Hizb ut-Tahrir

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Hizb ut-Tahrir (Arabic: حزب التحرير meaning Party of Liberation) is an Islamic terrorist organization with an Islamist political ideology whose goal is to reestablish the caliphate and institute Islamic law in the "Islamic world." Taqiuddin al-Nabhani, a qadi from Jerusalem, founded the organization in 1953.[1][2] Hizb ut-Tahrir declared a state of holy war with the United States in June 2001.[3]

Contents

[edit] Aims

The aim of Hizb ut-Tahrir is to unite all Muslims in a single pan-Islamic state or caliphate, which will be ruled by a caliph. According to the BBC, the group "professes non-violence and calls for the return in Muslim majority countries to the caliphate which oversaw the so-called golden age of Islam before European imperialism colonized the Middle East."[4] This state would rule under Islamic law, making it a theocratic regime. HT claims that an Islamic system is superior to capitalism and communism.[5] In an unsigned comment piece on their website, calling for a "new era of peace between Muslims, Christians and Jews" (in the Middle-East), it is claimed that the caliphate "will uphold the fundamental rights of justice and will not break its treaties, torture and abuse prisoners, imprison people without charge, oppress minorities and spy on its citizens."[citation needed] However, HT simultaneously claims that the Western definition of freedom simply does not exist in Islam;[5] and that Islamic law will be applied. Furthermore, it aims for the caliphate to "wrest the reins of initiative away from other states and nations" and become the dominant hegemony, before Islam, ultimately, takes over the world.[6]

[edit] Methods

Hizb ut-Tahrir has set out a three-stage plan of action to achieve its goals:

  1. Establish a community of Hizb ut-Tahrir members who work together in the same way as the companions (Sahaba) of the prophet Muhammad. Members should accept the goals and methods of the organization as their own and be ready to work to fulfill these goals.[citation needed]
  2. Build public opinion among the Muslim masses for the caliphate and the other Islamic concepts that will lead to a revival of Islamic thought.[citation needed]
  3. Once public opinion is achieved in a target Muslim country through debate and persuasion, the group hopes to obtain support from army generals, leaders, and other influential figures or bodies to facilitate the change of the government. The government would be replaced by one that implements Islam "generally and comprehensively", carrying Islamic thought to people throughout the world.[citation needed]

Hizb ut Tahrir issued a leaflet on September 18, 2001 which stated:

"The rules of this 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 which contain innocent civilians. All of these actions are types of aggression which Islam forbids and Muslims should not undertake such actions."[citation needed]

Dr. Dosym Satpayev, director of the Assessment Risks Group in Almaty, Kazakhstan noted that "Hizb ut-Tahrir plans its development in three stages ... First they convert new members. Secondly, they establish a network of secret cells, and finally, they try to infiltrate the government to work to legalise their party and its aims."[7]

Kyrgyz Hizb ut-Tahrir members campaigned unsuccesfully for a candidate affilated with the organization in Kyrgyzstan's presidential election in July 2005.[7]

[edit] Policies

Hizb ut-Tahrir, unlike some traditionalist movements in the Muslim world, promises to give Muslim women the right to choose a partner freely, as well as the right to vote, to seek employment, and to assume custody of children after a divorce. Under the Khilafah, women would also have the right to stand for election to the people's assembly. Although women may seek employment, they are barred (as per Islamic law) from specific positions of ruling such as that of Caliph, Chief Justice, judges of the 'Court of Unjust Acts', provincial governor, and provincial mayor. Contrasted against Western ideals of women's rights and freedoms, the Islamic standards envisioned by Hizb Ut-Tahrir's Caliphate are diminished in ruling positions. However, this would be an improvement over the situation in many current Arab states, where women cannot vote or drive cars and honour killings, forced marriages and clitoral infibulation have a semi-legal status. Article 109 of the party's draft constitution provides for the segregation of the sexes in public institutions such as schools, and during sporting events. They want the Caliphate to implement the Islamic cultural rules of public dress, which require Muslim women to dress in accordance with khimar and jilbab (see Hijab) but not necessarily with the face veil (Niqab) favoured by fundamentalist sects such as the Salafi and movements such as the Taliban.[citation needed]

