Crime in Chicago has been in the news lately, but it is nothing new. Historically it dates back over a hundred years. From the tale of the Gray Wolves
The 1890s Chicago City Council was notorious for corrupt political practices orchestrated by a faction of its aldermen known as the Gray Wolves. So named because they were viewed as preying upon the defenseless public, the Gray Wolves were led by First Ward aldermen “Bathhouse” John Coughlin and “Hinky Dink” Mike Kenna, and Johnny Powers of the Nineteenth Ward. These elected officials were not only skilled at trading votes for favors, but once in office they excelled in making municipal decisions to profit themselves financially.
TO the present, it is a compelling historical subject.
“Please post links and information, or connections of dots to this thread. Keep chit chat to the minimum or in Freemail. THANKS!”
Hoosiermama: per your request. This was the original research I posted in 2009. I may have done more research around the same timeframe, but if so, I haven't located it. Their name in recent news, in connection with Egypt, caused me to post my original research on the
Live Egypt Thread [post 3848].
Below is that post in full.
Hizb ut-Tahrir
CERTAIN to be overkill for the subject of this thread, but your poster caught my attention.
I researched them quite a number of years back and a FR keyword on them might yield much more---especially their Chicago connection. BTW, I haven't revisited the organization since I made this post.
Was it Jake Tapper (and certainly many other experienced observers) who noted that Obama's MV comments on Egypt will embolden MB and other "extremist jihad groups."
Apologies to the thread for a long post in what may be a lead that turns out to be a dead end. As I mentioned, I haven't recently researched HIZB UT-TAHRIR's current strength.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HIZB UT-TAHRIR --- Internationally Banned Menace Makes Their Public Debut In The United States
Currently outlawed as a terrorist group in nearly every country in the world in which it has tried to settle, HIZB UT-TAHRI, a radical international Sunni network dedicated to establishing an international Islamic State, or caliphate, held its first American, public coming-out convocation on July 19, 2009 in the posh Grand Ballroom of the Oak Lawn Hilton Hotel in --- where else?---Chicago, IL.
Operating clandestinely in the U.S. for decades, Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), entitled its first public conference, "The Fall of Capitalism and the Rise of Islam. HT's first effort to openly win recruits gathered an audience of 300 into the packed ballroom " to listen to HT ideologues blame capitalism for World War I and World War II; the U.S. subprime mortgage meltdown; the current violence in Iraq and Afghanistan; world poverty and malnutrition and inner-city drug use."
HIZB UT-TAHRI Founded in 1953 by Sheikh Taqiuddin al-Nabhani
The organization was founded in 1953 in Jerusalem by Islamic scholar and appeals court judge Sheikh Taqiuddin al-Nabhani, born in 1909 born in the village of Ijzim, within the district of Haifa. His father, Yusuf al-Nabhani, was also a scholar of Islamic jurisprudence, and worked as a lecturer in Islamic Law or Shari’ah. His mother mastered the Islamic sciences and was also an Islamic scholar. She had been taught by her father, the famous Ottoman poet, Islamic scholar, and Islamic judge Sheikh Yusuf an-Nabhani, who was appointed as judge at different Shariah courts in Jenin, Constantinople, Mosul, Latakia, Jerusalem and Beirut.
Al-Nabhani studied Islamic Law at Cairo's Al-Azhar University, the most important Islamic institution in Egypt and the intellectual bulwark of Islam.
The new party was described as "a political party with Islam as its ideology and the goal of resuming an Islamic way of life by establishing an Islamic state (Caliphate) which will implement Islam (through Sharia law) and propagate it worldwide." "Al-Nabhani was one of the first Arab intellectuals to argue the case for a modern political party using the constructs of Islamic discourse," writes Suha Taji-Farouki in her book "A Fundamental Quest."
Discover the Networks: The Ideology of Hizb-ut-Tahrir
Hizb-ut-Tahrir (Arabic for "The Party of Liberation") ... defines itself as "a political group and not a priestly one," a "political party whose ideology is Islam, so politics is its work and Islam is its ideology." It "works within the Ummah [community of believers] ... so that she adopts Islam as her cause and is led to restore the Khilafah [Caliphate, or Islamic kingdom] and the ruling by what Allah revealed."
