,[426][427] but as that time there were an estimated 3,000–5,000 HT members there.[421]
Until sometime before 2004, the Kyrgyz government was "the most tolerant" of all Central Asian regimes towards HT—allowing leaflet distribution—and HT Central Asian headquarters was moved here from Uzbekistan.[414]
However, the party increased in "confidence and audacity" and in October 2004 was declared the "most significant extremist forces" in Kyrgyzstan.[419][428]
As of 2004, there were an estimated 3,000–5,000 HT members in Tajikistan.
About 60,000 people lost their lives in Tajikistan's 1992 to 1997 civil war where Islamists and liberal democrats fought against the Soviet old guard and unrest remains as of 2016.[429]
Hizb ut-Tahrir activity in Tajikistan is primarily in the north near the Fergana Valley. In 2005, The Tajik government arrested 99 members of Hizb ut-Tahrir and 58 members in 2006.[430][431] In 2007, Tajik courts convicted two HT members and sentenced them to 10 1/2 and 9 3/4 years respectively.[431][432]
Membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir is illegal and members are subject to arrest and imprisonment.[433]
Turkmenistan
As of 2004 HT had no "noticeable" presence[421][434][435]
in Turkmenistan in part at least because of the nomadic nature of the population, the relatively shallow Islamic roots in its culture, and the extreme repression of the government.[436] As of 2013 the American Foreign Policy Council also reports that political Islam in general has made little noticeable headway in Turkmenistan.[437]
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan has been called the site of the "main ideological battle of competition over the region's future".[438] It is the most populous former-Soviet Central Asian country, and possessor of the region's "largest and most effective army".[438] As the "ancient spiritual and cultural center" of the Hanafi school (madhhab) of Sunni Islam, it is more religious than the other ex-Soviet countries and the area where HT first set up operation in Central Asia[438] in "the early to mid-1990s".[439] As of late 2004, HT had far more members in Uzbekistan than the other ex-Soviet states, with estimates ranging from 7,000 (Western intelligence) up to 60,000 (Uzbekistani government).[421]
HT has vigorously attacked the Uzbek political system and strongman president Islam Karimov, as corrupt, shameless, hypocritical and "an insolent and evil Jew, who hates" Islam.[440][441] Terrorist bombings, especially in 1999 (killing sixteen and injuring over 120) and 2004 (killing 54)[442] were falsely blamed in part on HT by the government and have led to a brutal crackdown.[288][289][443][444]
The Uzbekistan government has been criticized by human rights observers for detained HT members (among other Islamists) without charge or trial for lengthy periods, torturing and subjecting them to unfair trials,[288][289] and imprisoning thousands for minor activities.[445]
However, HT has also been accused of conducting a "brilliant public relations and propaganda campaign"[446] that has framed the fight between HT and Karimov's government as one between a "peaceful" religious group engaged in the "battle of ideas", and a government repressing religion with torture,[288][289][447] rather than sometimes brutal attempts by an authoritarian regime to combat a radical ideology and anti-constitutional activities.[448][449]
An account for brutal killing of Muslim as stated by Hizb ut Tahrir “Ann Yevgeny martyred in Prison UYa-64/51, located in the city Koson District of Qashqadaryo Region, born in 1977, of Korean origin and a resident of the city of Tashkent. Prior to the detention and trial, Yevgeny was a normal person of the people of Uzbekistan, and like most of his peers of Korean origin, he was not a believer in God. In prison, Yevgeny met the Shabab of Hizb ut Tahrir, who explained to him the ideology of Islam, its doctrine and system of life. Allah opened his heart to the Iman, and by the guidance and success of Allah Almighty he moved from the darkness of disbelief to the light of Islam. The prison administration was surprised when they learned that the Korean prisoner Yevgeny had converted to Islam and started to call for the resumption of the Islamic way of life and for the establishment of the righteous Khilafah on the method of Prophethood. Therefore, the guards started to torture him, and in various ways they tried to dissuade him from Islam and make him return to atheism, but he held his stance firmly, and increased in resolve to obey Allah, and determination and patience in obedience to what he was facing from the scourge of torture on top of the scourge of prison. On 8/10/2015 the guards moved Yevgeny to another quarters, where the henchmen of the criminal leader (Jelola) were waiting for him, these criminals beat Brother Yevgeny with barbaric and brutal force that led to his martyrdom (as we assume his martyrdom, and Allah is the Reckoner)”.[450]
Xinjiang
As of 2008, the emergence of Hizb ut-Tahrir was a "recent phenomenon" in the Mainland Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang. According to Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch, the party's influence was "limited" to southern Xinjiang, but "seems to be growing".[451]
One obstacle for the party in Xinjiang is that most Uyghur activists seek sovereignty for Xinjiang rather than union in a caliphate.[451]
As in other parts of Central Asia the party has been designated "terrorist" by the government and is banned.[451]
South and Southeast Asia
Indonesia
Hizb ut Tahrir used to work openly in Indonesia. Indonesia has been called the party's "strongest base", where in August 2007 over a hundred of thousands of people demonstrated in support of the caliphate in the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta.[1] They also held caliphate rallies in many cities across the country, such as in the Gelora 10 November Stadium in Surabaya[452] in 2013.
The party was introduced in Indonesia in 1983 by Jordanian-Lebanese man named Abdurrahman al-Baghdadi. As of 2004 it was spokesman Muhammad Ismail Yusanto.[453] It started as an underground campus movement and as of 2004 remained "largely campus based" with "well-attended rallies and meetings without government restrictions".[453]
On 14 January 2016, four assailants staged a bomb and firearm attack in Jakarta where eight people (including the four assailants) died. Indonesian police named a Bahrun Naim, as the principal organizer of the attack. Bahrun was Indonesian but based in Syria with "Islamic State", but before that "studied with Hizbut Tahrir" (both HT and Islamic State in favor of a new caliphate). HT Indonesia spokesman Muhammad Ismail Yusanto stated that Bahrun was expelled from Hizbut Tahrir when it was found out he was "secretly hiding a weapon".[454]
On 17 September 2015 the Selangor (Malaysia) Fatwa Committee declared Hizb ut Tahrir a deviant group and said followers of the pro-Caliphate movement who continue to spread their ideologies and teachings in the state will face legal action.[455]
On 8 May 2017, the Indonesia government announced plans to disband Hizb-ut Tahrir within Indonesia, as it is against Indonesia's legislative foundation of Pancasila, an ideology based on a multi-faith democracy.[456] In July 2017, the Indonesian government officially banned and revoked the legal status of Hizb-ut Tahir.[17]
Bangladesh
The party was officially launched in Bangladesh in 2000,[457] and was banned by the government in 2009 "for its involvement in militant activities".[458] This claim has never been officially proven nor documented for other group affiliation with HT which was refuted by Hizb ut Tahrir.[459] These claims have never been proven to be factual, as these claims serve as a deterrent to repel sympathizers and supporters to Hizb ut Tahrir. Despite that the group has "members and sympathisers in the administration, different security agencies, higher educational institutes, mosques and madrasas", and is active in "online and offline activities" such as websites and Facebook according to Mohammad Jamil Khan.[458]
As of 2008, the leader of HT's branch in Bangladesh was thought to be British national Zituzzaman Hoque, who HT admits to be a member of the party.[460] Hoque lectures at an independent university in Bangladesh.[461]
On 19 January 2012, Bangladesh Army pointed to Hizb ut-Tahrir's involvement in a foiled coup plotted in December 2011 to topple the government.
