The Penultimate Call…from Hizb ut-Tahrir
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
The Penultimate Call…from Hizb ut-Tahrir
To the Muslim Ummah in general…and its People of Power in particular
Praise is for Allah and peace and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, companions and all those who follow his way.
Dear brothers: May the peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you. We direct this call to you in the blessed month of Ramadan, the noble month of fasting about which Allah (swt) said,
﴿شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنْزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ هُدًى لِلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَاتٍ مِنَ الْهُدَى وَالْفُرْقَانِ﴾
“The month of Ramadan is the one in which the Qur’ān was revealed as guidance for mankind, and as clear signs that show the right way and distinguish between right and wrong.” (Al-Baqarah: 185)
Similarly, the Messenger of Allah (saw) said about it in the hadith qudsi related by Abu Hurayra (ra),
«قَالَ اللَّهُ: كُلُّ عَمَلِ ابْنِ آدَمَ لَهُ، إِلَّا الصِّيَامَ، فَإِنَّهُ لِي وَأَنَا أَجْزِي بِهِ…»
“Every act of the son of Adam is for him except fasting. It is for My sake, and I will give a reward for it.” (Bukhari)
Abu Hurayra (ra) also narrated that Messenger of Allah (saw) said,
«إِذَا جَاءَ رَمَضَانُ فُتِّحَتْ أَبْوَابُ الْجَنَّةِ، وَغُلِّقَتْ أَبْوَابُ النَّارِ، وَصُفِّدَتِ الشَّيَاطِينُ»
“When Ramadan begins, the gates of Jannah are opened, the gates of Hell are closed, and the devils are chained.” (Muslim)
We ask Allah, the Exalted and Mighty, that your hearts open to us and your ears are attentive such that you respond positively to this call, making you thereby of those about whom Allah (swt) said,
﴿الَّذِينَ يَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ هَدَاهُمُ اللَّهُ وَأُولَئِكَ هُمْ أُولُو الْأَلْبَاب﴾
“Those who listen to what is said, and then follow the best of it. Those are the ones whom Allah has guided, and those are the ones who possess understanding.” (Zumar: 18)
Noble brothers: You are no doubt witnessing what has befallen us and what continues to befall. The kafir colonialist states have pounced on us as dogs pounce on their prey. Our lands have become coveted by every greedy soul, a target of exploitation for every person of evil intent. They are divided with nothing to unite them. Our blood has been shed with impunity, our resources exploited and our lands attacked from all sides, nay from its heart as well!
The Jews occupied the blessed land of Palestine, the land of al-Isra’ wa al-Mi’raj, the land of the first qibla. They made for themselves in it a state, spreading corruption therein. They expelled its people, removing them from their homes, denigrating their sanctities. They killed and shed blood, and continue to fill the land with corruption and injustice. America shed blood and destroyed the lands of Iraq and Afghanistan. She conspired against us in every land: Dividing Sudan, separating East Timor from Indonesia, facilitating Greek rule over most of Cyprus, and so on. Britain partook with her in all this. If she was able by herself to kill and shed blood, she proceeded to do so. If she found herself unable, she partook in the crime with America, by her side or behind her. She partook in the massacres of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. France too followed them in their massacres of Muslims, joining them in some and independently committing others, such as in Central Africa.
Then there is Russia and its massacres in the Crimea, the Caucasus, Chechnya and Tatarstan; China and its hostility of Islam in Turkistan; India in Kashmir where Muslims are ruled by Hindus through massacres and unspeakable crimes. Even the smallest of states are now partaking in the killing of Muslims! Burma, for instance, has subjected the Muslim there to open slaughter and the denigration of their sanctities. It has let the Buddhists loose on them. This is but some of what befalls our Ummah.
