The Hizbut Tahrir files – part-1

By
anjum
-
16
268

Pakistan Today’s investigative features, and subsequent online HT response, prompt a unique participatory series regarding the organisation’s roots, mission and functioning in Pakistan
Friends familiar with intelligence matters speak of a line that does the rounds in Israel’s secret service Mossad, that when Muslims can boast Friday prayer numerical strength in Fajr (morning) prayers, the Islamic world would have become invincible.
The covert world, where these outfits operate, is often savagely double-edged, and the very tactics they are known to employ for national security purposes –surveillance, reconnaissance, spying, etc – can and do sometimes become their own vulnerable points.
And as Pakistan Today investigated alleged attempts at infiltrating important cadres of the military in the aftermath of Brig Ali’s arrest last year, for links with banned extremist organization Hizbut Tahrir, our findings were met with strong online rebuttal from HT loyalists, prompting this series of articles regarding the party’s working and main mission in Pakistan.
This is the first of a multi-part series in which arguments from online responses will also be accommodated. So the more HT affiliates partake in this exchange, the more they can air views in an environment they accuse of usurping their freedom of expression.

Caliphate coming full-circle

Despite its mid-‘50s roots in Palestine, when the immediate aftermath of the naqba (catastrophe of the Israeli invasion) provided fertile ground for movements envisioning the caliphate, HT is now headquartered in the UK. And even though it is banned across much of Europe, the Middle East and Asia, it continues to receive diplomatic safe haven from London.
The organisation dismisses democratic politics as well as free market capitalism, insisting on the system of caliphate as the only way forward for an integrated Islamic world, yet it remains suspiciously vague on specifics, especially its large funding base that enables operations in more than 40 countries.
Current British Prime Minister David Cameron repeatedly called for banning the organisation before coming to power, but has avoided the question since winning the election, raising more uncomfortable questions for the party. For example, how strange that the country (Great Britain) at the centre of the last caliphate’s demise (Ottoman) is presumably encouraging (and funding) a claim to reestablish the institution.

Sharia and subversion

In calling for an overthrow of the ruling elite, and encouraging the military officer corps to turn against its high command, HT officially advocates mutiny and subversion. According to Islamic principles as mentioned in the Quran (Surah al-Ma’idah), which HT proposes to establish as the cornerstone of jurisprudence in its caliphate model, subversion is to be accorded one of four punishments: i) death penalty, ii)crucifixion, iii)cutting off hands and feet from opposite ends, or iv) exile.
“The strong punishment is meant to discourage subversion against the state to the last stage possible,” says religious scholar Amanat Rasool, the main purpose being avoiding a state of civil conflict.
Yet according to information available online and in the press, such tactics are central to HT’s operating strategy, not a measure of last resort.
“It’s not their wish for establishing an Islamic way of governance that upsets governments,” most analysts told Pakistan Today. “It’s their method of dismissing competitive politics and instead advocating overthrow of governments and takeover of armies”.
In its sermons, HT has yet to explain its disregard for Quranic injunction by deliberately promoting subversion and treason.
The Brig Ali episode was the perfect example of an outside force trying to incapacitate a central institution of the state. And since HT’s influence comes from the outside, as no doubt does its funding, security agencies face an active threat of infiltration of the army from external forces. It is a potentially more potent threat than the TTP insurgency in the tribal area, say counterinsurgency (COIN) officials. It cannot be cordoned off and physically constrained. It influences minds, quietly infiltrates sensitive official and military cadres, and complicates the wider war against terrorism.

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16 COMMENTS

  1. HT is out to establish Khilafa in the world by establishing a govt in any Muslim country on the basis of Sharia. According to Moulana Modoodi, this first stage is most difficult, however, Modoodi never favored using violent means in justifying the end, but the present cadre of HT is cleverly infiltrating the higher echelons of the armed forces to achieve their objective.

  2. What an outrageously misleading article. Firstly, the global Hizb ut Tahrir leadership is NOT based in London as falsely claim. The Sheikh of the party, Abu Rashta, is a scholar who resides in the Middle East.

    Secondly, the lack of a ban in the UK is purely due to the political implications for the governing body, where a due process is normally required to carry out such a measure. A straight ban would cause a lengthy legal process questioning the freedoms which form the basis of British society, something the Tory party hopes to avoid. Also, by allowing the Hizb to operate openly the government hope to monitor the party's activities and conter it with their own strategies rather than allow them to go underground leaving the government radar cold.

    In the Muslim world, the Western backed dictators have no such dilemma, where abduction, brutal torture and murder is the order of the day.

    Even if organisations such as Hizb ut Tahrir are maligned, the question still remains – does Islam allow ruling by other than what Allah (swt) has revealed?