In the Hizb ut-Tahrir's draft constitution for an Islamic state, executive political rights in ruling, like the position of Caliph, are reserved for Muslims. Hizb ut-Tahrir has argued that Muslims have a special responsibility to respect the rights of non-Muslims. Although non-Muslims may be members of the Peoples' Assembly, article 103 says that non-Muslims' fixed membership of the Peoples' Assembly is for "voicing of complaints in respect to unjust acts performed by the rulers or the misapplication of Islam (the law) upon them", but not for initiating laws. They may participate in an indirect method in the election of the Caliph, via elected representitives. They argue;

"The rights of Jews and other non-Muslims are enshrined within statuary Islamic Law (Sharia). These were laid down by the Prophet Muhammad (saw) when he established the first Islamic State in Medina in the 7th century. He (saw) said, "Whoever harms a dhimmi (non-Muslim citizen) has harmed me." Under subsequent Caliphs, these rights were protected. During the reign of the second Caliph - Umar bin al-Khattab, some Muslims stole a piece of land belonging to a Jew and then constructed a mosque upon it. This clearly violated the rights of the Jew, so Umar ordered the demolition of the mosque and the restoration of the land to the Jew. "Non-Muslims in the Khilafah (Caliphate) will have established channels to air any grievances or denial of their rights. All citizens will be empowered with the right to speak out where necessary. Non-Muslims will enjoy an elevated status with respect and tolerance shown to their beliefs and places of worships. The Khilafah will look after the needs and protect the rights of all its citizens-Muslim, Jews and Christians."[citation needed] The draft constitution also details an economic system which allows private enterprise, but reserves public ownership of utilities, public transport, energy resources such as oil, health care, and unused farm land, similar to Socialism. It also specifies a return to the 'Gold Standard', rather than pegging to the euro or dollar.[citation needed] The draft constitution argues that "there is no such thing as a clergy in Islam", that "every Muslim has the right to perform ijtihad" (personal exertion to derive Islamic rules), and that "every thing or object is permitted, unless there is an evidence of prohibition" in the Qur'an. It is incumbent on Muslims to implement the hudud law, or divinely ordained capital punishment for certain crimes. Hizb-ut-Tahrir's constitution states that "every individual is innocent until proven guilty", "no person shall be punished without a court sentence" and that "torture is absolutely forbidden and whoever inflicts torture on anyone shall be punished". Its draft constitution also provides the penalty of execution as punishment for apostasy, (see Apostasy in Islam).[citation needed] The draft constitution maintains that under the Caliphate, "Arabic is the language of Islam and the sole language of the state". The only sources of legislation to be considered divine, and therefore to be accepted without debate, according to Article 12, are those based upon fair interpretations of the Qur'an, the Sunnah, the consensus of the Sahaba (known companions of Muhammad), and legitimate analogies (Qiyas).[citation needed] Article 186 of the draft constitution states: "The State is forbidden to belong to any organisation that is based on something other than Islam or which applies non-Islamic rules". They also view the UN, the World Bank, and the IMF and the Arab League as contradicting Islamic law and being oppressive to the developing world. Article 185 of the draft constitution states: "It is permitted to conclude good neighbouring, economic, commercial, financial, cultural and armistice treaties."[citation needed] Article 56 of the draft constitution states that Jihad is a compulsory duty for all Muslims. Muslim males past the age of 15 are obliged to undergo military conscription. At least as far as Article 56 is concerned, "jihad" refers purely to religious warfare, and subsequent articles in the draft constitution detail rules regarding territory gained by the Khilafah during Jihad. While many practicing Muslims traditionally hold that definitions of jihad (translated to English, jihad roughly means 'struggle') include both the physical form (taking up arms against an oppressive force, for instance) and the more personal jihad against one's own ego; Hizb ut-Tahrir considers the later to be a 'linguistic' application of the word, while jihad in the military sense is the 'shariah meaning' of the term.[citation needed]

[edit] Hizb ut-Tahrir by country

Hizb ut-Tahrir has not been elected to government in any of the countries where the party is active, and therefore it is impossible to establish with certainty what its position in terms of international relations, in practice, would be. Publications on the Hizb ut-Tahrir media websites, however, show a strong anti-Western sentiment that has been characteristic of most Islamist movements.