This blood is not shed at the hands of the kafir colonialists alone. Nay, their agents and tools from among our own people fight amongst themselves shedding each other’s blood. Some of the naive Muslims join them in this, thinking they are partaking in good. Thus they fight in Syria amongst themselves as one fights the worst of enemies. Likewise they fight in Iraq as if they are in the first Jahiliyya. So too in Libya and Yemen and, to a lesser extent, in Egypt and Tunisia. This violence across these lands has witnessed immense crimes the like of which is unprecedented in Muslims fighting amongst themselves. This is but some of what befalls our Ummah.
These material attacks are not the only thing that ravages the Muslim body, at the hands of other Muslims and the kafir colonialists. Nay, there are also attacks that do not injure the body but rather injure the minds and hearts. The kafir colonialists have expended all efforts through means of deception, plots and plans, and various insidious tactics to target the call for Khilafah and those who work for it. At times they do this themselves, and at times through their agents. When their efforts to subjugate those who work for the Khilafah and push the Muslims away from the Khilafah failed, some Muslims stood and undertook what the kafir colonialists themselves could not. They convened conference after conference to deceive the Ummah, propagating the idea that the Khilafah was a historical reality but not a Shariah obligation.
Others went further in the war against the idea of Khilafah, defaming its name, committing atrocities and crimes under its title. They claimed a Khilafah for what was anything but and undertook under its name the likes of which the human mind could not fathom, facilitating the path thereby for the kafir colonialists and all the enemies of Islam to exploit these crimes and give them prominence to claim that the Khilafah is but crimes and atrocities. They sought by this to make the people hate the Khilafah and move away from it, such that their positive conception of it as a noble, illuminating reality would change to a negative conception of it as repressive darkness!
Thus the state of the Muslims today is one of intense darkness, a result not of the actions of the kafir colonialists alone, but also those who partook with them, or went further than them, from among those who ascribe themselves to Islam, but who did it only harm, whether by raising slogans against it or in its name!
O Muslims…O People of Power!
Our condition has returned upon us the period of Jahiliyya that befell the Arabs, in which they fought amongst themselves for forty years on account of a camel, buried girls alive, and worshipped idols made of stone and wood by their own hands. Nay at times they would make idols of dates and when hungry, ate them! They would travel in the desert as a pastime without a worry in the world. They adopted no greater cause for their families or those around them, let alone for all humanity. As for those who lived in the cities, they affirmed loyalty to the major powers of the time. The Lakhmids in Iraq were allies of Persia, while the Ghassanids in Sham were allies of Rome. When the Romans were perturbed by the Persians or vice-versa the Lakhmids and Ghassanids would fight each other! This was the state of the Arabs at the time, both the desert and urban Arabs…all except Makkah which Allah (swt) protected and secured in spite of it hosting as many idols as there are days in the year!
This is how the desert Arabs were in Jahiliyya, killing each other and fighting amongst themselves for narrow tribal reasons and over nothing of worth. As for those who lived in the cities, they would fight amongst each other on many occasions for naught but the interests of the major powers of the time. They were divided without anything to unite them, nothing to prevent them for destroying themselves. Their condition resembles ours today, or we might say that our state today resembles theirs yesterday.
In spite of this, their rulers and tribal leaders still had honour and shame, two things which the rulers and leaders in the Muslim lands today have none of. One evidence of this is the incident of the forty men whom the polytheists of Makkah dispatched to kill the Messenger of Allah (saw). The embarked at night to his (saw) house, finding it closed. They surrounded it waiting outside for him (saw) to open it so they could then kill him, because their honour prevented them for raiding the house by force. Their shame prevented them for entering upon the house whilst its inhabitants were asleep. As for today’s rulers and their spies, they transgress all sanctities. They raid homes without permission or knocking, without batting an eyelid. They terrify women and children, pouncing on them as they sleep. This is because the rulers of today and their spies have lost all honour and shame. The Messenger of Allah (saw) articulated the truth when he said,
«… إِذَا لَمْ تَسْتَحْيِ فَاصْنَعْ مَا شِئْتَ»
“If you have no shame, do as you wish…” (Bukhari)
O Muslims…O People of Power!
