Hizb Ut-Tahrir
حزب التحرير
Other names: Hizbul Tahir (HT) / The Party of Liberation
Type: Political party
Country: Global. Local outfits in Australia, UK, USA, Malaysia, Turkey, Kenya and Pakistan
Organisation Ideology: Political Islamism/Islamic supremacism/Salafi fundamentalism
Online Resources
Official website: Hizb-ut-Tahrir
Official publication: Al Raya newspaper
1.7k followers
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9k followers
Overview
Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), anglicised to “Party of Liberation'' is a global radical Islamist movement espousing the concept of creating a worldwide Khilafa (Caliphate) - a Muslim superstate ruled by an extreme interpretation of Islamic Law - Shari’a. Although other movements such as Daesh call for the creation of a global caliphate, HT argues that it seeks to do so through non-violent means, despite its incitement and hate-speech against non-Muslims and other Muslims that do not conform to its ideology.
HT has a particular appeal to radical Islamists who seek to enforce their interpretation of Islam but reject violence. This appeal is prevalent in HT’s outfits across the western world, particularly in the UK and Australia, where the group maintains an active base, through Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia amongst others.
HT, however, has been banned in many countries, including the majority of Arab countries, Russia, China, Turkey and Indonesia. Its global headquarters is currently based in Lebanon, with ‘Ata Abu Rashta leading the movement on the global level, despite the group maintaining a very decentralised hierarchy and organisational structure. Although having an online website with multiple language options, HT Global does not maintain the same level of sophistication as its western outfits, particularly HT Australia, HT America and HT Britain. These offices run independent social media profiles and websites, and they also employ media-savvy individuals and spokespeople. This is largely due to the banning of the organisation in Muslim majority countries.
Ties to Extremism
HT advocates for a global caliphate government by Shari’a law. Despite its members in the western world advocating for a peaceful means to this end, those means have primarily focused on outreach efforts aimed at recruitment in public spaces, organising seminars and conferences to preach its ideology, disseminating Islamist literature and running comphrensneive social media accounts through its different outfits across the world. Some of the organisation’s chapters’ have, in the past, targeted, financed and supported numerous terrorist groups, such as Al Qaeda in addition to its hate-speech against Muslims that do not conform to its ideology, rulers of Muslim countries, and non-Muslims. Khaled Sheikh Mohammad, the mastermind of the September 11 attacks was a former HT adherent, but left the organisation due to its soft stance on militancy. HT, therefore, has long been considered as a springboard for militancy or terrorism.
In addition, the worldview of HT and its rejection of capitalism, democracy, communism and other ideologies, compounded by anti-western sentiment, and most importantly, the organisation’s overarching philosophy of a Muslim super-state that will likely be at war with western countries that are “enemies of Islam and potential land for HT’s Islamist state” show clearly the link between the organisation and extremism.
Due to the decentralised nature of the group, its country affiliates are primarily responsible for recruitment, preaching and fundraising. These activities, particularly recruitment, are what define HT’s role in spreading radical thoughts and discourse amongst vulnerable individuals. By way of example, the perpetrator behind the 2014 Lindt attack in Sydney attended a HT rally six months before the attack, when he became interested in Islamist fundamentalism.
HT’s online material is considered particularly inflammatory, towards Muslims and non-Muslims alike. On its website, the group lays out its perfect vision for the world- one that is ruled by HT’s interpretation of Shari’a law, and seeks to exact punishment by death on those who leave Islam, the punishment of women who do not wear clothing mandated by HT’s interpretation of Islamic law, and Muslims who do not perform Islamic duties such as fasting and praying. These quotes, from HT’s official website are outlined below:
“The Muslim is not free in the matter of his belief because if he apostasizes from Islam, he is asked to return. If he does not, his punishment is death. The Messenger of Allah said, “Whoever changes his deen (religion), kill him.”
“The Muslim is not free in his opinion. His opinion is the opinion of Islam, and it is not allowed for a Muslim to have an opinion other than that of Islam.”
“The Muslim is not free to own and it is not correct for him to own except according to the divine means of ownership. He is not free to own what he likes and by the way he likes. He is rather restricted by the divine means of ownership and prohibited to own by means other than these.”
“Personal freedom does not exist in Islam because a Muslim is not free in personal affairs, but he is rather restricted by the Islamic Law. If he does not perform salah or fast, for example, he must be punished. If he drinks wine or commits adultery, he is punished. If a woman comes out uncovered or with a dazzling display of her beauty she is punished. Therefore the ‘freedoms’ as defined in the Western Capitalist system simply do not exist in Islam and they are in absolute conflict with the laws of Islam.”
HT members in other countries have also been accused of seeking to carry out terrorist attacks. In 2010, Russian authorities foiled and arrested HT members who were seeking to bomb a railway track in Moscow. Two years later, Russian authorities also arrested a number of individuals who were plotting bomb attacks around Moscow. In 2015, Bangladeshi authorities arrested an Islamist blogger belonging to HT after implicating him with the murder of an athiest writer in the country. HT is banned in both Russia and Bangladesh, and numerous other countries as stated above.