Rejecting Western notions of both democracy and capitalism as tools that allegedly have led to the colonization and subjugation of Islamic nations, Hizb-ut-Tahrir's long-term objective is to replace existing governments with theocratic Muslim rule and to bring about a worldwide Islamic government under a single ruler (caliph). In such an ideal Islamic state, says Hizb-ut-Tahrir, "all of life's affairs in society are administered according to the Shari'ah rules," or strict Islamic law.
Hizb-ut-Tahrir states that it accepts "Muslim men and women as its members regardless of whether they are Arab or non-Arab, white or coloured, since it is a party for all Muslims."
[MANIFESTO]
In its self-description, Hizb-ut-Tahrir declares: "Its work is not educational, as it is not a school, nor is its work concerned with giving sermons and preaching. Rather its work is political.... " Moreover, the organization professes a devotion to "the struggle against the disbelieving imperialists, to deliver the Ummah from their domination and to liberate her from their influence by uprooting their intellectual, cultural, political, economic and military roots from all of the Muslim countries."
Hizb-ut-Tahrir asserts that while it "does not use material power to defend itself or as a weapon against the rulers," nevertheless "jihad has to continue till the Day of Judgement." "So whenever the disbelieving enemies attack an Islamic country," says Hizb, "it becomes compulsory on its Muslim citizens to repel the enemy. The members of Hizb-ut-Tahrir in that country are a part of the Muslims and it is obligatory upon them … to fight the enemy and repel them."
EARLY HISTORY OF HIZB UT-TAHRIR
Al-Nabhani was an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood,founded in Egypt in 1928 and the forerunner of modern radical Islamic groups. But he broke with the Brotherhood when it moved towards cooperation with the secular authorities in Cairo. While the Brotherhood became a potent opposition force in Syria and Egypt, HT took a more subversive path.
The Muslim Brotherhood regarded Hizb ut-Tahrir as a new rival. But Al-Nabhani was close to Haj Amin Al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, whom he had first met in the 1930s.
Al-Husseini was among those who financially supported Hizb ut-Tahrir in the 1950s. The Jordanian government did not like the close ideological ties between Hizb ut-Tahrir and Haj Amin Al-Husseini, an arch-enemy of the moderate Jordanian Hashemites.
Transjordanian Emir Abdallah firmly sided with Britain during World War II. Al–Husseini, however, sided with Nazi Germany. He met Hitler in November 1941 and the Nazis granted him policial asylum paying him a monthly "salary' of 20,000 Reichsmark for rallying Muslims in the Balkans, North Africa and the Middle behind the Nazi cause."
In 1955 Taqiuddin al-Nabhani left Jordan, where he had been living, to travel to Damascus and Beirut. Banned from returning to Jordan, he lived in Syria and then Lebanon. In 1973, he traveled to Iraq, where he was imprisoned and tortured. He died in Beirut on December 20, 1977.
The group first appeared in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. It then proceeded to expand the delivery of the da’wah naturally until it began to function in many Arab countries and also in non-Arab Muslim countries as well. The rulers in Iraq, Syria, Libya and others have killed dozens of its members. The prisons of Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia are full of its members.
There is little information on the number of its members. It is active all over the world. Hizb ut-Tahrir now has its main base in Western Europe, but it has large followings in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan, as well as in China's traditionally Muslim Xinjiang Province. Most of its members are believed to be ethnic Uzbeks. Its expansion into Central Asia coincided with the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. By one estimate there are more than 10,000 followers in Central Asia. Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami has been active in Central Asia since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
ABD AL-QADIM ZALLUM (no photo available)
Succeeding al-Nabhani was Abd al-Qadim Zallum (Abdul Kaddim Zalloum) a Jordanian national of Palestinian descent. He graduated from Al-Azhar University.
Under Zallum, Hizb Ut Tahrir sent a delegation to Paris to meet Ayatollah Khomeini before his return to Iran. Two further delegations were later sent to Tehran to meet the new Iranian leader there. The last delegation arrived in Tehran in May 1979 and presented Khomeini with Hizb ut-Tahrir's proposed "constitution for an Islamic state." But Khomeini had his own ideas about such a state and showed no interest in the proposals. Subsequently, frustrated Hizb ut-Tahrir leaders denounced the Iranian leader as "a virtual American agent."
In the second half of 1980s and 1990s the movement followed the strategy of taking advantage of the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Australia. Hizb ut-Tahrir spread to many countries and developed a particular strong base in Uzbekistan where it cooperated with Al-Qaeda.