The Messenger of Allah (saw) was sent with Islam with which he revived the Arabs from that dark Jahiliyya. He elevated them from their decline, made them stand after they were sitting and woke them from their deep slumber. They became fighters in Allah’s path, carrying with them a great message that spread goodness and justice wherever they went. He (saw) did this by first forming a group of those who believed in the home of al-Arqam ibn al-Arqam. After a few years, he announced them to society and they began interacting with the people openly, declaring the truth publicly in an intellectual and political struggle, fearing none but Allah. They were patient upon harm that came their way, boldly overcoming heavy obstacles without any weakening of resolve or conviction.
This continued until that year that was named the ‘Year of Grief’ because in it his (saw) uncle Abu Talib, who used to protect him, passed away and his (saw) wife Khadija (ra), the mother of the believers, who assisted him returned to the mercy of Allah (swt). In this year of grief, which was the 10th year of Prophethood, Allah (swt) honoured his Prophet (saw) with two matters in which lay the honour of this world and the Next.
The first was the Isra’ and Mir’aj, in which he (saw) was taken by night from the Sacred Masjid in Makkah to Masjid al-Aqsa in al-Quds and from there he (saw) elevated to the highest heavens where Allah (swt) revealed to His chosen slave what he revealed. The second matter was the permission given to him (saw) to seek the nusrah, which culminated in the second bay’ah of Aqabah, the bay’ah of nusrah, the bay’ah of ruling. This was in Dhul Hijjah of the 13th year of Prophethood. Subsequently, the Messenger (saw) migrated to Madinah in Rabi’ al-Awwal of the first Hijri year where he established a State and gave strength to Islam and the Muslims. This was a momentous event; such that when the Muslims decided to establish their own calendar in the time of Umar (ra) and gathered to study the matter, they concluded that the Hijra and the establishment of the State was a great and momentous event that deserved to be the starting point of Islamic history.
This is how the state of Islam was established. Islam illuminated the Arabian Peninsula and its surroundings. Then came the Khilafah Rashidah and thereafter the Khulafaa who followed. The opening of lands expanded vastly, spreading goodness in many parts of the world, from east to west, from Indonesia to the Atlantic. If the mujahideen knew at the time that there were lands beyond the Atlantic, they would have embarked on it to liberate those lands and spread the goodness of Islam in them. Uqba ibn Nafi’ said, as he entered the shore of the Atlantic Ocean on his horse, “O Allah, if I knew that beyond this ocean lies land, I would have embarked on it to it.” In another narration, he stormed into it on his horse until the water reached his neck then said, “O Allah, I make you my witness that I cannot cross it. Had I the means to cross it, I would have done so.”
The condition of the Muslims continued as one of strength and elevation. The kafir colonialists realized that the cause of the Muslims’ strength lie in their ruling by Islam in the Khilafah State under the Uqab flag, the flag of La ila illa Allah Muhammad Rasulullah, so they expended all effort in destroying that state. Britain was the leading kufr state at the time and worked on this objective from the beginning of the 18th Century until she was able to destroy the Khilafah state in the first quarter of the 20th Century. She utilized for this some traitors among the Arabs and Turks.
From this point on, the Muslims became weak and divided. Every enemy of Islam from the powerful states, and even the weak ones, began trampling all over the Muslim lands. The Qur’an was denigrated, yet they did not move. The Prophet (saw) was insulted, yet the blood in their veins did not boil. Their sanctities and honour were transgressed, yet their armies remained stationed in their barracks. The rulers did not mobilise the armies except against their own people. They act like lions with the weak, yet are overtaken by cowardice and defeatism in front of the enemy… until the condition became as it is today!
O Muslims…O People of Power!
