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EXCLUSIVE: Hizb ut-Tahrir UK Representative - We Are Not Terrorist or Clandestine!

Dr. Imran Waheed - 7/18/2005

Despite claims by some in the media, Hizb ut-Tahrir does not operate clandestinely but rather works openly within society in order to bring back Islam to state and society. Thousands of our members are jailed in the Muslim world for their political work that openly challenges the tyranny of the rulers of the Muslim world and exposes the Western colonial governments.

The mere presence of spokesmen and representatives negates the assertion of the party being clandestine. The party has media spokesmen, representatives or offices in Pakistan, Indonesia, Sudan, Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, Germany, UK, Denmark, Turkey and Jordan amongst others. The press releases of the party's official media spokesmen and media representatives are carried on the party's official media office website [www.hizb-ut-tahrir.info]. It is a reality of the political context in which we work that tyrannical governments in the Muslim world do not allow our spokesmen to establish legal offices or official addresses.

There is no confusion whatsoever concerning our global leadership and his name and credentials have been widely publicised. The global leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir, Ata Abu Rushta, is in the Muslim world. He is the author of numerous Islamic political and legislative books and previously served as the party's official spokesman. During his tenure as party spokesman in Jordan, he was detained for several years as a prisoner of conscience. Since assuming the leadership of the party he has addressed conferences in Yemen and Pakistan. Due to the extreme persecution faced by our members in the Muslim world, we do not aid the tyrannical rulers by revealing the precise whereabouts of the party's leadership. Elections for the party's UK branch leadership in March 2004 were widely publicised with candidate lists and the final results being posted on the Internet. The actual election process itself was transparent and open to the general public - independent observers were in attendance. Thus, we are hardly "clandestine".

With respect to democracy Sheikh Abdul Qadeem Zallum published an Arabic book entitled "Democracy: a system of disbelief - it is forbidden to adopt, implement or call for it". Sheikh Abdul Qadeem Zallum was leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir from the death of al-Nabhani in 1977 until his own death in 2003. However, this position on democracy must be clarified and one must not be content to merely describe the party as anti-democratic with no further explanation. Our view is that democracy in capitalist states is undoubtedly a ruling system that is distinct from the Islamic ruling system. This is because Islam and Capitalism are built on entirely different fundamental philosophies.

While the capitalist system advocates sovereignty in legislation for humankind, the Islamic system advocates sovereignty in legislation for the Creator. For this reason, democracy is not consistent with the Islamic system. It is important to also emphasise that the Islamic ruling system, the Khilafah [Caliphate], allows and encourages the accounting of the ruler and has provision for elections and consultation. Islam does not allow state policies to be influenced or directed by corporate elites or big business. Islam obliges citizens in the Khilafah to be involved in politics and accounting the state.

It has been wrongly suggested that Hizb ut-Tahrir follows a Leninist "critical mass" model and is seeking to establish a "critical mass of sleeper terrorist cells". That is fantasy for two reasons. Firstly, Hizb ut-Tahrir rejects outright the Communist ideology - its creed and its system - and has been instrumental in refuting the Communist ideology when it had been adopted by some in the Muslim world. The literature of Hizb ut-Tahrir completely refutes Communism in all of its details. Secondly, Hizb ut-Tahrir is convinced that the change we seek must start in the minds of people and we do not accept for people or societies to be forced to change by violence and terror.

Consequently, Hizb ut-Tahrir does not advocate or engage in violence. The party is an Islamic intellectual and political entity that seeks to change people's thoughts through intelligent discussion and debate, and not through "sleeper terrorist cells".

We are well aware that it is the style of many tyrant rulers to malign Islamic groups in order to repress advocates of political Islam and in order to blur the margins between political Islam and violence. However, we did not expect that any diligent researcher or publications would propagate such inaccuracies.

This absurd attempt by some to discredit all Muslims who reject Western political models as being 'terrorist' is in our view an increasing sign of ideological desperation.