Rebuilding the Caliphate, One Letter at a Time
Dreaming of an Islamic Caliphate: An image from Hizb ut-Tahrir's website.
“HuT is a global political party,” writes Ayesha Umar in a Newsline report on the Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir. The party wants to “establish an ‘Islamic’ way of life in Muslim countries and to unify them under a caliphate.”
And it has big designs on Pakistan. In fact, as part of its message it frequently points to Pakistan as an example of how democracy doesn’t work in Islamic countries. In an article posted on hizb.org.uk, the party explains what it sees as the failings of democracy:
“Whilst the West has a history of developing checks and balances, fundamental problems exist in every secular democracy, advanced, emerging, large, small, western or eastern. They all show the same thing: they serve the elite and not the public; their politicians are largely corrupt; wealth remains confined to a tiny minority; and long-term challenges are consistently ducked – this is the reality of democracy.”
But there is a difference between HuT and other Islamic groups in Pakistan that call for an Islamic caliphate: HuT professes non-violence. Its leaders seem to have chosen the pen over the sword. Their slick website and video messages preach that Islamic societies need a system of government that is based on the Quran and Sunnah, not ‘western’ constitutions.
But their PR machine involves more than their clever use of the web. They seem to have their supporters busy getting the word out. Since June, Newsline has received numerous letters and article submissions from people talking about the need for governance by an Islamic caliph rather than via democracy.
Hizb ut-Tahrir calls itself “The Liberation Party” in English, and that is exactly what it claims to promise: liberation from corrupt governance, liberation from Western dominance, liberation from poverty.
The letters we have been receiving echo the same message. One suggested that far from being a threat to the world, a caliphate would be a source of progress and prosperity. It would fill a leadership vacuum in the Muslim world and provide stability, and that would be good for world peace. Moreover, this new leadership would be so intellectually invigorating, claimed the writer, that the caliphate would rise and the US would lose its standing as the world’s sole superpower. How this would happen was unclear.
Between June 3 and June 26, one woman sent Newsline four distinct letters promoting the idea of the revival of an Islamic caliphate as the solution to Pakistan’s problems.
Another man wrote us five times during the same time period. Incidentally the first and last emails of both the man and the woman letter writers occurred on exactly the same dates. On the surface, it looked like a coordinated effort. We received other letters and articles on the merits of the caliphate system during the months of June and July also.
One was a mini-dissertation on the failures of democracy, implying democracy was an illusion. The author starts with the advent of democracy in Athens and covers a lot of historical ground making references to Galileo, Saddam Hussein’s presidential elections, elections in Kenya and the rise of Hitler; he goes on to quote John Adams and Winston Churchill, while talking about the philosophies of everyone from Plato and Aristotle to Thomas Jefferson and John Stuart Mill. Thinking that this in-depth treatise was very well constructed, as it was peppered with erudite references, and perhaps a bit too slick for an IT student from Peshawar whose initial letters to the magazine were riddled with grammatical errors, chat-room spellings and incomprehensible statements, I decided to Google a sentence from it. The search lead to me to a website where I found the original article. The website? Hizb ut-Tahrir’s official website in Britain, of course. The article was filed as a report under its “Solutions” section.
But the solutions are unclear. There are mostly criticisms. And no talk of freedom.
Below are excerpts from some of the other letters:
Defeating the Global Food Crisis
The global food crisis is a hot topic of discussion these days. The constant increase in food prices is alarming everybody. According to a report from the World Bank in February 2011, the rise in food prices have pushed approximately 44 million people into poverty in developing countries since June 2010. The World Bank food price index jumped 15% between October 2010 and January 2011…
According to the World Bank hunger clock, 939 Million people are malnourished…
Capitalism and democracy have badly failed to solve these problems. It seems that eventually, the global food shortage will catch up with everybody. The only way to beat this crisis is by implementing Islamic Shariah laws through an Islamic Caliphate state…it is not allowed for a citizen of an Islamic state to leave a piece of land in his possession useless for more than three years. Either he must construct a house, which he may use personally or rent out, or alternatively he can cultivate crops on it. The increased supply of crops reduces price…
Mahwish Hassaan
Lahore
“What type of Islam do you want to implement?”