On 23 January 2012 Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested Dr. Golam Haider Rasul, a physician of United Hospital of Dhaka for his connection with the organization.[462]
Pakistan
In Pakistan, HT activities were "officially launched in late 2000 and increased after 9/11".[453] HT opened up its own publishing house in Peshawar for the benefit of Central Asian states to the northwest. Its efforts to recreate the Caliphate in Central Asia are "believed to be supported by extremist groups", according to Zeyon Baran.[453]
Hizb ut-Tahrir was proscribed and banned by Pakistani PresidentGeneral Musharraf in 2004.[463][464] In October 2004, HT led a march of thousands to the Pakistani high commission in London, calling for the removal of Musharraf, declaring: "Pakistan Army: why are you silent?"[465][466] The ban was lifted in 2005.[467]
According to "a senior Obama Administration official" interviewed by journalist Seymour Hersh in 2009, "HT has penetrated the Pakistani military and now have cells in the Army." Hersh reports that the Pakistan Army denies this.
About Hizb ut-Tahrir's activities in Pakistan and subsequent political crackdown Multan Bench of the Lahore High Court said in March 2005 : "Hizb ut-Tahrir has shown dissatisfaction on the policies of the [Pakistan] government that is the right of each and every citizen ... I am unable to understand as to how distribution of these pamphlets in the general public was termed as terrorism or sectarianism." On 17 October 2009, for example, 35 HT members and supporters, including key leaders and a nuclear scientist, were arrested in Islamabad under anti-terrorism legislation.[468]
Pakistani author Ahmed Rashid writes in Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia, that there are "strong links and cooperation between the rank and file" of Hizb ut-Tahrir and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan especially when they are from the same village or town. However, according to Jean-François Mayer of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the insinuation "that the party will turn violent and has links with the IMU" is inaccurate; the comments attributed to a member "contradicted the party's ideas". Representatives of Hizb ut-Tahrir report that they have repeatedly attempted to contact Ahmed Rashid in order to make their views known, but say they have not succeeded. They are even considering writing a rebuttal of his book.[469]
In August 2012, a Brigadier and three majors in the Pakistan Army were convicted of being members of Hizb-ut-Tahrir (a banned organisation), the first time that senior army officers in Pakistan had been convicted and jailed over associations with banned organizations.[470] The officers had allegedly attempted to recruit officers to their group "including the commander of the army's 111 Brigade, which covers the capital and has been historically linked to army coups."[470][471][472] Taji-Farouki describes HT as "operating openly despite" a 2003 ban.[473] In early 2016, Dawn reported a crackdown on HT.[474]
However, Naveed Butt the spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir in Pakistan was abducted by government security officials on 11 May 2012 in front of his family and neighbours and confined in the dungeons of the secret agencies by the former Kayani-Zardari regime; his whereabouts remain unknown.
“Fifty-two-year-old Naveed Butt, father of four, is a loyal and praiseworthy son of the Islamic Ummah. He is an ideological politician of such a class that he can easily fulfill the responsibility of ruling in any post, after the re-establishment of the Khilafah (Caliphate). He is from a noble Kashmiri family residing in Islamabad. He gained admission to the renowned University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore. His brilliance was such that he was transferred to the University of Illinois in the US, where he completed his graduation. He was working in the private sector in the US, when he decided to return to Pakistan to be part of the global struggle for re-establishing the Khilafah upon the method of the Prophethood in the Muslim Lands, willingly leaving behind a luxurious life to face the wrath of tyrants. He tirelessly exposed the treachery of the rulers against Islam and Muslims and their slavery to the US, through writing hundreds of press releases, penning dozens of columns, addressing dozens of press conferences, seminars and conferences, and meeting thousands of influential people, over the course of his struggle. He traveled all over Pakistan to enlighten people about the obligation of re-establishing Khilafah and the details of its structure. During his political and intellectual struggle, he endured repeated arrests and imprisonment and was renowned for his defiance and bravery.”[475]
Publications regarding Naveed Butt include Words of Truth: The Struggle of Naveed Butt, Spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir in Pakistan, Against the American Raj (2013 CE); Free Naveed Butt (2013 CE)[476][477]
Hizb ut Tahrir in Pakistan organized a conference titled "Time for Change" which was attended by more than thousand people, both men and women.[478]
Western countries
In Western countries, Hizb ut Tahrir works to remove misconceptions about Islam and Muslims, reveal the slander against Shariah laws and clarify what Islam stands for, it also calls upon Muslims to adhere to Islamic teachings and preserve their Islamic identity and values, and not allow for the secularization of their ideas, calls for defending their rights to practice Islam in Western countries. Hizb ut Tahrir also exposes the fallacies and corruption of man-made laws of Capitalism and whose interests they serve and shows that Islam as a system of ruling is an alternative for both Muslims and non-Muslims which preserve the dignity of human beings and provide the highest standard of care and living standards for its citizens.
