Hizbul Tahrir (HT)

by Khalid Kazim

Hizbul tahrir (HT) is a political sect with few Islamic point of views. They see to bringing back the Islamic rulings-Khilafah-(as they proclaim). Due to this ambiguity, many views, that they consider Islamic, were announced by their founder and by their leaders. These views, as we shall see, contradicts Islamic views according to how the companions and their successors-the salaf- understood it.

The founder of this sect is a Palestinian called shaikh Taqiul Deen Al Nabahani who was born in Haifa, Palestine in 1909. He studied in his village, continued at Al Azhar, Cairo’s scientific house, then returned to work as a teacher, then as a judge in many Palestinian cities. After the invasion of the Israelis in 1948, he moved with his family to Lebanon. He started this sect in 1952, and became its leader. He produced few books, papers, and fliers which are counted as the roots for this sect. Since they keep most views and news secret, it is difficult to point out their leaders. Any how, shaikh Al Nabahani dies in 1979; and then Abdul Qadim Zallume, from Palestine as well, took over. He wrote a book called "This is how Khilafa was destroyed". Officially, the sect’s headquarters was established in Lebanon. Shaikh Ahmad Al Da`oor was responsible for sect members in Jordan, and Abdul Rahman Al Maliki (who wrote "the punishment" book) in Syria.

Thoughts And Beliefs: -

1. The goal is to rise a Muslim country. They start with the Arabic speaking countries, and then the non- Arabic speaking ones.
2. The stress is on political issues first, and Islam second. They make sure that the followers of their sect understand this fact, and work by it.
3. The human brain is given more weight than it should. It is known that the human brain are two types - Muslim and atheist -, and the Muslim brain are two types - scholar and the ignorant one, and the scholar brain are two types - "working with the knowledge scholar" and "non-working with the knowledge" scholar. The ignorant has to follow and ask the scholar as Allah SWT says : "and ask the knowledgeable ones if ye know not". The true Muslim, therefore, must put his brain to what Allah and His prophet say; not to put the thoughts above both of them. In this area, the HT failed. One look at the book called "Iman’s path" (Tareequl Imaan) which was written by Al Nabahani would reveal how this sect have been affected by Al Mu’tazilah thoughts in putting the brains above Quran and Sunnah. They let their brains control Quran and Sunnah, and believe in what seems right to them.
4. The sect acts in teaching their members, and to plant the political thoughts into the brains of their followers. In doing so, they "take the millions and educate them altogether, and teach them Islam. They have to stand in front of the crowds to answer their questions, clear their doubts, and stand by them to melt them into Islam" - Essential understanding book, p.78. Further, in doing so, they do political work "by documenting occurrences and facts, by comparing both with Islam and its rulings, and to gain trust of people", Heated call book, p.96.
5. The philosophy of the HT is that every nation lives within two thick boundaries, the boundary of creed and thoughts, and the boundary of laws that govern people’s relations with one another. Therefore, if a nation wants to change its government, they have to concentrate on the outside thoughts (called the outside boundary). This is, then, followed by ousting the government.
6. The sect divides work into three steps as follows :-

1. First step includes the ideological war where the sect makes their thoughts the one to be taken.
2. Second step includes the reaction with the nations by culture and politics in order to complete the exchange of atheist thoughts that was brought in by foreign nations.
3. Third step is to take over power of the Muslim nation. They will ask whoever they see fit to help them with this take over.

7. The sect, in the beginning, put for itself 13 years to reach power, but this failed. So, they set another 30 years to reach power, but this, too, failed.
1. They proclaim that humans do not have spiritual feelings or bodily pleasures, but have instincts that must be fulfilled.
2. Shaikh Taqiul Deen Al Nabahani saw that the problems with raising a Muslim nation are as follows:-

1. Presence of thoughts that are not related to Islam.
2. Presence of educational teaching methods put by the imperialism.
3. Keeping this educational methods even nowadays.
4. Thinking big of other sciences more than its worth.
5. The distance between ruling body of Muslims, and the Muslims themselves. This is clear in politics and in monetary matters. The ruling body in Muslim countries depend on democracy, and not on Islam.
6. The thoughts of the Muslims is directed towards patriotism, nationalism, and communism.
7. Islamic nations do not live an Islamic life.

10. It is prohibited on the sect’s members to think of grave’s tortures and the appearance of the lair messiah. Whoever think these nonsense is in great mischief.
1. The leaders of this sect see that they should not enter into asking to do good, and prevent evil-doings because it may interfere with their present work. These will be done later when the Islamic nation starts.
2. The sect has a constitution that is made up of 187 sections waiting to be implemented whence the Islamic state starts. The constitution, however, is far from reality.
3. In the beginning, the sect concentrated its efforts on spreading in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon; then to other Islamic countries. Now, they have spread their sects in non-Muslim countries such as Germany, Austria, and Britain.
4. They use the word "state" to name the countries they work in. Every "state" is chaired by a committee called "state’s committee" which is formed from 3-10 members. All "state committees" follow the central leadership office.
5. They used to have a newspaper called "Al hadharah" (Modernization) that used to be published in Beirut, Lebanon.
6. The founder of this sect, shaikh Al Nabahani, had nationalistic thoughts. He published a book in 1950 called "Arab’s letters" where he explained how the Arabs should be leaders in the first place, then other Muslims.
7. He was in contact with the "Ikhwan group" in Jordan, but later decided to start his own sect. He was asked by many to change his views (such as Shaikh Sayyed Qutb), but shaikh Al Nabahani refused; and therefore Shaikh Sayyed Qutb said his famous sentence : "Let them they will end from where we started".
8. They get in trouble most of the time due to their aggressive behaviors towards people who live with them and due to their ideas to reach governments. This made rulers keep an eye on them, and imprison them or destroy them. Their thoughts are limited in changing governments, and they use some parts of Islamic teachings that fits them for this matter (as will be seen).