This is the argument of the secular and liberal elite of Pakistan when Islamic systems of economics, governance, social justice, law, foreign policy and education are presented as solutions to rid Pakistan of its many crises. Actually, they fail to realise that Islam is a complete way of life… Islam gives us a mechanism to solve differences in opinion. In democracy, the majority opinion is binding when there is difference of opinion on certain issues. In an Islamic state, the ijtihad adopted by the caliph is binding; that was the reason the opinion of the first caliph Abu Bakr was adopted against those who were not giving charity although there was a difference of opinion on this issue. The argument “what type of Islam do you want to implement” is quite weak, and it is obvious that the solution to the problems of Pakistan is the formation of the caliphate system, not democracy and capitalism.
Aamir Zeb
Peshawar
The Reawakening of the Abolished Caliphate
It was in 1919 that Muslims of India, under the leadership of Ali brothers, rose to rescue the caretaker of the Muslim ummah: the Ottoman caliphate. The caliphate was already vulnerable, weakened by colonialists and at the verge of destruction…
The Khilafat movement was weakened from within because of violent incidents committed by Congress…This affected the pace of the Khilafat movement and disappointed Maulana Mohammad Ali Johar. The final blow was made to that Khilafat movement when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk announced the abolishment of the caliphate on March 3, 1924. The abolishment of the caliphate at that time put an end to the Khilafat movement in the subcontinent.
In the absence of Caliphate, there were extensive changes that were brought easily to the Muslims lands, such as the establishment of Israel, the killing of Muslims and occupation…
Now when the Muslim ummah is suffering badly with foreign occupation and foreign interventions, and there is no political authority to sincerely back their case in the world, the global call for the caliphate has been reawakened with full passion. The awareness of Islamic laws as viable solutions in practical life is spreading massively. Additionally the political regimes in the Muslim world have failed Muslims whether it has been through democracy, dictatorship or monarchy. People are now fed up with these political manipulations to benefit the western neo-colonialists. Simply changing the faces in these political systems is now unacceptable. The Arab uprisings are an example of people demanding Islam as a system of life. The call of the re-establishment of the caliphate has awakened in the Muslim world, including Pakistan.
S.M. Waqas Imam
Karachi
Pakistan Needs a New Alternative
Imran Khan, chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, is idealised by the youth of the nation these days. We see youngsters are becoming fanatic about Imran Khan. The majority of youth believe that Imran Khan will change the future of Pakistan. Some claim that he is the last hope for our country. When asked “Why?” they say, “Imran Khan is not corrupt,” “Imran Khan founded Shaukat Khanum,” and “Imran Khan will bring justice…”
The youth are inspired by his claims of providing justice and equality to everyone.
But the question that remains unanswered is this: how will Imran Khan bring justice? What is his agenda? Under which system will Imran Khan rule? If it’s democracy, then will the industrialists ruling over parliament ever allow him to take any steps that benefit the masses at the expense of their personal benefits?…Definitely not! The problem is that in the current system, law-making resides in the hands of a few people who make laws merely for their personal gains. This system allows corruption. Imran Khan can’t do any good in the current system even if he wants to…Pakistan now needs a new alternative. The only alternative available to us is the Islamic caliphate system based on the Quran and Sunnah because the current democratic system is merely a failure.
Mahwish Hassaan
Lahore
The opinions expressed in this article and the views shared by readers in the comment forum below do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance or policies of Newsline.
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This article has been amended since it was originally published.
Nice coverage and the writing style is excellent.
You feel that HT doesn’t provide solutions to how to bring about justice and eradicate poverty?
You’re right in saying that these solutions aren’t posted in short letters and posts, however, HT has comprehensive literature covering just how the infrastructure of a caliphate would be (The Institutions of State in the Khilafah (In Ruling and Administration)).
Furthermore, there are booklets and articles on how to build an industry, how the educational policy would bring about a change in the muslim world. Also how (normative) the spendings of the state would be prioritized and wherefrom the funds would be extracted to actually carry out these policies.
The easiest way to finding the answer to these questions would be conducting an interview with the spokesman nearest you. Otherwise you could go through the different systems that HT has proposed; the economic, educational, social & ruling system in islam (all books) and how to establish funds for carrying out these policies (funds in the khilafah state ‘Al-Amwal fi Dowlat Al-Khilafah’).
If you don’t want to search for these books yourself, give me an emailadress and I’ll send you a zip file with the books I think would answer the unanswered questions you pose in this article.
The issue has been thoroughly confused.
Khilafat or caliphate has become synonymous with the HT, though it is known from Islam to be one of the greatest obligations. infact Abu hanifa said it was the mother of all obligations.
minus a ruling system based on divine decree what we have is a free for all. The mighty industrialists, the sectarian mullah mafia, and incompetent and highly shameless leaders all making gains at the expense of the poor.