In Germany and Denmark, HT's "hostility to democratic institutions and its refusal to recognise Israel's right to exist has caused legal problems" according to Jean-Pierre Filiu.[1] In France and Spain, as of 2008, HTs cells were illegal and the authorities were keeping the party under close surveillance.[1]
While HT's ideology and strategy are centralised, localities have different strategic action plans, so that for example when it comes to international situations, the Danish branch focuses on the Arab-Israeli issue because in Denmark the Muslim population is primarily of Arab descent while the British branches focus on Indian issues because in Britain Muslims are primarily of Indian descent.[81]
Hizb ut-Tahrir has been involved in a number of controversies in Australia but has been "clever at knowing how to be outrageous enough to get media attention but not get arrested", according to one observer (Greg Barton).[479] Another observer (Irfan Yusuf) claims HT and anti-immigrant politicians "feed off each other's hysteria".[480]
In 2005, Australia's intelligence service investigated the possibility of banning HT but "concluded new legislation would be needed". In 2007, the premier of New South Wales state attempted to outlaw Hizb ut-Tahrir but was blocked by Australia's attorney general.[479]
According to the Daily Telegraph, Hizb ut-Tahrir has more than 300 members in Australia.[481] According to journalist Alison Bevege, (who after great difficulty successfully sued HT for discrimination after being told sit at the back section of the room or leave an HT meeting in 2015), HT in Australia is not a legally registered organization. Since the organization will not reveal its leadership, the "only public face" of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Australia is its "media spokesmen".[482]
Hizb ut-Tahrir is legal in Britain[351] and that country has become a "logistical nerve centre" of HT, where its leaflets and books are produced for global distribution,[483] although Britain is not a Vilaya [Wilayah] or "province" in the HT organization.[484]
In 2005, the Home Office of the English government described HTB as "radical, but to date non-violent Islamist group" that "holds anti-Jewish, anti-western and homophobic views".[485]
In 2007, HTB "dominate[d]" the Islamist "scene" in Britain with an estimated 8,500 members,[486] but has declined in size[487] and as of 2015 has been described as "less influential".[488] As of mid-2015 Abdul Wahid was the leader of HT Britain,[68][489] and the party was reportedly funded by private donations and membership revenue.[77]
Although HTB has been threatened with proscription by the government twice—in the immediate aftermath of the 7/7 bombings by the government,[490] and during the 2010 General Election by the Conservative Party[491][492][493] – and with blacklisting from airwaves and universities in another 2015 Tory plan[494] – as of 2016 it remains legal in Britain.[293]
Public campaigns by HT in Britain include
‘Stand for Islam’—created "in response" to alleged ‘relentless attacks on the Islamic laws, values and beliefs’[495] and in opposition to government counter-terrorism measures and counter-radicalisation programmes,[496] and
SREIslamic—a campaign against elements of the sex and relationship education (SRE) curriculum in primary schools.[497]
The party has described itself as "focused on directing Muslims to make a positive contribution to society whilst preserving their Islamic identity".[304] As in other countries, HT preaches that re-establishing the caliphate is a religious obligation of Muslims,[42] that Western countries are waging war against Islam,[261] and that patriotic feeling for[498]
or assimilation into, a non-Muslim country/society, is forbidden in Islam.[499]
In a promotional video a group representative says:
I think Muslims in this country need to take a long, hard look at themselves and decide what is their identity. Are they British or are they Muslim? I am a Muslim. Where I live, is irrelevant.[500]
Among non-Muslims the party works to articulate the cause of the Muslim world, including the Khilafah state, (what HT believes is) the political and intellectual system of Islam.[68]
However, critics such as Houriya Ahmed and Hannah Stuart[av] complain that HT Britain is engaged in an effort to "soften" its image[85] and "hide its support" for violent jihad, anti-Jewish sentiment and totalitarianism using "euphemistic language".[501][502] This claim has never been officially proven nor documented for other group affiliation with HT which was refuted by Hizb ut Tahrir.[459]
History
Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain was led by Syrian-born Omar Bakri Muhammad from 1986 to 1996.[503] The party first recruited from among Muslims who came from countries where the party was banned and were temporary residents of Britain, but in 1993 expanded its targets for recruitment to include second generation Muslim immigrants.[504]
By the mid-1990s, Hizb was "a fixture on university campuses, organising societies and debates", known for its "fierce" rhetoric,[465] young audiences,[465] and aloofness from other Muslim organizations or initiatives.[273]
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 HTB again raised its profile, focusing on the death and destruction resulting from the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, emphasizing the ‘clash of civilisations’ between "Capitalist Western civilisation" and Islam[505] and what they and many Muslims believed was Western "oppression" of Muslims.[506]
A 2005 internal party communique called for increasing party activity within British Muslim communities and engaging with non-Muslims to warn them that "the principles of Western culture do not solve the problems of society" which "are drowning in crime and corruption".[507]
The party improved its public image in Britain enough that plans to ban HT were opposed by British Muslim organizations, "across social, political and cultural affiliations",[508][509][510]
A 2002 HTB conference in London drew 6,500 people,[511] and a conference the next year in Birmingham drew 7,000.[512]
However an August 2003 BBC Newsnight report "discovered" that the HTB website "promotes racism and anti-Semitic hatred, calls suicide bombers martyrs, and urges Muslims to kill Jewish people,"[500] and in 2004, the National Union of Students (NUS) Conference passed a motion applying its "No Platform Policy" to HT,[513] claiming the party was supporting terrorism and inciting racial hatred.[485] All these claims were refuted by HT and as a result continued to work freely in Britain.