Islamically Speaking: -

1. The sect’s limited Islamic education make them think that educating people of their goals will make them interact with them, and will help the sect into reaching their goals and power. They forgot Allah’s Sunnah in testing people who call for Islam, and forgot the realities of thousand obstacles that faces them.
2. They organized verses and sentences according to having definite clues or speculative clues. They said that if one finds a verse in the Holy Quran which is definite, but has speculative meanings; then it should not be taken into creed. The reverse is true (no definite clues, but has correct meanings). This was not the understanding of the salaf, as was pointed out in the beginning. This is found in their older books, even though they are trying to change it now.
3. On the same token, they say that prophet’s hadith should be the same, and further, it should come from many, not just one narrator (i.e. it has to be coming by "tawator" not "aahaad"). This means that aahaad hadiths are not taken into their Islamic belief. We know that, for example, prophet Mohammed PBUH sent many messengers alone to Yemen in order to spread the word of Islam (Ali Bin Abi Taalib, Mu’aadh Bin Jabal, and Abi Mousa Al Ash’ari). He, PBUH, told Mu’aadh (alone) : "Let be the first thing you tell those people is to bear witness that there is no god but Allah". Who doubts this first belief in Islam ? No one. Did the message of Islam reach the Yamanis ? Yes. Are they accountable if they do not believe in Allah’s Oneness ? Yes. But, according to the beliefs of HT, the Yamanis are not accountable. The reason is that the companion Mu’aadh Bin Jabal went alone to Yemen. He might be forgetful, he might be a lair, or he may make a mistake. Was this the belief of Al salaf ? No. Allah SWT says : "They follow only jest". Where did this idea come from ? the closest ones who believe this way are the Khawaarij’s and the Mu’tazilah. There was a person from HT who went to Japan to spread the sect’s beliefs there. One of the sections he talked about was that he does not believe in the aahaad hadiths, and that the Muslims made a mistake in this area (he was trying to get the Japanese sympathy). Among the audience, there was a smart Japanese student who told this HT member to return to where he came from, and come back with many members of HT sect because he is alone (singular), and what he is saying could be a lie, fiction, or that he made a mistake.
4. The sect came up with many legislatures (Fatwah) which contradicted Islam. Of these are :-

1. To look at porno pictures is permitted.
2. To kiss a foreign woman with or without lust is permitted.
3. Women could be congressmen, and non-Muslims could be members in the congress.
4. Women could wear tight trousers and wigs, and can disobey her husband any time she wishes to.
5. A Muslim country leader could be a non-Muslim, and the Muslim country may pay taxes to non-Muslim countries.
6. Muslims can fight under leadership of non-Muslim country with its soldiers.
7. No prayers for the Muslim space man. No prayers nor fasting for the north and south pole’s inhabitants.
8. Jailing 10 years for the one who marries those who Allah forbade to marry.
9. One could fly, drive, or use the ship for traveling as long as the contract is made with a foreign country’s vessel company. But one should not make a contract with a Muslim country because they are not good to make contracts with.
10. And many more.

Some Of Their Publications :-

1. Political moves encyclopedia (2 parts) - Fathi Yakan - 1983.
2. Al Dousiyyah - Sect’s main book.
3. This is how khilafah was destroyed - Abdul Qadeem Zallum
4. Contemporary Islamic thoughts - Ghazi Al Tawbah - 1969.
5. Palestinian encyclopedia - Milan, Italy - 1984.
6. The way to Muslim’s group - Hussain Jabir - 1984.
7. Problems with the call and callers to Islam - Fathi Yakan -1974.
8. Constitutional points given to Al Khomeini and expert committee - 1979.
9. Many books by their leader, Al Nabahani, including - Islamic thoughts, Islamic order, ruling in Islam, understanding HT politics, sect body, point of start, the thought book, and man others.
10. And finally, a small HT booklet, published in Arabic on May 9^th, 1985, which explains the goals and policies of the sect. Some points are chosen for the reader to think about. They start, on page 5, to say that HT is political sect. Politics is its work, and Islam is its base (should be Islam is its work). This is mentioned many times in the booklet, but on p.28; it is mentioned clearly that they take from Islam as much as they see fit for their sect’s ideologies. On p. 25, it says that the sect’s work is not to educate or guide !!! On p.26, it says that Islamic creed is a brain creed; i. e. whatever is not acceptable by the brain, it is not taken into belief. This, as we explained, is their belief, and the booklet is full of such things.

MAY ALLAH SHOW THEM THE RIGHT PATH, AND GUIDE US ALL.