The party is banned in many Arab countries, but permitted to operate in the UAE, Lebanon and Yemen.[citation needed] It is banned in Russia, Germany, Holland,[8], Kazakhstan[9], Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.[10] It survived a ban in Australia after clearance from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.[citation needed]

[edit] Britain

On August 5, 2005, Tony Blair announced the British government's intention to ban the organization in the United Kingdom in a speech given on 5 August 2005.[11] According to The Independent Blair "shelved the ban after warnings from police, intelligence chiefs, and civil liberties groups that it is a non-violent group, and driving it underground could backfire."[12]

Among their publications is one that compares the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to the people of the Quraysh, the tribe of Muhammad that turned against him when he founded Islam and then sought to destroy him. An article on the British Hizb ut-Tahrir website claims to expose the agenda of the British government against "Islam and Muslims" for Charles Clarke's criticism of human rights under Islamic law and the caliphate.[citation needed]

On the 14 November 2006, the BBC showed a news film on the methods to radicalise British Muslim youth during its flagship current affairs programme, Newsnight. It reported that an HT terror cell in Croydon, South London encouraged an undercover researcher, posing as a recruit, to commit crimes to "prove his loyalty." The group was also said to use brain-washing techniques to incite its members to hate "non-believers." The contributors to the short film were Sheikh Musa Admani, Imam at the London Metropolitan University, Shuaib Yusaf, a trustee at the Croydon mosque, a former supporter of HT named Jawad, and an anonymous undercover researcher who the BBC identified as "J."[13]

The Home Office minister, Tony McNulty, confirmed that Hizb ut-Tahrir was "currently under review and if we think we need to take action it will be proscribed."[14]

Hizb ut-Tahrir's website subsequently announced that they intended to sue the BBC, claiming they have "a dossier of evidence that disproves the allegations made by the BBC about the organisation's activities in South London."[15]

[edit] Bangladesh and India

Following a massive bombing attack on cities in Bangladesh (August 17th, 2005), Hizb ut-Tahrir responded with an analysis accusing India of continuing a campaign to destabilize Bangladesh. Investigation by the Bangladeshi authorities (that some would argue were favourable to the Indian policy) later revealed the terrorist attack was executed by a Bangladeshi Muslim movement, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh. Hizb ut-Tahrir regularly accuses India, along with "Western colonial powers", of 'conspiracy' against the Bangladeshi people.[citation needed]

[edit] Israel

The organization has called for Muslims to overthrow the governments of the countries in which they live. The party has called suicide bombings in Israel "legitimate" acts of "martyrdom."[16]

[edit] Treatment

According to Amnesty International four Muslim Britons were tortured in Egypt for suspected affiliation with HT.[17] Amnesty International begins one if its reports by saying that "ill-treatment and torture by law enforcement officials of alleged supporters of banned Islamist opposition parties and movements, such as Hizb-ut-Tahrir, continued unabated." The cases of torture have at times been particularily targeted at religious believers in Uzbek prisons, as claimed by Amnesty International, in their Uzbekistan report 2002 that;

"Reports continued to be received that devout Muslim prisoners were singled out for particularly cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in places of detention, especially in strict regime prison camps. According to relatives and former prisoners, upon arrival at a prison camp ...suspected members or supporters of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, were separated from other prisoners and made to run between two lines of guards who beat them with truncheons as they passed. There were also allegations that devout Muslim prisoners were subjected to beatings, humiliation, forced labour and rape by other prisoners with the complicity of prison authorities. They were forced to sing the national anthem and were severely beaten if they refused to do so. There were consistent allegations that devout Muslim prisoners were punished if they were caught praying or reading the Koran, and that their beards were forcibly shaved."[18]

Amnesty International accuses the Uzbek Government of giving HT members unfair trials, saying members are convicted to heavy sentences with little evidence.[19]