The party demonstrated for hijab at the French embassy in London protesting France's March 2004 law banning the wearing of religious symbols in state schools,[1]
and helping a Luton student (Shabina Begum), sue her school over the right to wear a jilbab rather than the school uniform.[514]
Several terrorist attacks and attempted attacks in Britain from 2004 to 2007[aw]—particularly the London 7 July 2005 ("7/7") bombings that killed over 50 civilians—raised government/media/public concern about Islamism there.[515]
Drawing particular attention to Hizb ut-Tahrir were the departure of senior members,[ax] critical memoirs by defectors,[ay] and a comment piece in the Guardian by an HT activist and Guardian trainee journalist (Dilpazier Aslam), telling the British public not to act "shocked" by the fact that the 7/7 attacks on civilians were by British-born Muslims.[485]
A month after the 7/7 bombing the government stated its intention to ban HT Britain.[517]
The party explicitly condemned the bombings,[az] deleted over 250 of its most out-spoken leaflets from its website (leaving 30),[519] began working with other Muslim groups,[383][273] championed grievances of British Muslims (sex education and Danish cartoons of Muhammad), and allowed greater access to journalists.[383]
During this time the party or party members also began engaging with other Muslim groups and Muslim-led events or initiatives.[273][ba] Members set up two primary schools,[bb] and won a public debate resolution vote at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets that political participation and democracy in Britain had "failed British Muslims",[524] but also came under criticism for participating in activities without mentioning political affiliation,[525] and "using a sensitive community grievance to pursue a wider political agenda".[526] Conservative news media and politicians attacked state funding for the two primary schools[527] and the debate sponsors were compelled to return some of the funding provided by the Hamlets council.[524][528]
HT opened a branch in Denmark in 2000 with the help of British HT members.[529]
Hizb ut-Tahrir is legal in Denmark but ran into controversy in 2002, when it distributed leaflets in Copenhagen that a Danish court determined were racist propaganda. Imran Khan of the BBC program "Newsnight" described the leaflet as follows:
In March and April 2002, Hizb Ut Tahrir handed out leaflets in a square in Copenhagen, and at a mosque. The leaflet also said, 'The Jews are a people of slander... a treacherous people... they fabricate lies and twist words from their right context. ' This was in response to the occupation of Palestine and its onslaught of attacks on the people of Palestine.[500]
In August 2006, Fadi Abdelatif, Hizb ut-Tahrir's spokesperson in Denmark, was given a suspended 60-day jail sentence for distributing the leaflet.[530][531][532] Abdelatif was also found guilty of threats against the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.[533] The court rejected his claims that he was just quoting from the Koran, that it was an act of free speech and that it was aimed only at the Israeli state and not Jews.[500] In 2002 HT Denmark was also accused of produced "a ‘hit list’ of 15 to twenty leading members of Denmark's Jewish community."[531] HT has been successful in attracting disaffected youth and, according to the Copenhagen Post, petty criminal youth,[534] including young ethnic Danes. It is "only organization that offers organized Quran instruction in Danish ..."[535]
In 2007 Berlingske Tidende reported that a kindergarten in Copenhagen was being run in line with the ideology of Hizb ut-Tahrir.[536] Also that year, several well known imams in Copenhagen attended a convention of Hizb ut-Tahrir and announced that they were willing to work together towards mutual goals. This move attracted criticism from a variety of Muslim and non-Muslim voices.[537]
The first national branch in a non-Muslim majority country was established in West Germany in the 1960s.[538][539]
German police expelled a member of the party from Germany for alleged ties to one of the hijackers involved with the 11 September 2001 attacks. However, German police said the raids and searches in offices and homes revealed little.[279]
In January 2003, Hizb ut-Tahrir was barred from public activity in Germany, German Interior Minister Otto Schily stating that the group was spreading violence and hate and had called for the killing of Jews.[279] Membership in the party is still permitted. The charges originate from a conference at the Technical University of Berlin, organized by a student society allegedly affiliated with Hizb ut-Tahrir. The furor was caused because the conference was attended by members of the neo-NaziNational Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), which allegedly sparked fears of an alliance between neo-Nazi groups and Islamists. Schily banned Hizb ut-Tahrir three months later, for going "against the concept of international understanding" contained in the German constitution, a charge that has been used in the past against neo-Nazi groups. The group's representative in Germany Assem Shaker responded that the group was not anti-Semitic. He added, "We do not call to kill Jews. Our call is addressed to the Muslim people to defend themselves against the Zionist aggression in Palestine. And they have the right to do so."[279]
The anti-semitism charges were not upheld in German courts, but the ban was continued based on the state's finding that the group's activity opposed the idea of understanding among nations and endorsed force as a means towards its political aims. A lawsuit against the ban was rejected on 23 January 2006 by the Federal Administrative Court in Germany. The organization appealed the ban to the European Court, stating in 2008:
"We note that the German courts did not uphold any of the German Interior Ministries accusations of anti-Semitism against HT, however, they have now relied on an obscure principle of the 'idea of international understanding' to ban all of our activities (speeches, study circles, articles, vigils, political meetings, books, magazines, and debates)."[540]
As of 2004 HT "continues to recruit and raise funds" in Germany[541] but "any organizational structures" there "remain hidden", and HT activists in the country behave "in a highly secretive manner", according to Zeynon Baran.[542]
Netherlands
A lecture was held by Hizb ut Tahrir in the Netherlands entitled "Climate Change & Vision of Islam" on March 1, 2020 in the wake of the climate changes we see and current reality of how the West is impacting to the negative impact of the climate changes.[543]
Hizb ut Tahrir in the Netherlands held a demonstration on 4 January 2020 in front of the Chinese embassy in The Hague, the political capital of the Netherlands, in order to denounce the crimes of the Chinese government and in solidarity with the Uighurs in East Turkestan.[544]
In February 2003, the Russian Supreme Court put Hizb ut-Tahrir and 14 other groups (Al-Qaeda, Taliban, Muslim Brotherhood etc.) on a list of banned terrorist organizations.[6][546] The Russian government banned Hizb ut-Tahrir not for any terrorist activity, but because the government's definition of terrorism includes anyone who supports Chechen rebels in their cause for independence from Russia. In June 2003, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested 121 illegal immigrants suspected of having ties with Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami. "Moscow media reports said hand grenades, explosives, and ammunition ... as well as Islamic propaganda leaflets" were found on two of immigrants, Alisher Musayev of Kyrgyzstan and Akram Jalolov of Tajikistan.[6]
In 2005, nine people accused of links to HT, a "banned organization", were put on trial in Russia, just one of several trials on charges of association with the group around that time. Human rights groups have complained that authorities were increasingly becoming repressive and planting evidence on Muslims to justify charges.[547]
In 2010, three people were killed in Staroye Almetyevo, Tatarstan, reportedly in a shootout with Russian security forces. They were accused for recent bombing against a law enforcement facility. According to an Interior Ministry spokeswoman, there was "a 90 percent chance the liquidated terrorists belong to a banned Islamist organization, which could be Hizb ut-Tahrir."[548]
However HT refuted these are false accusations. HT is unequivocal in its stance that Islam is against violence against innocents. And it is prohibited in Islam and the means to establish the Islamic state through violence contravenes the Islamic texts.