    • Subhanallah, the so called "elite" among the politicians and military spend more time in UK and US than so called their country Pakistan, and the writer do not see a problem in that at all, when they suppose to be more than busy taking care of the miserable people affairs, but just because some youth from the Muslims run away to find better life than the miserable life that the rulers make in pk and stationed unwillingly in the west, the writer think this is treachery!!!… I advice the writer to be realistic and do not copy passed from the agencies whom protecting the corrupt rulers of the country…

  3. The article has some professional and intellectual fallacies:

    1- Despite the Author's claim that he will take feedback from HuT, he has not presented their response to the allegations leveled against them by the author. It is hoped that this response will be presented by the author of these files in his upcoming articles. Professionalism however demands that this response be taken from the officals of HuT rather than online activists. Moreover such a response should be presented as direct quotes and not an analysis of the author on these quotes. Infact professionalism required that the first article published in this series also had a response from HuT.

    2- The issue of funding is an interesting point raised by the author. The assumption is that the one who controls the funding has the operational control over the strategic goals of a group. Extending this logic would the author agree that by his own standard the Pakistani military leadership is serving the interests of US by handing over Pakistan’ strategic control to the US? As the Pakistani military leadership regularly submits receipts of the expenses incurred during the War on Terror to the US and gets the cost reimbursed under the Coalition Support Fund. And if this is indeed the case, should accounting the Pakistani military leadership over its alliance with the US be called mutiny? Isn’t using the mutiny argument a cover to stifle genuine criticism against the Pakistani military leadership’s policy vis a vis the War on terror?
    3- About the allegation that UK is funding the party, has the author received any concrete evidence or is he relying on the word of intelligence agencies who have it as their job description to discredit HuT’s public standing even by telling lies? How does the author distinguish the “interest” of the intelligence agencies in subverting the HuT’s public standing and actual information which can be trusted? Wouldn’t it be better that the author presented the funding issue as an opinion he received from the intelligence agencies by explicitly stating that this is what the intelligence agencies believe and then presented his own opinion based on evidence on the opinions of the intelligence agencies? HuT claims that it raises its funds through its own party members. What are the reasons which compelled the author to disagree with the party’s claim?
    4- It is an established Shariah principle that “There is no obedience to the creation in the disobedience to the Creator”. So government servants are not supposed to follow orders which violate the Shari’ah commands. Working to establish the Khilafah is one of the primary Shari’ah obligations and therefore any government directive which asks an individual to leave this Shari obligation is considered illegitimate. Moreover the Prophet (SAW) sought Nussrah from the people of power so HuT demanding from the people of power that they provide material support for establishment of the Khilafah is according to the methodology of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).In an Islamic state the divine sources, Quran, Sunnah and whatever they lead to (Ijmah e Sahabah and Qiyas) are the legitimate sources of jurisprudence. Any directive, law or command which contradicts the Shariah is null and void. Any obligation commanded by the Shariah is mandatory. Moreover uprooting a system which is considered illegitimate in the eyes of the people and Islam is not mutiny. If such acts were considered a mutiny then the mutiny of the Muslim Soldiers against the British occupation in 1857 would be considered illegitimate. Also the Pakistan Army itself rewarded Rashid Minhas its highest medal for bravery, the Nishan e Haider for disobeying the command of his senior because Rashid Minhas was ordered to do something which was against his country, his people and against Islam.

  4. Do you really think the British Government funds the Hizb, what an absurd and bankrupt accusation. The Hizb as with any other Jamat is funded by its members. Yes Einstein that is true! No wonder PK is in such a mess when it has 2nd grade journalists spreading rubbish news. If HT is a British Creation then why is that their members are rounded and tortured in PK surely once they are arrested they would be released and put on a 1st class plane ride back to the west like Raymond Davies if they were western agents! The cream of our society support HT's views, it is America and her agents who work tirelessly to stop their work. The same agents who were selling pakis for $5000 to the Americans and who sold their sister Dr Afia Siddique for a few $'s is our real enemy not the sincere dawah carriers regardless of which Jamat they are from.

  5. AoA
    I appreciate your effort for finding the truth regarding HT and invitation to online activist to grab the space that is being squeezed for them with each passing day on the mainstream media, exposing the fallacy of freedom itself.
    However, there are certain points that need attention.

    1) First of all, HT is not as anonymous as is being portrayed. Its facebook address is https://www.facebook.com/MediaOfficeHizb.Pakistan…
    And you can get an official response instead of relying on online activists like me.

    2) HT regularly sms to all media, and if you respond to that numbers, you get an sms response.

    3) HT email address must be saved in your email account, and perhaps that is most suitable for you to get an official response. Let me repeat that for your convenience;
    htmediapk01 to htmediapk05 @ gmail. Also [email protected]

    4). There is no evidence that HT is headquartered in London. HT was established in 1953, its activities were reported in early 1990 in london, so what was the headquarter for 4 decades. And if that headquarter was enough for 4 decades, what changed now for HT to change its headquarter to London??? Let me remind you that HT was banned by General Globe (a BRITISH general ) in Jordon within weeks of its establishment in 1953. And same was the case in Syria and Iraq. Therefore i would request you not to repeat the General Kiyani personal thugs version without any proof or verification.