We can look to even before the eventual fall of the Ottoman Empire, the decline of islam and muslims was always intellectual. What had energized the ummah was ijtihad, the fearlessness to investigate and research into anything and everything. By closing the doors to ijtihad, the muslim became afraid to learn, many things became taboo and thus beginning the journey on the road to downfall that ended in 1924.
Now in an era where there is no islamic rule it would be folly to open the gates of ijtihad as there would be no central authority to legalise it so its validity would always be questioned by many who benefit from the status quo. Nevertheless one of the central points that place HT above other groups is its intellectual fearlessness and its confidence and trust in Islam. This will hold it in good stead if inshallah 14 centuries later this current Madina, Pakistan again gives nusrat and succour to the deen of truth. Inshallah.
Farooq e Azam(RA)once said “If you (People) want progress, dignity and prosperity through any system other than Islam, Allah will disgrace you”.
Woh Mua’zaz thay zamane ma Musalman hokar….
Hum Khawar huwe Takek-e Quraan hokar….
Dear Editor
it may sound unclear to you from these articles, how all this prosperity may come into reality. HT has a detailed plan in terms of economic system, foreign policy and education and its details are widely avalaible upon our websites. there are certain details that are kept tacit and cant be documented for public.
wassalam
I have interacted,spoken to, attended conferences and read much of the material/literature from the Hizb and I have to say I have not found a single islamic movement comparable to it in terms of depth, clarity of the objective and influential in the community. Keep up the good work!
Dear Editor,
The caliphate is not a dream, it is a reality. Pakistan was created for Islam,HuT is working to realize this objective.A journalist should be objective not biased.
If you have any sincerity toward your profession,then you should expose the american plans and establishment who are working to weaken Pakistan and make it subservient to regional powers.
Wake up and smell the coffee
The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur’an, a Guidance for the people(mankind) & clear proofs of Guidance & Criterion.
We hear recitation of the glorious Qur’an every night in our masaajid this month & Muslims will recite the Qur’an as much as we can. The question is, are we taking this Qur’an as a Huda and Furqaan in our Ummah’s affairs?
The sad truth is that we have not. For decades now, laws and rules that are not from Islam have governed our countries.
Rulers who are the most corrupt of men in the Ummah have run our countries. They have ruled us by laws based on secularism (kufr)
Our political systems have been dominated by dictators who have unilaterally made oppressive laws.
Similarly so called democrats who have collectively made laws in parliament to suit their interests and benefits.
In all cases we have seen a political system ravaged by corruption, nepotism, cronyism and slavery to western powers. Our economies have been enslaved to the capitalist states that have treated our counties simply as ‘markets’. The rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer. Poverty, lack of decent public services, mass unemployment & no industrialization is the legacy of decades of economic mismanagement, despite, Muslims being blessed with dedicated human resources, vast agricultural lands & huge reserves of natural gas, oil, coal & minerals. This situation has occurred after the Qur’an was removed from our public life and just left to guide us in our salat and fasting (personal matters), Whilst the Qur’an is recited in our masaajid, our political, economic & social lives has been led by manmade laws and capitalism. As an Ummah we have been aimlessly running from one western policy to another, from one institution to another, We need to look to the Islamic system to solve our problems, which is consistent with our beliefs, culture, history and heritage.
“Do you, then, believe in one part of the Book and reject the other?” (TMQ Surah Baqarah: 85)
“And We have revealed to you the Book explaining all matters” (TMQ Surah An-Nahl: 89)
“And rule them by what Allah has revealed and follow not their desires away from the Truth that has come to you” ( Surah Maidah: 48)
These ayaat clearly illustrate that this Qur’an came to address all of our affairs. it has been relegation of Qur’an to individual acts & neglect of societal rules which has led this Ummah to this state of affairs. Have the decades of implementing man-made western laws and systems brought any goodness to our Ummah?
It cannot be right that we worship Allah in our fasting & salah yet take Shaytan & his allies to lead us in the rest of our affairs!
As we fast this month, ummah is crying desperately for real change. This change will not come unless we take Qur’an as our guidance
Dear Editor,
I am Glad to see that Some one Like you (News Editors) now has started to Think about Solution outside the circle (Especially Designed to keep the focus of Human Mind within the GIVEN Limited Options e.g. Option A, B, or C) of Democracy and Dictatorships. This is good. However Solution can be found in Three Portions.