On 31 March 2014, the Kyrgyz Special Forces arrested Zulfiyya Amonova in the city of Osh. Zulfiyya Amonova was only five years old when they deprived her of her father, who was arrested for being a member of a political party, Hizb ut Tahrir. The year before, the terrible death of Amaanov Hamidullah from Kyrgyzstan was published, who resided in the city of Osh, where he was kidnapped by the Special Forces of Uzbekistan for 14 years and tortured during that time in the prisons of Karimov. His family could not retrieve his dead body.[549]
In October 2015, 20 supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir, were detained in and around Moscow, and "up to 100 others" were under investigation, according to a "source in Moscow's security services."[562]
In 2012, investigating magazine Expo wrote that Hizb ut-Tahrir had started to establish itself in Sweden. In October 2012 Hizb ut-Tahrir situated its annual "caliphate conference" in Stockholm.[563] The group at the time had a section for all of Scandinavia which was primarily active in Denmark.[563]
Hizb ut-Tahrir America, based in Chicago, was reportedly founded by Dr. Mohammed Malkawi, who was an adjunct professor at Argosy University-Chicago.[565] The group held its first conference in the United States in 2009.[566] However, a subsequent attempt to hold a conference in 2010 at the Chicago Marriott Oak Brook hotel was cancelled after the hotel dropped the group's reservation.[567] In 2012, the group attempted to hold its annual conference entitled "Revolution: Liberation by Revelation – Muslims Marching Toward Victory" conference at the Meadows Club, but this was also cancelled after the club pulled out due to criticism.[568] America is commonly referred to as "the head of kufr" (unbelief) by HT.[569]
Reza Iman, who is a spokesperson for the group, claimed that the group has been active in the United States for almost 30 years, and defended Hizb ut-Tahrir's activities, stating in an interview that "The call is not to bring that [an Islamic caliphate] here to this country or anything of that sort. The message is for Muslim countries to return to Islamic values." DePaul University history professor Thomas Mockaitis stated that "I have not seen any evidence they have engaged in violent activity in the U.S." and that the group's views and goals, while controversial, did not warrant its labeling as a terrorist group.[570]
Zaher Sahloul, who is the chairman of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago and president of the Mosque Foundation of Bridgeview, stated that "[Hizb ut-Tahrir's is] on the fringes of the political Islamic groups. They are very vocal and they target young Muslims in college (who) are attracted to their ideologies. They tend to disrupt lectures, Friday prayers. Most of the time they are kicked out from mosques." Sahloul added that "We cannot deny people of speaking freely, but we believe that these kind of radical ideologies are not helpful."[570]
At a conference in Jordon in June 2013, Dr. Malkawi stated (as translated by MEMRI) "Let Britain, America, and the entire West go to hell, because the Caliphate is coming, Allah willing." Regarding US President Barack Obama, Malkawi stated "Obama says to you, in Syria, Egypt, and elsewhere: 'I have chosen heresy as a religion for you.' Will you accept heresy as your religion, oh Muslims? Say: 'Allah Akbar."[571]
Dr. Osman Bakhash (previous Director of Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir)
Eng. Salah Eddine Adada, Director of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
Dr. Nazreen Nawaz (Director of the Women's Section of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir)
Ibrahim Othman (Abu Khalil) (Official Spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir in Sudan)
Ustadh Muhammad Jami’ (Deputy Spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir in Sudan)
Dr. Ismail Yusanto (Official Spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir in Indonesia)
Engineer Naveed Butt (Official Spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir in Pakistan)
Ustadh Shahzad Sheikh (Deputy Spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir in Pakistan)
Ustadha Fahmida Khanoum Muni (Official Spokesperson of Hizb ut Tahrir in Bangladesh)
Mahmoud Kar (Head of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Turkey)
Ahmad Abdel Wahab (Head of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Syria)
Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim (Head of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Lebanon)
Dr. Al-Asaad Al-Ajili (Head of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Tunisia)
Saifullah Mustaneer (Head of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Afghanistan)
Dr. Mus’ab Abu Arqoub (Member of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Palestine)
Eng. Baher Saleh (Member of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Palestine)
Alaa Abu Saleh (Member of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Palestine)
Shakir Asim (Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in the German-speaking countries)
Okay Pala (Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in the Netherlands)
Yahya Nesbit (Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Britain)
Engineer Ismail Al-Wahwah (Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Australia)
Wassim Doureihi (Member of Hizb ut Tahrir; former Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Australia)
Shabani Mwalimu (Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Kenya)
Massoud Musallem (Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Tanzania)
Daliyar Djambev (Media Representative in Kyrgyzstan)
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Daour (Member of the Jordanian Parliament 1955-1957, deceased)
Sheikh Yousef Al-Sabatin (a prominent member in Jordan, deceased)
Professor Fathi Mohammad Salim (senior member, died on Sunday 12/10/2008 in Jordan)
Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Badri (a prominent member in Iraq, executed)
Farhad Osmanov (a prominent member in Uzbekistan, executed)
Hisham ElBaradei (member of Hizb ut Tahrir, killed in Al-Khalil (Hebron) by Palestinian security forces)
Sheikh Ali Saeed Abul Hassan (Imam of the Sahaba Mosque, Khartoum, former Sudan Spokesman, deceased)
Sheikh Essam Amiera [Sheikh Issam Ameirah] prominent member of Hizb ut Tahrir and preacher at the Aqsa Mosque (Imam of the Rahman Mosque in Beit Safafa in Palestine)
The honourable Yilmaz Cilek (a prominent member of Hizb ut Tahrir in Turkey)
The honourable Ustadh Ahmad Al-Qasas (a prominent member of Hizb ut Tahrir in Lebanon)
Abdullah Omar Batheeb (senior member of Hizb ut Tahrir in Yemen)
Nasser Wahan Al-Lahbi (a prominent member of Hizb ut Tahrir in Yemen)
Muhammad Al-Khatat (a prominent scholar in Indonesia and a member of the Council of Indonesian Scholars)
Hafidh Abdul Rahman (a prominent member of Hizb ut Tahrir in Indonesia)
^From HT pamphlet: "In the forthcoming days the Muslims will conquer Rome and the dominion of the Ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) will reach the whole world and the rule of the Muslims will reach as far as the day and night. And the Dīn of Muhammad (saw) will prevail over all other ways of life including Western Capitalism and the culture of Western Liberalism."[4]
^Founder An-Nabhani describes expansion in terms of following the example of the early Muslim salaf's invasion and conquest of Persia and Byzantium: "[S]he struck them both [Persia and Byzantium] simultaneously, conquered their lands and spread Islam over almost the whole of the inhabited parts of the world at that time, then what are we to say about the Ummah today; numbering more than one billion... She would undoubtedly constitute a front which would be stronger in every respect than the leading superpowers put together.[5]
^ abBy HT definition, 'Islamic lands' include Muslim-majority countries, 'even if it had not been ruled by Muslims', and non-Muslim majority countries that were once 'ruled by Muslims under the authority of Islam.' "… [L]ands that were ruled by Muslims under the authority of Islam and the rules of Islam were applied on them. […] This means the rules regarding the lands of such countries remain as they were when they were under the authority of Islam. […] Also any land, in which there is a Muslim majority, even if it had not been ruled by Muslims, it will be considered as Islamic land because its people have embraced Islam over it."[39][40]
^The draft constitution can be found in the book "The System of Islam" by Hizbut Tahrir founder al-Nabhani, where it takes up a chapter of the book,[51] or in a download "The Draft Constitution of the Khilafah State Hizb ut-Tahrir".[52] A slightly different version of the constitution can be found at Khilafah.com (published in 2013 and described as a "translation of the revised Draft Constitution of the Khilafah State published by Hizb ut-Tahrir in 2010".)[53] The two constitutions are different in that the newer version has more articles (191 v. 186) and some changes in the location and substance of the articles (13 instead of just eight "institutions" in the "State systems", more detailed process for appointing the Khaleefah, including new articles added about appointing a temporary ameer (art. 33), and requiring that "The weekly lessons of Islamic disciplines and Arabic language must be equal to the lessons of all other sciences in terms of number and time" (art. 173), etc.). In this article the numbers of the articles of the constitution refer to the original/earlier version of the constitution.