    5) Give me a reason why we should be banned in any state, especially in a state, where we ARE NOT WORKING FOR ESTABLISHING KHILAFAH IN THAT COUNTRY. rather we only work to protect Muslims from the western culture and stress them to work for Khilafah in their native countries.

    6) Had we been a british backed, believe me, these rulers would have treated us as they treated Raymond Davis. He was provided with "valentine". He was not made "missing person". We would have been honored like some the british backed politician are honored by the regime. In fact, they would not have dared to touch us.

    7) What about "freedoms". Banning HT for what, because we dont like their ideas…So only those people should be allowed who say "yes sir". David cameron banned us where it affect us more and thats is within the Muslim coutries through their puppets.
    Same is the case for US. They banned us in Pakistan, Yes the US did it. What advantage would they have to ban us where we dont work to establish Khilafah…you tell…
    8) Lets now move to "subversion, mutiny, and coup". The straight forward answer is HT dont do any of these. Ask those who do it. We call everyone, including you, to work as per your capacity and power to work for the establishment of Khilafah. You may write for it (I fear you would not), i work online, say. An army officer need to pressurize his high command to establish Khilafah. Since they have the capacity to directly bring it on. And at the end of the day, we believe in Islam and Allah and His messenger (saww), and are bound by that. None other. Obeying someone is linked to following of Islam. We are not secular. We accept that we will stand in front of Allah, not high command, on the day of judgement. Therefore, none should obey his boss, husband, father, rulers if they order them to commit Haraam. You must be aware of this ISlamic rule. Our loyality are not to nation but to Allah, messenger and the guidance that was brought by messenger (saww).

    9) Please dont mix the rulers of khurooj and bugha within an Islamic state to that of disobedience to the rule of Kufr(not kafir). You can not be that simple to not understand that, i hope.

    10) Last part, funding. You are well aware that HT members are well educated in most cases. and they can afford to pay a part of their income for this cause as this is much lower sacrifice than what other sacrifices they are giving. What are HT expenses by the way. They are not involved in militancy (which require huge funding), and they dont participate in election (which require huge huge huge funding, you need to question them ). HT spread its thought through inexpensive pamphlets or off and on press conference/conference. That should be easily manageable with its indigenous funding it generate from its shabaab. Moreover, its the world largest Islamic political party. It has presence in over forty countries, and as per some western estimate over a million members. So why they cant contribute for its less expensive activities. How many times you questioned the funding of election oriented party, and if yes, how many time you alleged them to be foreign funded, i ask.

    End of a verse
    شکوہ بے جا بھی کرے کوئی تو لازم ہے شعور

  6. Khilafah is one of the most misunderstood Islamic concepts today.

    1, To rule by Islam and Islam alone in all spheres of life is an Islamic obligation (fard) on all Muslims. There are countless clear-cut ayahs and hadith to this effect. The fact that Pakistan is currently implementing a system alien to Islam should be under scrutiny. Why is Pakistan, the pure land created for Islam, implementing laws that go against it which is dominated by secular politics and politicians? Any sincere Muslim should ask this question.

    2. Muslims lived under the Khilafah for over 1,300 years. This state, which was first established by our beloved Prophet (SAW) and his Sahaba (RA) was destroyed by the colonialists (led by Britain) in 1924. From that moment onwards it became an obligation (fard) on all Muslims to work for its revival.

    3. Islam permits the formation of groups so long as these groups are based on the Islamic aqeeda. Unfortunately Pakistan is dominated by secular groups like PPP, PTI, PMLN who believe contradictory to Islam and the Ahle Sunnah wal Jamaat that Islam can be stripped of its politics and that man can create laws instead. This is the very definition of shirk. Hizb ut Tahrir is a group formed on the basis of Allah's (SWT) command its members work to enjoin good and forbid evil. The greatest good is to implement the laws of Allah (SWT) which lay abandoned. To this affect it is well known amongst the Ummah for its work to re-establish the Khilafah based on the method of our beloved Prophet (SAW).

    4. If we look back to the last one hundred years Muslims have seen no progress and on the contrary have been defeated. This is what happens when Muslims do NOT look to Allah (SWT) and His Messenger (SAW) for solutions. This will continue to be our fate until we reject all kufr and wholeheartedly embrace Islam.

    I therefore urge all Muslims to look to Islam for their political solutions and join the work for Khilafah. May Allah (SWT) reward you for your efforts in this life and the next, Insh'Allah.

  7. ''HT is now headquartered in the UK…'' WOW! After all the replies and comments made by HT members and supporters, and the HT- Central Media Office in Lebanon, they still don't learn…

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