Hizb ut-Tahrir

Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT, حزب التحرير, Arabic for "Party of Liberation") is a quasi-Salafi Islamist international organization which advocates for the establishment of an Islamic state, the only difference from the ethnic-cleansing lunatics being not taking violent approaches. From this aspect, you may as well call them Sneaky DAESH. Their main ideological goal is basically to replicate the Abbasid Caliphate by creating pan-Islamic global empire which unites all the Muslim societies (ummah) under the Sharia rule and reenacting the caliph.[2] Once this mission is achieved, they will proceed to subjugate the rest of the world spread their heartwarming Sharia rule by any means necessary.[3]

Party Like It's 632
Islam
Turning towards Mecca
v - t - e

Description

They are yet another organization, like Taliban and DAESH, which aims for implementing strict Sharia rule including hududFile:Wikipedia's W.svg penal code, which conducts chopping hands for theft,[4] stoning for adultery,[5] and death penalty for apostasy.[6] There's also jizya (non-Muslim tax) and all sorts of other "non-Muslim sanctions."[7] Not to mention public gender segregation and requirement for Niqab.[8][9]

HT was established by a Palestinian Muslim organization in Jerusalem during the 1950s.[10][note 1] They were in a course of decline until the War on Terror happened and rekindled Islamic defensive consciousness and decreased the reputation of the West among the Muslim population.[11] HT is banned by several countries including Germany, China, Russia, Turkey,[12] and all the Arab world except Yemen, UAE and Lebanon.[13] However, they still have branches in some Western countries including in the US, UK and Australia.

Unlike DAESH which is universally condemned by ordinary Muslims, HT has rather more significant footholds and this is what makes them inherently scarier than those knife-wavering assholes.[14] Estimated membership could reach up to one million, but it's unclear.[15] Their strategy for recruitment and gaining support is to stir the victim mindset among Muslims by invoking several geopolitical crises happening throughout the Muslim world. In the Netherlands, HT is focuses on the Israel-Palestine conflict, and in the UK, they use issues of Kashmir and Hindu-supremacism to evoke how bad Muslims need unification to stand up against the oppression.[16] Its best not having war literally all over the Muslim world.

Arguments debunked

HT is known for operating based on highly distorted and fantasized conceptions of the state, history and the modern world. Their first and foremost error is regarding the caliphate itself, which is their supposedly top priority. HT aims for the creation of the caliphate as a unitary state (not even a federation),[17] where the caliph is held accountable to the populace,[18] with all the power and functions of the state,[19] including appointing and dismissing government and military officials.[20] The caliph even would have no limitation on his period in office.[21] Women cannot be appointed to govern, and while caliph is said to be committed to the minority rights, non-Muslims don't have a say in his election.[22] Needless to say, these things are contradictory, and there's no clarification on how the caliph could manage the state by popular consent while acquiring a totalitarian level of power at the same time.

Historically, a caliphate wasn't always unified; empires such as Abbasids and Ottomans had several vassal states operating in far-reaching areas, some of which even opposed to the central administration in Baghdad or Istanbul, respectively.[23] The actual Abbasid and Ottoman eras didn't have strict Sharia rule enforced,[24] which is contrary to what is envisioned by HT and others of their ilk today. Some historians even mention that homosexual practices reached the highest level during the caliphate time, especially among the ruling classes.[25][26] Hudud law was considered there for "deterrence" effect and its application was quite rare (stoning occurred only once in the 500 years of Ottoman history[27]). Whatever the caliphate that they are visioning, it is highly plausible that it is not reality-based.

HT considers all the Muslim societies and communities as the potential territory of the caliphate. This includes the Muslim majority area of non-Muslim states including Chechnya, Moro (southern Philippines), and East Turkestan.[28][29] Once they are incorporated into the caliphate, secession is absolutely not permitted, and they are required to fight the secessionist "even if" it leads to "the killing of millions of Muslims."[30] As you may expect, some lands and territory ruled by Muslim powers during the course of the history such as southern Spain, Sicily, northern India and the Balkans are considered part of this caliphate, so Spain you're fucked.[28][29]

HT shows a communist-level of hatred toward capitalism, albeit their definition of capitalism is fluid, which they consider a political system of democracy and freedom,[31] separation of church and state,[32] human rights and religious pluralism.[33] Democracy is criticized because it gives "sovereignty" to the people, which is supposedly only held by the divine political system.[34] Any Muslims who believe in democracy are not real Muslims.[35] They are also highly critical of large corporations and exploitations.[34] Unsurprisingly, HT is against human rights which they consider as a byproduct of the capitalist system.[36] Ironically, while Muslims within the HT's caliphate may enjoy the biggest freedom among all the other social groups,[37] their freedom would be severely limited when they contradict the caliph because the caliph is ordained the ultimate authority over Muslims, regardless of whatever injustices or human rights violation he commits.[38][39] HT is also highly antipathetic towards pluralism and tolerance, and calls for Muslims not to participate in democratic institutions across the West and urging people not to integrate.[40]