The affairs of the Muslim Ummah will not be set aright except by what set them aright in the first instance, namely ruling by Islam in the Khilafah Rashidah, under the shade of the Uqab, the banner of the Messenger of Allah (saw). This will only occur by the same method by which the Messenger (saw) did it: Through the formation of a group based on Islam alone which then interacts with the Ummah and seeks the nusrah from the people of power in it, persisting on this path until Allah (swt) gives it the nusrah and it establishes the rule of Islam and its State. At that point our matter will return to how it should be, and by this alone will the Ummah revive from its decline, reviving its previous course: The Khilafah Rashidah that implements Islam internally and carries it to the world through da’wah and jihad, such that Allah the Mighty, the Wise, gives it victory.
﴿إِنَّا لَنَنْصُرُ رُسُلَنَا وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيَوْمَ يَقُومُ الْأَشْهَادُ﴾
“Surely We do help Our messengers and the believers in the worldly life as we as on the Day on which witnesses will stand (to give their testimony).” (Ghafir: 51)
The necessity to work for the Khilafah is not just because the Khilafah is, in assessing the reality, the only path of salvation and victory. Rather, it is necessary, first and foremost, because it is a great obligation, the mother and crown of obligations, by which the Shariah is implemented and the hudud established, and without which neither is possible…and that without which an obligation is not complete is itself an obligation. The establishment of the Khilafah and the appointment of a Khalifah are major obligations. Indeed he who does not work for them whilst being able to commits a grave sin such that he dies a death like the death of Jahiliyya, which indicates the severity of the sin. The Prophet (saw) said,
«… وَمَنْ مَاتَ وَلَيْسَ فِي عُنُقِهِ بَيْعَةٌ، مَاتَ مِيتَةً جَاهِلِيَّةً»
“He who dies whilst not having a bay’ah on his neck, he dies a death of Jahiliyya.” (Muslim)
Yes, the establishment of the Khilafah and the appointment of a Khalifah are great obligations. Hence the Muslims began with it even before they proceeded with the funeral of the Prophet (saw) and his burial, notwithstanding the great importance of the latter. All this was due to the utmost importance of the Khilafah such that the senior Sahabah gave it priority over another great obligation: The burial of the Prophet (saw).
Further, it is the Khilafah that delivers the opening and liberation of lands under the leadership of the Khalifah, the Imam. The Prophet (saw) said,
«… وَإِنَّمَا الإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ يُقَاتَلُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ وَيُتَّقَى بِهِ…»
“The Imam is but a shield, behind whom the Muslims fight and by whom they are protected.” (Muslim)
Thus the Khalifah and the Khilafah are a shield, that is a protection and he who has protection is, by the leave of Allah, supported and victorious in the end. He does not lose his rights or his land. His enemies dare not come near him. This is what the history of the Khilafah speaks to. Where, for instance, are the Byzantine monarchs and their scepters of grandeur? Where is Mada’in and Chosroes (Persian Emperor)? Who proclaimed and extended the sound of the takbir in those lands across their length and breadth from the Pacific to the Atlantic except for the state of Islam, its soldiers and its justice? If the Khilafah knew of lands beyond these two oceans, east and west, it would have taken on their burdens to call toward Allah, the Gracious, Merciful, the Mighty, the Wise.
O Muslims…O People of Power!
We directed a call to you twice in the past:
- The first time on 20 Rabi’ al-Thani 1385 AH / 17 August 1969 CE, almost fifty years ago. That call was sounding the alarm about the danger from the rattling of the Islamic ideas and rules among the Muslims because this rattling had a reality affecting the Muslims in a palpably perceivable manner. And because the Hizb is the guide who does not mislead its own people, it struggled against this as much as possible to revive the confidence and trust of the Muslims in the ideas and rules of Islam and it succeeded in this noticeably, and praise is for Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
- The second time on 28 Rajab 1426 AH / 2 September 2005 CE, about ten years ago. This call was in a fiery political environment. The west, led by America, saw that the Hizb and other sincere Muslims had thwarted its attempts of many years to shake the confidence of the Muslims in Islam and that the Muslims were moving in the direction of working of Khilafah. When the west saw this, its attacks against the Hizb increased, directly at times and through its agents at times. It had also by now waged wars, declared as “crusades”, in Iraq and Afghanistan out of plain hostility against Islam and Muslims. Thus our second call clarified this hostility of the west, led by America, against the Khilafah, its advocates in particular and the Muslims in general. It showed that the enemies of Islam wished to hinder the Muslims from working for the Khilafah. We also elucidated that the Muslims were capable of defeating the west if they adhered to the judgments of Islam and were sincere with Allah with regards their deen and returned to Him, the Powerful, the Mighty.