^According to J.P. Filiu, HT abandoned elections after being expelled from Syria in late 50s or 60s.[56]
^the "insistence on the necessity of a vanguard Islamist party" to bring about "political transformation" and to "safeguard the achievements of Islamic revolution", "perhaps the most notable feature" of HT founder An-Nabhani's program.[8]
^describes the party as a "vanguard party"[69] because he states it is interested in achieving power through "hundreds of supporters in critical positions" rather than "thousands of foot soldiers."[70]
^BBC program on the group's activities in Indonesia, stated that "unlike many other" Islamist movements in that country, Hizb ut-Tahrir "seems less interested in a broad mass following than a smaller more committed core of members, many of them drawn from Indonesia's educated middle classes."[71]
^(at the bottom of the statement, as of 31 March 2016)[47]
^Information provided by "a senior Jordanian government official".[76]
^Excerpted from a judicial ruling (fatwa) issued by Sheikh Hisham Kabbani, Chairman, Islamic Supreme Council of America; and by Sheikh Seraj Hendricks, Mufti, Cape Town, South Africa.[78]
^After a crackdown of HT and the arrest of a brigadier in the military in Pakistan in 2011, an ex-HT member, Rashad Ali, stated: "The failure of the Hizb to take power after gaining a brief spell of support is playing itself out again, as it did in the Middle Eastern countries in the 60s and 70s."[79]
^HT's ideology and strategy are centralised. HT global leadership issues strategy communiqués to the executive committees of national branches[81]
^"The doctrine of Hizb ut-Tahrir has not changed in the last fifty years, and it regularly provides alternative Islamic views on contemporary issues. In fact, an-Nabhani's writings constitute the basis for Hizb ut-Tahrir's ideological platform and any major changes would undermine the essence of the party."[73]
^"Hizb ut-Tahrir's ideology and its method of work has been meticulously thought out and published in many detailed books; including one on the subject of thinking itself. We have published a draft constitution for the coming Khilafah State, and this along with many of our books is available in the English language."[54] The party quotes Oxford Analytica 2008 in the Information Pack: "Hizb ut-Tahrir has remained remarkably consistent in ideology and strategy."[82]
^Description by Jalaluddin Patel, (leader at the time of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain) in a 2004 interview with Mahan Abedin of the Jamestown Foundation think tank.[68]
^Since the draft constitution stipulates that all judges in the caliphate (who must be Muslim males) are appointed and dismissed solely by either the Caliph or the Qadi al-Qudaa, (Supreme Judge) who is appointed by the Caliph.[121][133]
^The two statement are not actually in contradiction as media pack does not say the Caliphate that HT wants to create will not "engage in an armed struggle", only that the party itself will not.
^Michael Whine, Government and International Affairs Director at the Community Security Trust (the defense agency of the UK Jewish community)[44]
^Abu Nuwas was not only celebrated but as a Hizb ut-Tahrir reply points out was forced to flee Baghdad at one point for his writings, and spent time in prison.[144]
^Subhanahu wa ta’ala, which means glorified is Allah. It is an expression of honour written after the name Allah.
^Again, the media pack statement is not actually in contradiction with the texts, because the media pack never says the Caliphate will not "engage in an armed struggle", only that the party itself will not.
^The caliphate would "strive to represent the diversity inherent in Islam."[68]
^In regards to those that use violence, such as the highway robbers, who attack people, forcibly obstruct the highways, steal property and kill, the department of internal security will despatch a police force to pursue them and impose the relevant punishment upon them, which may be killing and crucifying, amputating their opposite limbs, or deporting them to another place ...[177]
^"It is not permissible for a woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day to travel for a day and night's journey [longer than 24 hours] except with a mahram. ... A mahram is any man from the maharim of a woman (unmarriageable male kin)"[193]
^In response to the then Leader of the Commons Jack Straw's comments about the niqab, or face veil, a number of Muslim organizations signed a 10-point statement saying in part: ‘We urge people to be supportive for a woman’s right to wear the veil as on one hand, this complies with the values upon which western civilization was founded – the protection of human and religious rights’.[200]
^Currently there is no Dar al-Islam but will be once the new caliphate is established according to HT teachings.