[edit] Controversy over anti-Semitism

Germany In January 2003, Hizb ut-Tahrir's activities were banned in Germany on charges of spreading anti-Jewish propaganda and of being "hate preachers," a ruling currently being challenged in the German courts. German Interior Minister Otto Schily ruled that the group was "spreading hate and violence," and had called for the killing of Jews. The charges originate from a conference at the Technical University of Berlin, organized by a student society allegedly affiliated with Hizb ut-Tahrir. The conference was attended by members of the neo-fascist National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), although they say they did not attend the meeting to support it. 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. Interestingly the NPD whose attendance to the Hizb ut-Tahrir meeting caused the stir are not banned despite attempts in 2003, after it was discovered that a large percentage of the leadership were in fact undercover agents of the German secret services; the court found it impossible to decide which actions of the NPD were based on genuine party decisions and which were controlled by the secret services.[citation needed]

Denmark In October 2002 a court in Denmark found Fadi Abdelatif, HT's spokesman in Denmark, guilty of distributing racist propaganda. The title of the pamphlet he distributed was a quote from the Koran: "And Kill Them Wherever You Find Them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out."[20] Fadi Abdelatif was given 60 days prison time. In August 2006 he was sentenced to a further 3 months in prison for threats against Jews and the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. HT officials insist that the leaflet distributed by Abdelatif referred to the need to remove the dictators of the Muslim world who had not supported the Muslims of Iraq, and the leaflet made no reference to the Danish Prime Minister. They also insist that the leaflet was in the context of Israeli occupation of Palestine and reject the notion that they had called for the killing of Jews.[citation needed]

Britain In July 2005, Dilpazier Aslam, a 27-year-old British Muslim and trainee journalist with The Guardian lost his position with the newspaper when it discovered he was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir. Citing the anti-Semitic statement discovered on the party's website, Guardian executives decided that membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir was not compatible with membership of the newspaper's trainee scheme. Aslam refused to leave HT, saying he was not an anti-Semite and HT is not an anti-Semitic group.[8]

Website An article entitled "The Muslim Ummah will never submit to the Jews", HT stated:

In origin, no one likes the Jews except the Jews. Even they themselves rarely like each other. He said: "You would think they were united, but their hearts are divided" [TMQ 59:14] The American people do not like the Jews nor do the Europeans, because the Jews by their very nature do not like anyone else. Rather they look at other people as wild animals which have to be tamed to serve them. So, how can we imagine it being possible for any Arab or Muslim to like the Jews whose character is such? ... Know that the Jews and their usurping state in Palestine will, by the Help and Mercy of Allah, be destroyed "until the stones and trees will say: O Muslim, O Slave of Allah. Here is a Jew behind me so come and kill him."[21]

[edit] Response

In response, HT stated:

We reject decisively the charge of anti-Semitism because Islam is a message directed to all humankind. However, at the same time we decisively reject Zionism represented in the form of Israel, and Hizb ut-Tahrir, like the majority of other Muslim organisations, is opposed to the continued occupation of Palestine by the Israeli State. The state of Israel is founded upon a land that it took by force, after it drove out its people, both Muslim and Christian. This is injustice, which we will never accept from an Islamic perspective, regardless of the race of the perpetrators. In Palestine, Islam is in conflict with Israelis — not in their capacity as Jews who historically had lived alongside Muslims in peace and security for centuries — but in their capacity as occupiers and aggressors.

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Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help, get involved!) This article has been tagged since December 2006.
On August 15, 2005, British executive committee member Abdul-Wahid explained why Hizb ut-Tahrir removed the material from the party's websites:[22]

[S]ome who do challenge our political views often resort to partial understandings of individual texts that are detached from context — either of the Muslim world or of global history in general. For example, the war rhetoric prevalent in Europe fifty years ago was full of derogatory epithets and proud declarations, but these are no longer seen as appropriate.