Interestingly, HT often borrows language and expressions of socialism, anti-neocolonialism or social justice discourse of the West.[41][42] Critics point out the Marxist-Leninist undertone, and resemblance to socialist student movement.[43][44] They refer to sexism, racism, imperialism, inequity, etc. as social ills that are inherent in Western society and can only be cured through Islam.[45][46][47] This is a tendency which can be observed on non-Wahhabi Islamist movements including the Muslim Brotherhood.[48][note 2] This is most probably because they are feeding to the alienation of Muslims from the "Western" political and economic systems, which in itself may be a valid resentment, but not necessarily entails support to the HT's alternative.

Comparisons between other Islamists

While HT's goal is to establish a unified caliphate, and this goal is shared among other similarly extremist Islamist organizations, as is the case with all the dogmatic ideologies, infighting is more than common between them. HT and DAESH have been in a bitter feud. Reportedly, DAESH executed senior HT member for questioning Baghdadi's eligibility as a caliph.[49] HT is also having hard times reconciling with Hamas, an offshoot of Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza.[1] HT sees the Taliban in a better light though, and called for Jihad against NATO-led invasions of Afghanistan.[50] Below is a simple chart for comparisons of these usual suspects.

Islamist comparison chart
NameCaliphate?[note 3]Strict Sharia?[note 4]Violence?[note 5]Anti-West/Anti-Semitic?[note 6]Killing fellow Muslims?[note 7]Strength
Hizb ut-Tahrir ✓✓✓10,000[51] - 1 million[15]
DAESH ✓✓✓✓✓6,500 (2017)[52]
Al-Qaeda ✓✓✓✓✓50,000 - 70,000[53]
Boko Haram ✓✓✓✓✓200 - 300 (2018)[54]
Taliban ✓✓✓60,000 (2014)[55]
Muslim Brotherhood Δ[note 8]Δ[note 9]✓Δ[note 10]has dozens of operational political parties throughout the Muslim world
Saudi Arabia (bonus) ✓Δ[note 11]Δ[note 12]✓[56]33 million citizens (of varying loyalty)
GDP $689 billion
part of G20
Iran (bonus)[note 13] Δ[note 14]✓✓✓✓[56]81 million people (also of varying loyalty)
hundreds of thousands of trained proxies throughout world
gollark: That is also a "good reason".
gollark: I mean, it would "consume too much power" and "isn't useful", but this is irrelevant.
gollark: You can apparently get chip-scale atomic clocks, which *still* aren't in watches, to my eternal disappointment.
gollark: It's fine, I can rotate it, using methods.
gollark: It's also sideways.

See also

Notes
  1. However it is wrong to frame them within the issue of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Their reach is far wider than mere Palestine, and it may be more plausible to consider them as an extremist organization with worldwide ambitions happened to be created by Palestinians.
  2. Wahhabism is indifferent to the discourses of colonialism or social justice. See Saudi Arabia.
  3. Is establishment of a caliphate ultimate goal?
  4. Is implementation of strict Sharia including hudud code a principal goal?
  5. Is violence permitted as a main method?
  6. Do they hate the capitalist infidel pigdogs?
  7. Is killing "fake" Muslims religiously sanctioned?
  8. Muslim Brotherhood is highly fractured entity and some branches in certain countries no longer uphold Sharia.
  9. Ostensibly, they claim to have renounced violence. When they took over in Egypt, that went out the window. Plus, not all MB groups even officially renounce violence, such as Hamas.
  10. The MB may be willing to make temporary alliances with the Shia, but it's unclear what will actually happen to the Shia that will find themselves under MB rule. In Egypt, for instance, the MB routinely denounced the Shia and even condoned the lynching of Shia clerics. The goal of exterminating the Shia may not be universal in the MB, but it is definitely present in some parts.
  11. Not at the forefront, but you don't run an autocratic regime by having your death squads go on hunger strikes to convince the opposition to go home
  12. Ostensibly not anti-Western, but anti-semitic, though they are willing to pretend to get along with Israel if it means fending off the Shia.
  13. Now in Shi'ite flavor! With the stated goal of having the entire Shia population unite and overthrow the Sunnis (and the US, Britain and Israel), basically the same thing but even more hated by the other groups
  14. Dedicated to the Imamah, which the Shia view as the successor to the Caliphate