- Now, we direct this penultimate call to you at a time in which the Khilafah has become established in the public opinion of the vast majority of Muslims…
Nothing remains now except the command of Allah for an Ansar to come forth like the Ansar and a Sa’d like Sa’d… men who would support their deen by supporting those working for the Khilafah, by supporting Hizb ut-Tahrir, establishing thereby the second Khilafah Rashidah, a Khilafah on the way of Prophethood after the present tyrannical rule we are in, as per the promise of Allah (saw),
﴿وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنْكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ﴾
“Allah has promised those of you who believe and do good deeds that He will grant them authority in the Earth …” (al-Nur: 55)
Also the glad tiding of His Messenger (saw),
«… ثُمَّ تَكُونُ مُلْكًا جَبْرِيَّةً، فَتَكُونُ مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ أَنْ تَكُونَ، ثُمَّ يَرْفَعُهَا إِذَا شَاءَ أَنْ يَرْفَعَهَا، ثُمَّ تَكُونُ خِلَافَةً عَلَى مِنْهَاجِ نُبُوَّةٍ»
“…then there will be tyrannical rule. It will remain as long as Allah wills it to remain, then He will lift it when He wills. Then there will be Khilafah on the way of Prophethood.”(Ahmad)
This is the penultimate call we direct to you for we wish the best for you. So move swiftly O Muslims, move swiftly O you who have power! Join the da’wah and give the nusrah. Move swiftly to establish the Khilafah with the Hizb, not to be left as mere witnesses of it, for the goodness and reward you will gain by joining the ranks today is not the like goodness and reward you will gain by joining tomorrow, even though there is goodness in both.
﴿لا يَسْتَوِي مِنكُم مَّنْ أَنفَقَ مِن قَبْلِ الْفَتْحِ وَقَاتَلَ أُوْلَئِكَ أَعْظَمُ دَرَجَةً مِّنَ الَّذِينَ أَنفَقُوا مِن بَعْدُ وَقَاتَلُوا وَكُلاً وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الْحُسْنَى وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌ﴾
“Those who spent before the Conquest (of Makkah) and fought are not at par (with others). Those are much greater in rank than those who spent later and fought, though Allah has promised the good (reward) for each. Allah is well aware of what you do.” (al-Hadid: 10)
This is the penultimate call we direct to you, so do not fear anyone except Allah, the Mighty, the Great. Do not say, “America and the West will stand against us if we support you”, for the enemy’s stand will falter and their strength will collapse in front of the one who believes, assists and supports for the sake of Allah. He (swt) says,
﴿وَكَانَ حَقًّا عَلَيْنَا نَصْرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ﴾
“And it is an obligation upon Us to help the believers.” (Rum: 47)
This is the penultimate call we direct to you, reminding you about your true strength and the weakness of your enemies. You are the Muslims, the believers in Allah as your Lord, Islam as your deen and Muhammad (saw) as your Prophet. You are strong because of your Lord,
﴿لَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ﴾
“There is no power except with Allah” (Kahf:39)
And you are honoured because of your deen,
﴿وَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَسُولِهِ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ﴾
“To Allah belongs all honour, to His Messenger and to the believers.” (Munafiqun:8)
You are the grandsons of the Khulafaa Rashideen and the liberators of Andalus and those who spread the Islamic civilization in it. You are the grandsons of Mu’tasim who led a victorious army to save a woman who upon being oppressed by a Roman called out, “wa Mu’tasima!” You are the grandsons of Harun al-Rashid who replied to the Roman King who broke his covenant with the Muslims with an army that the King would see before he would hear a reply. You are the grandsons of Salahuddin, the subjugator of the Crusaders; of Qutuz and Baybars, the subjugators of the Tatars; of Muhammad al-Fatih, the young man whom Allah honoured with the liberation of Constantinople, about whom the Prophet (saw) said,
«… فَلَنِعْمَ الْأَمِيرُ أَمِيرُهَا، وَلَنِعْمَ الْجَيْشُ ذَلِكَ الْجَيْشُ»
“How excellent a leader is its leader, and how excellent an army is that army.”