^ On 5 September 2006, US President George Bush stated: "This caliphate would be a totalitarian Islamic empire encompassing all current and former Muslim lands, stretching from Europe to North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia"[1]
^"politicians and media in the west, ... frequently throwing accusations of anti-Semitism against anti-Zionists".[281][282] In its Australian media pack, HT included a 2007 reply to UK Prime Minister David Cameron Hizb ut-Tahrir denied any anti-semitism, stating Hizb ut-Tahrir, was "utterly and unashamedly opposed to Israel, is similarly utterly and unashamedly opposed to racism, tribalism, nationalism and any other form of race-based discrimination or hatred."[283]
^"it claims to be non-violent";[293] "The main objective of the party is a non-violent overthrow of the currently ruling governments";[294]
^"Violence has been repudiated by the HT, but other groups working towards the same goal that do use violence are never condemned by HT. The group never denounces terrorist attacks."[305]
^HT uses "the rhetoric of democracy and a message of non-violence to mask" objectives that "can only be achieved through violence." Its ideology "encourages its followers to commit terrorist acts".[310]
^Examples being HT organized protest "Thousands protest in London, calling on armies to defend Gaza"[318]
^"[While HT believes that offensive jihad is reserved for a Caliphate,] It is important to note, however, that the group recognizes that 'Islam permits Muslims to resist the occupation of their land,' a reference to the resistance movements in Afghanistan and Iraq. In other words, Hizb ut-Tahrir differentiates between jihad sanctioned by the Caliph and resistance against foreign invaders."[73]
^ Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Akramiye, Hizb un-Nusrat (both of Uzbekistan) and Al-Muhajiroun (UK).[339]
^The one study it cites – "Hizb ut-Tahrir – The Next Al-Qaida, Really?" – mentions neither the term "radicalization" nor the phrase "conveyor belt".[349]
^MA: ... Would you say HT is a centralized party with a central executive directing all the Vilayas? JP: Yes we have one central leadership or Qiyada headed by the scholar and thinker ‘Ata Abu Rishtah. ...[68]
^Sirriyah and al-Tamimi were not the only HT members to have moved on to terrorist movements. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, was also a former member of HT in Jordan. This has been verified by both The Nixon Center and Quilliam Foundation.[363][364][365]
^Current HTB members Reza Pankhurst, Ian Nisbet and former HTB member Maajid Nawaz were jailed in Egypt 2002 and were released in 2006.[367][368]
^A 2007 analysis says that the MB receives mass support from especially young and student activists in Egypt. A 1996 analysis states that HT's influence in Egypt has been overshadowed by the wider support the MB receives.[369][370]
^authors of a 167-page report on HT – Hizb ut-Tahrir, Ideology and Strategy[132]
^Shiraz Maher, Rashad Ali, Dawud Masieh and Maajid Nawaz are all former HTB senior members who left the organization and publicly challenged HT ideology soon after,[506]
^Earlier, in 2003, when asked to condemn suicide bombing, Imran Wahid, HTB's chief media advisor told BBC, "Muslims have the right to resist occupation and if that means that they have to undertake such actions, then we will never condemn that."[518]
^the 2007 Global Peace and Unity conference, 2009 Muslim Education Conference in Birmingham,[520] (organized by the al-Hijrah Trust, a Muslim educational charity.[521]), the 2009 Camden Bangladeshi Mela in London[522]
^ abcThe Ummah's Charter. Hizb ut-tahrir. 1989. p. 85. Retrieved 6 February 2016. Indeed, Allah (swt) has ordered the Muslims to carry the Da'wah to all mankind and to bring them into the Khilafah state. He (swt) has legislated Jihad as a method to carry the Da'wah. So the state must rise to declare Jihad against the Kuffar without any lenience or hesitation.
^Filiu, Jean-Pierre (June 2008). "Hizb ut-Tahrir and the fantasy of the caliphate". Retrieved 7 March 2016. Hizb ut-Tahrir candidates did subsequently run in Jordan's national elections even though Nabahani was exiled to Syria from 1953 to 1959. After another expulsion, from Damascus to Beirut, he then decided to reject elections and concentrate on creating an underground structure
^ abcGlazov, Ramon (July 2014). "The caliphate's troll vanguard". Overland. Retrieved 13 February 2016. Its name is Arabic for 'Party of Liberation' and, though it won't concede any non-Islamic influences, outsiders regularly describe it as a quasi-Leninist vanguard party.
^"Hizb ut-Tahrir Emerges in America"(PDF). Anti-Defamation League. 25 July 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2016. Speaker after speaker spoke of the important duty Muslims have to bring back the Khilafah and to replace capitalism and democracy with an Islamic system of governance that will, as the speakers claimed, "deliver humanity from the darkness it has plunged into."
^"Muslims Believe US Seeks to Undermine Islam". WorldPublicOpinion.org. 24 April 2007. Retrieved 1 March 2016. large majorities [in the large Muslim countries of Egypt, Morocco, Indonesia and Pakistan] agree with goals that involve expanding the role of Islam in their society. On average, about three out of four agree with seeking to `require Islamic countries to impose a strict application of sharia,` and to `keep Western values out of Islamic countries.` Two-thirds would even like to `unify all Islamic counties into a single Islamic state or caliphate.`
^[1]|What is the Khilafah (Caliphate)? |Khilafah.com |from archive.org captured 2 May 2007| accessed 8 December 2015
^an-Nabhani, Taqiuddin (1997). The Economic System of Islam(PDF) (4th ed.). London: Al-Khilafah Publications. pp. 228–229. Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
^ abTaqiuddin an-Nabhani, The Economic System of Islam, 4th edn. (London: Al-Khilafah Publications, 1997), p.230
^'The Social System' in 'A Draft Constitution of the Islamic State', in an-Nabhani, The Islamic State, p.261. Article 109 stipulates: 'Men and women are basically to be segregated from each other. They should not mix together except for a need permitted by the Shar’a [shariah]. The Shar’iyah permission for mixing in this case should be there, such as in buying and selling and pilgrimage.'
^‘Muslims vow to Honour and Obey’, The Birmingham Post, 21 August 2003.
^‘Joint statement about the veil from Muslim groups, scholars and leaders’, Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain website, 22 October 2006, available at www.hizb.org.uk/hizb/in-the-community/working-together/joint-statementabout-
the-veil-from-muslim-groups-scholars-and-leaders.html [accessed 28 August 2009][dead link]
^Sardar, Ziauddin (14 November 2005). "Ziauddin Sardar explains the long history of violence behind Hizb ut-Tahrir". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 11 May 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2016. During a recent debate on PTV, the Pakistani satellite channel, a prominent member of HT told me emphatically: 'The idea of compromise does not exist in Islam.' This is standard HT rhetoric, ...