References
  2. "Can the Muslim world really unite?". March 4, 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  3. Commins, David (1991). "Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani and the Islamic Liberation Party". The Muslim World 81 (3–4): 194–211.
  4. Taji, Mustafa (1 November 2013). "How Muslims should tackle hudood correctly (video)". Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  5. Hizb ut-Tahrir, Institutions of State in the Khilafah, 2005: p.113
  6. Abdul Qadeem Zallum, How the Khilafah was Destroyed, 2000: p.193
  7. Ahmed & Stuart, Hizb Ut-Tahrir, 2009: p.18
  8. ‘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.’
  9. Draft Constitution of the Khilafah State, 2011: Article 113
  10. "Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Party of Liberation)". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  11. Baran, Hizb ut-Tahrir: Islam’s Political Insurgency, 2004:9
  12. "Islamist groups urge Muslim Danes to boycott election, saying democracy ‘incompatible’ with Islam". rt.com. 5 June 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  13. "Hizb ut-Tahrir". Counter Extremism Project.
  14. "Q&A: Hizb ut-Tahrir". BBC News. 10 August 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  15. Malik, Shiv (13 September 2004). "For Allah and the caliphate". New Statesman. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  16. Ahmed & Stuart, Hizb Ut-Tahrir, 2009: p.68
  17. Draft Constitution of the Khilafah State, 2011: Article 16
  18. HT Britain, Hizb ut-Tahrir Media Information Pack, circa 2010: p.2
  19. Draft Constitution of the Khilafah State, 2011: Article 35
  20. Draft Constitution of the Khilafah State, 2011: Article 35, section e
  21. Draft Constitution of the Khilafah State, 2011: Article 38
  22. Draft Constitution of the Khilafah State, 2011: Article 26
  23. Kadri, Heaven on Earth, 2012: p.276
  24. DIAB, KHALED (2 July 2014). "The Caliphate Fantasy". New York Times. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  25. Abbott, Nabia. Two Queens of Baghdad: Mother and Wife of Harun ai-Rashid (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1946) pp 210-211.
  26. Walther, Wiebke. Women in Islam. (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishing, 1993)
  27. Brown, Jonathan. Stoning and Hand Cutting—Understanding the Hudud and the Shariah in Islam. Yaqeen Institute. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  28. (source: Hizb ut-Tahrir, The Ummah’s Charter (Meethaq ul-Ummah) (London: Khilafah Publications, November 1989), p.19)
  29. Hizb ut-Tahrir, The Inevitability of the Clash of Civilisation, p.47
  30. Abdul Qadeem Zallum, How the Khilafah was Destroyed, 2000: p.199
  31. an-Nabhani, The System of Islam, 2002: p.39
  32. Hizbut Tahrir, System of Islam, 2002: p.38
  33. Hizb ut-Tahrir, The American Campaign to Suppress Islam, 2010: p.12
  34. HT Britain, Hizb ut-Tahrir Media Information Pack, circa 2009: p.12
  35. Hizb ut-Tahrir, The American Campaign to Suppress Islam, 2010: p.13
  36. Hizb ut-Tahrir, The American Campaign to Suppress Islam, 2010: p.20-1
  37. "Taqi Al-Din Al-Nabhani and the Islamic Liberation Party" (PDF). Users.dickinson.edu. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
  38. Hizb ut-Tahrir, The Ummah’s Charter, p.66
  39. Ahmed & Stuart, Hizb Ut-Tahrir, 2009: p.44
  40. An Open Letter to the Muslims in Britain regarding the Dangerous Call of Integration’.
  41. Glazov, Ramon (July 2014). "The caliphate’s troll vanguard". Overland. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  42. The Challenge of Hizb ut-Tahrir, 2004: p.3
  43. Nixon, The Challenge of Hizb ut-Tahrir, 2004: p.xiv
  44. 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."
  45. HT Britain, Hizb ut-Tahrir Media Information Pack, circa 2009: p.7
  46. "Capitalism: of the rich, by the rich and only for the rich". January 28, 2014. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  47. Karagiannis, Political Islam in Central Asia , 2010: p.78
  48. Lacey, Robert (2009). Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia. Viking. p. 56.
  49. "ISIS executes senior Hizb ut-Tahrir member in Syria". Hizb ut-Tahrir Central Media Office. 5 Pillars UK. 21 November 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  50. "Afghan Biographies. Hizb-ut-Tahrir". 2015-11-23. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  51. 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 1953–1959. After another expulsion, from Damascus to Beirut, he then decided to reject elections and concentrate on creating an underground structure"
  52. "ISIS down to 6,500 fighters, holds only 3 percent of Iraq". Washington Examiner. 17 October 2017.
  53. Al-QaedaFile:Wikipedia's W.svg
  54. "Boko Haram leader escapes".
  55. "Despite Massive Taliban Death Toll No Drop in Insurgency". Voice of America. Akmal Dawi. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  56. See the Wikipedia article on Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict.

Sources
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