1.Solution is to Establish Khilafah. (Answer for Surface Level Thinking Man a Common Person, who only know his problems and want solution in simple words)
2.Solution is read Manifesto of HuT for Pakistan along with Islamic State Constitution. (Answer for a second level Thinking Person who wants to know bit more detail but with concise words)
3.Solution is to understand by discussion and reading in detail knowledge of all Pillars of a Government which constitutes a complete systematic order from A-Z i.e. Available with HuT in detail in Books written just need to implement and start practice. (Answer for Deepest Level of Thinker who is really known as Political thinker in Islam, Who really undertands the root causes of issues and not only solution but viable, feasible and The Best Solution Like MUHAMMAD SAAW and KHULAFAH Rashideen (RA))
All these things can be found in detail openly on HuT websites in English Urdu. And Also you can have discussion with local HuT guys, SpokesMan.
A specific example of an article that provides concrete solutions for the problems of Pakistan is the ‘Manifesto of Hizb ut Tahrir for Pakistan’. I hope it’s ok for me to paste the link here: http://www.hizb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/pk-manifesto-english.pdf
If you wont approve this comment due to policies of not allowing URLs then it’s perfectly fine with me, I just hope that you would take a look at the manifesto yourself in that case.
judging from the responses it seems that people in our country are ready for a Khilaphat and HuT is quite people, despite knowing how HuT likes to use violence as tactic!
@Azeema
That is utterly rubbish and a big fat lie that HT has ever used violence since its establishment in 1953.
All reports ever undertaken by governments show that HT can’t be linked to any acts of violence even though its members have been executed, imprisoned, persecuted and/or harrassed by the different regimes in both the western and the muslim world.
I would like to challenge you to provide a single proof of your statement, that HT likes to use violence as its tactic. If you fail to do so, then at least seek forgiveness for slandering muslims.
I Have a question for the editor.
Why is it that these letters or articles were not published in the first place on your website?
Thanks for query. For one main reason:
We don’t have a spot for letters on the website.
@Hameed: But what are HuT’s views on violence and terrorism?
Does the HuT unequivocally denounce terrorism?
Does it speak out against the tactics of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and other violent groups that also dream of an Islamic Caliphate? Or does it tolerate their means because Al-Qaeda has the same goals as HuT?
Nice article! you people are willing to chase a wild goose then try it otherwise it seems to me a cry in the wilderness. try to become true muslims than every system will befits ur perception and ideals. Islam propagate Democracy and rule of law. Islam privileges every individual to choose, who seems fit to handle state affairs.Is there anyone so stalwart,steadfast and uncontroversial to become caliph? Try to strengthen your institutes via Democracy which will turn the corner like taking a sip.
@Talib
Jazaaka Allah khayran for taking the time to make your enquiries, it is much appreciated.
Islam has a very clear cut view on killing civilians, namely that it is forbidden, numerous ahadith root this point of view.
What I find is interesting is, that even muslims jump onto the bandwagon (the hype) that the western media has created about linking islam and terrorism which has created an atmosphere where every muslim is a potential terrorist, muslims are asked to condemn violence and acts of terrorism, but when it is the other way around and muslim civilians are killed, we’re told ‘every war has its casualties’.
Osama bin Laden (OBL) was assassinated without even being put on trial on pakistani soil, and nobody even objected to this kind of justice where the americans were the judge, jury and executioner. What troubles me about this is, that OBL conducted an interview to the pakistani newspaper Ummat in which he said:
I have already said that I am not involved in the 11 September attacks in the United States. As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children and other humans as an appreciable act. Islam strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children and other people. Such a practice is forbidden even in the course of a battle. It is the United States, which is perpetrating every maltreatment on women, children and common people of other faiths, particularly the followers of Islam. All that is going on in Palestine for the last 11 months is sufficient to call the wrath of God upon the United States and Israel. There is also a warning for those Muslim countries, which witnessed all these as a silent spectator. What had earlier been done to the innocent people of Iraq, Chechnya and Bosnia? Only one conclusion could be derived from the indifference of the United States and the West to these acts of terror and the patronage of the tyrants by these powers that America is an anti-Islamic power and it is patronizing the anti-Islamic forces. Its friendship with the Muslim countries is just a show, rather deceit. By enticing or intimidating these countries, the United States is forcing them to play a role of its choice. Put a glance all around and you will see that the slaves of the United States are either rulers or enemies of Muslims.
http://www.serendipity.li/wot/obl_int.htm
Why don’t we hear anything about this in the media? And is it still justified to assassinate a person who says he himself condemns killing of civilians?
