Highlighting the legitimate method followed by Hizb ut-Tahrir to establish the State
Following the Messenger ﷺ is obligatory. There are many Quranic verses that command following him, such as the verse: ﴿There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern﴾ [Al-Ahzab: 21], and the verse: ﴿Say, [O Muhammad], "If you should love Allah, then follow me, [so] Allah will love you﴾ and the verse: ﴿And whatever the Messenger has given you - take; and what he has forbidden you - refrain from﴾ [Al-Hashr: 7]
The reality of Muslims today is similar to the Meccan phase of the Prophetic Da’wah, where they live in a "Dar Kufr" (house of disbelief) because they are ruled by other than what Allah has revealed - and the term Dar is a detailed Sharia term in the books of jurisprudence - which necessitates following the Meccan method in bringing about change. The Messenger ﷺ followed three main stages in his path to establishing the Islamic State:
- The stage of educating and building the party bloc:
Starting with individual contact to spread the idea, as the Prophet ﷺ did in the secret Da’wah, and organizing study circles to formulate integrated Islamic personalities. The party began this stage in Jerusalem in 1953 AD under the leadership of the founder, the venerable scholar, Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani, may God have mercy on him.
- The stage of interacting with society:
Through intellectual struggle, political struggle, and seeking support from the people of power and protection. This includes collective discourse through lectures, seminars, and publications to confront deviant ideas and disbelieving regimes, as the Prophet ﷺ confronted Quraish. The party proceeded with this stage and focused on the intellectual struggle against the beliefs and ideas of Kufr, the political struggle against rulers and colonialism, exposing them, and adopting the issues of the Ummah according to Sharia. Through these actions, public opinion in society was formed around the Islamic Da’wah.
- The stage of taking over rule:
This comes after the success of the first and second stages and creating public opinion in the Ummah based on general awareness and seeking support from the people of power and protection to establish the Khilafah. This is what the Messenger ﷺ did, as he found public opinion, and the Messenger ﷺ was seeking support from the leaders of Quraish and Taif and the leaders of other tribes from Kinda and Bani Shaybah...etc., and the Ansar won the reward in the Pledge of Aqaba and then implementing Islam as a comprehensive way of life.
This approach taken by Hizb ut-Tahrir has given it characteristics and advantages that are lacking in all those who work for Islam in the arena of groups, as the party is characterized by clarity and frankness, so there is no compromise in confronting falsehood, while adhering to political action without violence, based on the verse: ﴿Then declare what you are commanded﴾ [Al-Hijr: 94].
One of its characteristics is patience in the face of harm, as the prophets were patient, without resorting to physical force except in cases of defending Islamic countries, and focusing on intellectual struggle and political struggle.
The party's youth face many challenges, difficulties, and hardships from severe persecution by rulers (imprisonment, torture, travel bans, and restrictions, etc.), but it continued its struggle peacefully, following the patience of the Messenger ﷺ in Mecca. Today, the party continues its call, hoping to establish the Khilafah, while focusing on:
- Building statesmen
- Creating public opinion in the Ummah about the ideas of Islam
- Exposing the conspiracies of colonialism that are being hatched against the Ummah
- Adopting the real interests of the Ummah
The party affirms that its approach is based on steadfastness in the goal and method, and creativity in methods and means, while adhering to the Prophetic model in comprehensive and radical change.
Western countries also work to distort the ideas of Islam, especially the political ideas that advance the Ummah, including questioning the method that Hizb ut-Tahrir follows in bringing about change, the most important of which are:
1- Seeking support from the armies: where the approach is accused of being unrealistic or violating Sharia.
- ● The Sharia response to the approach of seeking support from the armies
- The Sharia evidences from the Qur’an and Sunnah:
- The Pledge of Aqaba: a Prophetic model for seeking support from the people of power and protection (Al-Aws and Al-Khazraj) to establish the state, where they pledged allegiance to the Prophet ﷺ for protection and support.
- The Hadith «I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah» (Narrated by Muslim): confirms that change requires an executive force.
- The verse: ﴿And prepare for them whatever you are able of power﴾ [Al-Anfal: 60], where "power" is interpreted as armies and instruments of government.
With the importance of noting the difference between seeking support to establish the Khilafah state and the military coups behind which the disbelieving countries are in the Muslim countries.