^‘Hizb ut-Tahrir’s view on the upcoming elections’, Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain website, 23 April 2008, available at www.hizb.org.uk/hizbdev/resources/issues-explained/hizb-ut-tahrir-s-view-on-the-upcoming-elections.html [accessed 30 August 2009][dead link]
^an-Nabhani, Taqiuddin (1997). The Economic System of Islam(PDF) (4th ed.). London: Al-Khilafah Publications. pp. 228–229. Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
^'Racism and Antisemitism', House of Commons debate, Hansard, 31 March 1994, 1115–1120, available at www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199394/cmhansrd/1994-03-31/Debate-6.html [accessed 15 August 2009]
^‘Hizb ut-Tahrir Calls For Replacing the Israeli Apartheid State with Khilafah’, Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain Press Releases, 19 May 2008, available at www.hizb.org.uk/hizb/press-centre/press-release/hundreds-attend-palestine-meeting-marking-60-years-ofoccupation-and-oppression.html [accessed 26 August 2009]
^ ab‘Adopting Secularism in Government is Apostasy from islam’, Hizb ut-Tahrir Leaflet, 2 July 1996. An internet archive search reveals this leaflet was posted on www.khilafah.com [accessed 31 August 2009]. This leaflet is currently uploaded on HT Pakistan's website, available at www.hizb-pakistan.org [accessed 31 August 2009]
^Karagiannis, Emmanuel (2010). Political Islam in Central Asia: The Challenge of Hizb Ut-Tahrir. Routledge. p. 112. ISBN9781135239428. Retrieved 14 January 2016. From Hizb ut-Tahrir's point of view, the justification of non-violence lies in the sacred example of Prophet Muhammad, who did not initially use physical force to establish the first Islamic state, but rather criticized the pagan leaders of Mecca and gathered followers around him. Moreover, the group claims that the verses for jihad came after the Islamic state was established in Medina and not before that. According to Hizbut-Tahrir, 'when the Messenger of Allah waged wars, they were not fought by individuals ... rather they were fought by individuals who belonged to a state. Therefore, the army was an army that belonged to a state.'
^Nawaz, Maajid (3 March 2015). "The Education of 'Jihadi John'". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 February 2016. Unlike Al Qaeda, Hizb-ut-Tahrir argues for military coups, not terrorism, to achieve power.
^Taji-Farouki, Suha (October 2000). "Islamists and the Threat of Jihad: Hizb al-Tahrir and al-Muhajiroun on Israel and the Jews". Middle East Studies. 36 (4): 24. doi:10.1080/00263200008701330. JSTOR4284112. S2CID144653647.
^Ahnafa, Mohammad Iqbal (2009). "Between revolution and reform: The future of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia". Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict: Pathways Toward Terrorism and Genocide. 2 (2): 69–85. doi:10.1080/17467580902822163. S2CID144474811.
^Frances, William Scates (12 February 2015). "Why ban Hizb ut-Tahrir? They're not Isis – they're Isis's whipping boys". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 January 2016. something like the Muslim equivalent of a Socialist student movement. Its prominent members are mostly tertiary-educated and imagine themselves as a sort of Muslim consulate to the west.
^International Crisis Group, Radical Islam in Central Asia, p.10
^‘Interview with member of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Iraq’, Khilafah.com, 17 August 2008, available www.khilafah.com [accessed 6 September 2009]. The website claims that al-Kurdi is a Professor of Shariah at one of the universities in Iraq, and has been an HT member for 20 years. In this interview, al-Kurdi claims that at least 3 people were executed under Saddam's rule, one in 1990. Members who were present during Saddam's rule seem to have publicly associated themselves with the party after his removal in 2003, as evidenced by al-Kudri himself in this interview.
^Noueihed, Lin; Warren, Alex (2012). "4. Tunisia's Jasime Revolution". The Battle for the Arab Spring: Revolution, Counter-Revolution and the ... Yale University Press. ISBN978-0300180862. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
^Hizb ut-Tahrir Uzbekistan, ‘‘Shto poistenne kroestya za attakoi Karimovim na torgovchev?’’ [What is the Real Meaning of Karimov's Attack on Traders?], 22 July 2002, in Russian.
^Taji-Farouki, Suha (2014). "Hizb ut-Tahrir". In Peter, Frank; Ortega, Rafael (eds.). Islamic Movements of Europe. IB Taurus. p. 44. ISBN9781848858459. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
^Leiken, Robert S.; Brooke, Steven (March–April 2007). "The Moderate Muslim Brotherhood". Foreign Affairs. 86 (2): 120. Archived from the original on 9 March 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
^‘Strategies for Action in the West’, internal HT central email communiqué to HTB national executive, February 2005
^"Unprecedented Muslim Community Response to Proposed Anti-Terrorism Measures". Hizb-ut tahrir. 16 August 2005. The proposal to ban the non-violent organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir is, in our view, unwarranted, unjust and unwise, and runs counter to all the principles which Western democracies are currently trying to promote abroad.
^Sir Iqbal Sacranie, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain (5 August 2005). "Blair extremism measures: reaction". BBC News. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
^‘6,000 Muslims debate "Islam and the West"’, Press Association, 15 September 2002
^‘Thousands attend Muslim conference’, BBC News, 24 August 2003
^"Delinquents Go in for Islam", The Copenhagen Post, 14 September 2001.
^[htt://www.urbanavis.dk/article.php?id=2260 SeeLars Wikborg and Nagieb Khaja, "Flere Danskere I Hizb ut-Tahrir", Urban (Denmark), 1 October 2004, Urban/ Lars Wikborg and Nagieb Khaja, “Flere Danskere I Hizb ut-Tahrir”, Urban (Denmark), October 1, 2004]
^Dr. Mohammed Malkawi is also an associate professor of Computer Engineering at Middle East University and the Dean of Engineering at Jadara University, both located in Jordon. He is the author of the 2010 book The Fall of Capitalism and Rise of Islam.
^"Modest turnout for Islamist confab. In Oak Lawn, protesters dfecry Hizb-ut-Tahrir as anti-democratic, supremacist group," Chicago Jewish Star, 24 July 2009, p. 1
^"Door shuts on Muslim activists," Chicago Tribune, 11 July 2010, Sect. 1, page 6
Abdul Qadeem Zallum (2000). How the Khilafah was Destroyed(PDF). London: Al-Khilafa Publications. Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
Gross, Ariela (2012). Reaching wa'y. Mobilization and Recruitment in Hizb al-Tahrir al-Islami. A Case Study conducted in Beirut. Berlin: Klaus Schwarz. ISBN978-3-87997-405-4.
Karagiannis, Emmanuel; McCauley, Clark (2006). "Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami: Evaluating the Threat Posed by a Radical Islamic Group That Remains Nonviolent". Terrorism and Political Violence. 18 (2): 315–334. doi:10.1080/09546550600570168. S2CID144295028.
Pankhurst, Reza (2016). Hizb-ut-Tahrir: The Untold History of the Liberation Party. Hurst & Co Ltd. ISBN978-1849044035.
an-Nabhani, Taqiuddin (1997). The Economic System of Islam(PDF) (4th ed.). London: Al-Khilafah Publications. Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
Valentine, S. R. (13 May 2010). "Monitoring Islamic Militancy: Hizb-ut-Tahrir: "The Party of Liberation"". Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice. 4 (4): 411–420. doi:10.1093/police/paq015.
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