Furthermore, why should we condemn every act that’s not even proven to be undertaken by muslims, and the west can conduct terrorism on a state-level without even blushing and nobody pointing fingers at them?
If we look at the statistics then some articles that never really got any attention nor influence on the viewpoint that ‘not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists happen to be Muslim’ one titled ‘All Terrorists are Muslims…Except the 94% that Aren’t’ http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/01/not-all-terrorists-are-muslims/ and another titled ‘Europol Report: All Terrorists are Muslims…Except the 99.6% that Aren’t’ http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/01/terrorism-in-europe/ if we take the statistics seriously then we should start asking westerners to condemn terrorism both on a state-level and on an individual level, however, muslims are still being told to condemn and apologize…
Something even more interesting and this is where the media in the muslim world doesn’t fulfill its obligation of conveying the truth: Numerous videos are fluctating on the internet in which leaders of taliban are screaming from the top of their lungs: ‘We didn’t have anything to do with this and that bombing’, but still the media claims that the Taliban has taken responsibility for the attacks.
For instance why are we told to ignore news like this:
Taliban Denies Responsibility
Pakistan’s Taliban denied responsibility for twin bomb blasts that ripped through a crowded market in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 39 people and injuring dozens.
The attack, one of the deadliest in a series to hit Pakistan since US Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in May, devastated the Khyber Super Market district which includes a hotel, shops and student accommodation.
The Pakistani Taliban, who have vowed to carry out attacks to avenge the killing of bin Laden, denied any role in the bombing and said they target only the government and military.
“We did not carry out this attack in Peshawar. It is an attempt by foreign secret agencies who are doing it to malign us,” Tehreek-e-Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP on phone.
“We do not target innocent people. Our targets are very clear, we attack security forces, government and people who are siding with it,” Ehsan said.
Nearly 4,500 people have been killed across Pakistan in attacks blamed on Taliban and other Islamist extremist networks based in the nearby tribal belt since government troops stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad in 2007.
http://www.islamonline.net/cs/ContentServer?packedargs=locale%3Den&c=IOLArticle_C&childpagename=IslamOnline%2FIslamOnlineLayout&p=News&pagename=IslamOnlineWrapper&cid=1278408683703
So rather than jumping on to the media hype and start condemning and playing the blame game, we need to analyze what’s going on. The funny part is, whereever America and Britain are setting their feet incidently becomes a target for sectarian or islamist violence and/or bomb blasts – but not before their arrival.
If we choose to ignore all these loose ends, shouldn’t we take a step back and analyze what is motivating these people to conduct these acts of terrorism against innocent people. Shouldn’t we at least consider the state-level terrorism conducted by the americans as a possible explanation or at least a factor in growing terrorists/rebels who are sick and tired of losing their non-combatant loved ones in the bombardments of american bombs? Furthermore, isn’t it an obligation to also warn the western nations that their populations are being used by their politicians, who have no care or worry for their own populations well-being? For instance western politicians are sending their soldiers to fight ‘the war on terror’ against an enemy in Afghanistan which is the population, it’s a war that can’t be won, because by killing civilians Taliban is growing day by day. Each time you deprive a civilian household of a family member, you have new recruits for Taliban. Analysts have declared this war, a war that can’t be won. Furthermore, we should highlight that this war doesn’t even benefit the western population, because the number of attacks have increased AFTER going to war, so it has had the opposite effect to conduct ‘pre-emptive attacks to fight terrorism’. We should further analyze who is benefitting from this war on terror, both sides are losing loved ones and some filthy rich capitalists are making a lot of money. So if anything needs to be condemned, it is the root of the cause (the capitalist ideology, its politicians) and not the end effect (the reaction of the victims of state sponsored terrorist attacks or the ones being occupied).
As for commenting on different methods to establish the khilafah, we highlight the fact that the hukm of jihad wasn’t revealed before AFTER the establishment of the islamic state in Madina, so when emulating the prophet (saw) one can’t possibly claim that jihad is the way to establish the khilafah. This is due to islam having principles for fulfilling obligations, and islam doesn’t accept pragmatism where the goal justifies the means.
HTs viewpoint on jihad is very clear and elaborated in its literature where jihad is depicted as the foreign policy of the islamic state (aggressive jihad) and defending oneself against aggressions (defensive jihad), and none of these two types of jihad can serve as a method for re-establishing the islamic khilafah.
I hope I have given some points to consider, I had to do it very short as most people don’t fancy reading
(maybe we could have a private correspondance by email)
Let me know if there are some unclarities, or something that you would like me to elaborate on.
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