- Seeking support is based on:
- Creating a public opinion based on general awareness in the Ummah about the ideas of Islam and convincing people of influence and armies, who are part of the Ummah
- Changing concepts before changing systems, and the existence of a system derived from Islam
- Creating an Islamic state in which sovereignty belongs to Sharia and authority belongs to the Ummah
- As for the military coups that have occurred in many countries, they are military actions to serve the colonial countries, which the party rejects because this action makes the state devoid of sovereignty and subordinate to others.
- ● Response to the accusation of "Unrealistic:
- The Sharia aspect: Following the method of the Messenger ﷺ is an obligation, and seeking support is part of this method, so doing it is obligatory.
Historical experience: No state in the world has been established without power, so power is essential to establishing any state.
- The contemporary reality: These armies, their members of soldiers and officers, are the sons of Muslims and their men, and part of this great Ummah, and they are spending from the goodness of Muslims, and the Islamic countries have many who have good for their Ummah and want glory for their religion, so where is the defect and the flaw in galvanizing them and urging them to take responsibility for the Islamic Ummah, and the present and the past testify that in the armies of Muslims there are men who, as soon as they find out the truth and know it, will not give it up?
Secondly: Refusal to participate politically, where the party is accused of isolation.
- ● The Sharia response to the rejection of political participation
1. Sharia evidences:
The prohibition of ruling by other than what Allah revealed: The verse: ﴿And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed - then it is those who are the disbelievers﴾ [Al-Ma’idah: 44].
Participating in parliaments means legislating other than God, which is blatant disbelief.
The Hadith «There is no obedience to any created being in disobedience to the Creator» prevents joining systems that legislate man-made laws.
2. The difference between political participation and political action:
Political participation: Accepting the existing system (whether it is a capitalist or socialist system) is rejected because they contradict Islam in whole and in part.
Political action: Taking care of people’s affairs with Islam and enjoining good and forbidding evil, such as exposing the corruption of regimes and calling people to adopt Islam as a way of life in governance, economics, etc., and this is what the party does.
- ● Response to the accusation of isolation:
- The draft constitution of the Khilafah: proves that the party offers a practical alternative, does not reject politics, but rather rejects integration and participation in governance under the corrupt and illegitimate capitalist systems.
- Failure of participatory models: The experiences of "Islamists" in Egypt and Tunisia have proven that participation leads to subordination and endorsing falsehood, not change.
- ● Takfir and exclusion of others
The party is criticized for declaring the regimes and rulers as disbelievers, and is accused of extremism and exclusion, which puts it in constant conflict with regimes and societies.
- Response:
- Differentiating between the action and the one performing the action: The party declares the "action" of ruling by other than Sharia as disbelief, and does not declare individuals as disbelievers unless the conditions of declaring them as such are met. The term Dar al-Kufr and Dar al-Islam are Sharia terms that have connotations specified by Sharia and Hizb ut-Tahrir did not come up with them on its own.
- Legitimate political criticism: Criticizing regimes is considered a legitimate right, based on the hadith «Obedience is only in what is right»
- ● Intellectual stagnation and failure to keep pace with the times.
The party is accused of stagnation for adhering to a fixed approach since its founding in the fifties of the last century, and its refusal to adapt to modern developments such as democracy, human rights, women's freedom, and other alien concepts.
- Response:
- Constants and variables: It distinguishes between Sharia constants (such as the obligation of the Khilafah) and variables (such as the means of Da’wah), where it uses modern technologies such as the Internet and media.
- The draft constitution of the Khilafah: provides practical solutions to contemporary issues such as the economy, education, etc., so where is the stagnation?!
- The party rejects democracy because it violates Sharia, not because it is against development. Practically, democracy is old since the era of Greece, so if we follow the mentality of the critics, then backwardness is following democracy because it is a very old idea!
- ● Neglecting the educational and spiritual aspect
The party is criticized for neglecting spiritual and individual education, and focusing only on the political aspect, which makes it lack building a complete Islamic personality.
- Response:
- Focusing on education: The party emphasizes building the Islamic personality through focused study circles, based on the Prophet's ﷺ method in educating the Companions, and when the concepts of Islam take shape, they change the person intellectually and behaviorally. The positions are the ones that show who the strong believer is, not the appearance.
Therefore, following the method of the Messenger ﷺ in establishing the state is an obligation and what an obligation, but it is the crown of obligations, and Hizb ut-Tahrir is following this method in every detail, seeking the pleasure of God. We ask God to honor us by establishing the second righteous Khilafah according to the method of Prophethood.
Written by the Central Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir
Muhammad Al-Asbahi - Wilayah of Yemen