You are the grandsons of the Khalifah Suleiman al-Qanuni whom France implored to save their imprisoned king, and of the Khalifah Salim III in whose time the United States paid an annual tribute to his governor in Algeria to permit American ships to pass through the Mediterranean Sea securely. You are the grandsons of the Khalifah Abdulhamid whom millions of gold coins offered by the Jews for the state treasury did not deceive and who did not bow to significant international pressure seeking permission to allow Jews to settle in Palestine. He replied with his famous statement, “The Jews may keep their millions. If the Khilafah is one day destroyed then they will be able to take Palestine without a price. But while I am alive, I would rather push a sword into my body than see the land of Palestine cut and given away from the Khilafah State.” He was a man of vision, may Allah have mercy on him, for this is exactly what occurred after the destruction of the Khilafah. The agent rulers lost Palestine, giving it away to the Jews nay protecting their state for them!
This Khalifah also forced Britain, a superpower of the time, and despite severe conspiracy against him and the Islamic state, to officially apologise to his embassy in London for one of its citizens publishing something insulting Islam in the late 19th Century (1890CE). Now, the Noble Qur’an, the speech of Allah, is denigrated by the kafir west and the Jews with impunity. There is nothing of any apology because there is no Khalifah for the Muslims who takes the Qur’an as a constitution and who mobilises the State against the disbelievers who denigrate the Noble Qur’an in the slightest or remotest way!
This is the Khilafah and these are the Muslims who lived under its shade. They are your forbears, O Muslims, and those are their deeds. You are their progeny, so move to the Truth they followed to follow it, and to the honour they attained to attain it.
This is the penultimate call in which we emphasise for you what we have said previously that you are, by the leave of Allah, capable of defeating your enemies. The kafir colonialist states are strong in appearance but weak in reality. They have advanced weapons but no real men. Weapons without men are of weak effect in front of a believing contingent who might be lesser in weapons but are more severe in fighting. This is a reality articulated by the wars fought by the Khilafah against the disbelievers. Thus superiority in material weapons alone does not suffice in war against the Muslims because they possess a true and live creed which gives them a fighting ability unmatched by the tyrants led today by America. However they will see this truth with their own eyes when the dawn of the Khilafah rises, by the leave of Allah, and it moves from victory to victory, pushing the tyrants back to the lands, if, that is, there remains for them any land…
﴿ وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ نَبَأَهُ بَعْدَ حِينٍ ﴾
“You shall certainly know of its truth after a while.” (S’ad: 88)
This is the penultimate call we direct to you, seeking your support, so join those who have preceded you in supporting us. We extend to you our hands, so grab them and join the people of influence who have already pledged their support to us, for the caravan is about to set off so join the journey.
﴿وَيَقُولُونَ مَتَى هُوَ قُلْ عَسَى أَنْ يَكُونَ قَرِيبًا﴾
“They say, ‘When will that be?’ Say, ‘Perhaps it is near.’” (al-Isra’: 51)
We on our part are at ease with the support of Allah and His promise.
﴿وَيَوْمَئِذٍ يَفْرَحُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ*بِنَصْرِ اللَّهِ يَنْصُرُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ﴾
“That day the believers will rejoice, in the victory of Allah. He gives victory to whom He wills. He is the Mighty, the Merciful.” (Al-Rum:4-5)
The peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you.
Hizb ut-Tahrir
The first Friday of Ramadan 1436 AH
