The Ameer of Hizb ut-Tahrir is the Alim, Sheikh Ata Abu Rashta (full name Sheikh Abu Yasin Ata ibn Khalil ibn Ahmad ibn Abdul Qadir al-Khatib Abu Rashta). He is an Islamic jurist, scholar and writer.

Sheikh Ata Abu Rashta was born into an observant Islamic family in 1943 in the small village of Ra’na in the Hebron area of the Palestinian territories. He observed first-hand the Israeli destruction of Ra’na in 1948 and thereafter moved with his family to a refugee camp near Hebron.

His primary and middle education was completed at the refugee camp. He subsequently obtained his first certificate of secondary education in 1960 from the Al Hussein Bin Ali school in Hebron and later completed his general secondary certificate at the Ibrahimiya school in Jerusalem in 1961. Sheikh Ata Abu Rashta then joined the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University in Egypt and graduated in civil engineering in 1966. After graduating, Sheikh Ata Abu Rashta worked in a number of Arab countries as a civil engineer and wrote a book concerning the calculation of quantities in relation to the construction of buildings and roads.

Sheikh Ata Abu Rashta joined Hizb ut-Tahrir in the mid-1950s and subsequently carried out party activism throughout the Arab world. He worked closely with Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabhani, the founder of Hizb ut-Tahrir and Sheikh Abdul Qadeem Zallum who became the leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir following Sheikh Nabhani’s death in 1977. In the 1980s he was a leading member of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Jordan and was appointed as Hizb ut-Tahrir’s official spokesperson.

Sheikh Ata Abu Rashta played a prominent role in Jordan during the Persian Gulf War when he convened press conferences, lectures and debates at public venues throughout the country. He debated the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait at the Jerusalem Mosque in Amman at which he delivered a lecture entitled The Neo-Crusader Assault on the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf. He was regularly detained by the Jordanian authorities.

In 1994, in an interview, Sheikh Ata Abu Rashta said, “The establishment of the Caliphate is now a general demand among Muslims, who yearn for this: the call for Islamic government (the Caliphate) is widespread in Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, Algeria and so on. Before Hizb al-Tahrir launched its careeer the subject of the Caliphate was unheard of. However, the party has succeeded in establishing its intellectual leadership, and now everyone has confidence in its ideas, and talks about it: this is clear from the media worldwide”.

Abu Rashta became the global leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir on 13th April 2003 following the death of Sheikh Abdul Qadeem Zallum.

Since assuming the leadership of Hizb ut-Tahrir, has spoken at conferences across the world including Indonesia, Pakistan and Yemen.

His writings include Tayseer fi usool at-tafseer surah al-baqarah (2007), Economic crises – the reality and the perspective of Islam and Tayseer al Wusool min al-Usool.

28 Sha’aban 1429
2008/06/01