Winston Churchill's "fight them on the beaches" is relevant to Normandy in 1944, not Barbados in 2005; the language of "freedom" used in campaigns for independence today differs between Scotland and Aceh. It would be ridiculous to assume that rhetoric relevant to a population that sees itself under occupation is symptomatic of the viewpoint of Muslims generally, and Hizb-ut-Tahrir specifically, on all issues relating (say) to Jews and Americans. Yet that is all too often what we see in these so-called challenges to our political ideas. In fact, the decision to remove some of our overseas literature from our British website was a considered response to the legitimate proposition that people who read it out of its context might see it as offensive.[22]

[edit] Prominent members

  • Shaykh Taqiuddin al-Nabhani (founder)
  • Shaykh Ahmed Dauor (Jordanian parliamentarian 1955-1957 now deceased)
  • Shaykh Abdul Qadeem Zalloum (second leader, now deceased)
  • Shaykh Ata Abu-Rashta (current global leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir)
  • Jamal Harwood [Chairman of UK Executive Committee]
  • Taji Mustafa [Media Representative and UK Executive Committee member]
  • Dr Imran Waheed (Media Representative and UK Executive Committee member) [1]
  • Dr Nazreen Nawaz (Women's Representative) [2]
  • Dr Abdul Wahid (GP & UK Executive Committee member) [3]
  • Maajid Nawaz (UK Executive Committee member. Former prisoner of conscience in Egypt) [4]
  • Shaykh Ali Syed Abul-Hassan (Imam of Masjid as-Sahaba, Khartoum, Sudan spokesman, deceased)
  • Mohammad Nafi Abdul-Karim Salih (Prominent Jordanian member, now deceased)
  • Shaykh Mahmoud Abdul-Latif Uweidah - Abu Iyas (Prominent Jordanian Member)
  • Shaykh Taleb Awadallah (Prominent Palestinian Member from al-Khalil - Hebron)
  • Shaykh Yusuf Ba'darani (Prominent Lebanese member)
  • Shaykh Abdul-Aziz Badri (Prominent Iraqi member, deceased - credible sources indicate that he was killed by Saddams regime in Iraq)
  • Jalaluddin Patel (a prominent UK leader)
  • Wassim Dourehi (Australia spokesperson)
  • Naveed Butt (Pakistan spokesperson)
  • Imran Yousufzai (Pakistan spokesperson)
  • Yilmaz Celik (Turkey spokesperson)
  • Ayman Qadri (Lebanon spokesperson)
  • Muhammad Ismail Yusanto (Indonesia spokesperson)
  • Shaykh Ibrahim Othman - Abu Khalil (Sudan spokesperson)
  • Mohiuddin Ahmed (Bangladesh Chief Coordinator and Spokesperson)
  • Farhad Usmanov [Uzbekistan, died in uzbek prison, credible sources indicating he was tortured to death]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Police detain Hizb ut Tahrir activists in Kazan ITAR-TASS
  2. ^ Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Party of Liberation) Global Security
  3. ^ Hizb ut-Tahrir: An Emerging Threat to U.S. Interests in Central Asia The Heritage Foundation
  4. ^ Who's Listening to Whom?
  5. ^ a b The Existing Ideologies in the World Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain
  6. ^ Archived copy of HT's UK messages webpage Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain
  7. ^ a b Central Asia's Islamic militancy BBC News
  8. ^ a b Background: the Guardian and Dilpazier Aslam The Guardian
  9. ^ Kazakhstan Updates List Of Banned Terrorist Groups RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
  10. ^ The View from the Tajik Street Sobaka
  11. ^ Full text: The prime minister's statement on anti-terror measures The Guardian
  12. ^ PM forced to shelve Islamist group ban The Independent
  13. ^ Hizb ut-Tahrir Youtube
  14. ^ "I was forced to rob for Allah" BBC News
  15. ^ Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain commences legal proceedings against the BBC Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain
  16. ^ BBC Newsnight's Imran Khan investigates Hizb ut Tahrir BBC News
  17. ^ Amnesty international press release Amnesty International
  18. ^ Covering events from January - December 2001 Amnesty International
  19. ^ Covering events from January - December 2001 Amnesty International
  20. ^ Banned groups with roots in UK appeal to disaffected young Muslims The Guardian
  21. ^ The Muslim Ummah will never submit to the Jews Hizb ut-Tahrir
  22. ^ a b Hizb-ut-Tahrir’s distinction OpenDemocracy.net

[edit] Further reading and references

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