They also have a strong base in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, China's Xinjiang Province, North Africa (Tunesia, Libya, Egypt), Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gulf States, Turkey, Pakistan and Australia.
(In Turkey, Hizb ut-Tahrir members were accused of "undermining the state" and sentenced to four years in August 2000; in Australia, Hizb ut-Tahrir heightens tensions among Muslims and endangers their integration into society.)
The party or movement is organized like a fascist party, loyalty to the leadership ("Amirs" of "Emirs") is absolute. It is also a kind of totalitarian brotherhood operating through cells.
Members are obliged to give one tenth of their income to the party and swear an oath:
"I swear by God Almighty to be loyal to Islam and to defend it, to embrace Hizb ut-Tahrir's opinions and constitution, to have confidence in its leadership, and to implement its resolutions, even if they are contrary to my own opinion, as long as I remain a member."
ATA ABU RASHTA (no photo available)
When Zallum died in 2003, he was succeeded by the current global leader, Ata Abu Rashta (full name Abu Yasin Ata ibn Khalil Abu Rashta), a scholar who was born in Hebron in 1943.
In 1948, as the result of the first Israeli Arab war, his family fled to a refugee camp near Hebron. Following his attendence in school there, he completed his secondary education at the Ibrahimiya school in East Jerusalem. Rashta then joined the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University in Egypt and graduated in civil engineering in 1966. After graduating, 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.
Ata Abu-Rashta joined Hizb-ut-Tahrir in the early 60s’ and integrated in the party’s activity all over the Arab World. He worked closely with Taqiuddin al Nabhani, the founder of Hizbu-ut-Tahrir, whom he knew from East Jerusalem, and with Abd al-Qadim Zallum, who became the leader of Hizb-ut-Tahrir following Nabhani's death in 1977. In the 1980s he was a leading member of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Jordan and was appointed as the organization's first official spokesperson.
Very little is known about Rashti, including his current whereabouts. He is believed by some to live in a secret location in the Middle East and by others, in London, where he has a considerable powerbase. Although he has spoken at conferences in Indonesia, Pakistan, Yemen and Britain, no photo of him could be located for this report.
He communicates mainly by internet and has his own website.
In a 1994 interview, Ata Abu-Rashta said, "The establishment of the Caliphate is now a general demand among Muslims, who yearn for this. Before Hizb-ut-Tahrir launched its career the subject of the Caliphate was unheard of.”
Ata Abu-Rashta he was imprisoned in February 1997 for three years for treason for an interview published in 1995 in the journal al-Hiwar (Conversation). He was later imprisoned for a further six months for membership of an 'unlicensed organization'. Ata Abu-Rashta was designated a ‘prisoner of conscience’ by Amnesty International after his detention by the Jordanian authorities in the 1990s’.
THE AMERICAN FACE OF HIZB UT TAHRIR
or, Taking It Home To Chicago
Dr JALEEL ABDUL-ADIL
On August 4, 2007, Hizb UK held a conference at Alexandra Palace in north London. A poorly-made video presentation (available on YouTube) which advertised the conference attempts to show the global unity of Hizb ut-Tahrir. Using snippets of video and pictures from websites, HT activists are shown from the following countries: Pakistan Bangladesh, Switzerland, Jordan, UAE, Palestine, Jordan, Yemen, Turkey, Belgium, Indonesia, Australia and America.
What is striking from the image from America is that it shows only one individual (pictured), rather than a group.... It is Dr Jaleel Abdul-Adil, a convert to Islam, who is now the "new face" of American Hizb ut-Tahrir (HTA). He spoke at the August conference in Britain. Jaleel Abdul-Adil is a professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Like Dr Abdul Wahid, the spokesman for the British branch of HT, he is a psychiatrist.
At UIC, he works in the area of juvenile disorders, and is part of the Disruptive Behavior Disorders Clinic. He is also an associate professor at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. According to Abdul-Adil's resume, he specializes in "evidence-based, culturally-sensitive family therapy for urban youth, including conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, gang involvement, and inner-city violence. "
"Dr. Abdul-Adil is the co-founder of Young Warriors, a youth intervention program that uses modern rap music and hip-hop media to promote critical thinking and prosocial skills in urban adolescents. He remains involved in developing other innovative youth interventions such as using movie and television materials and faith-based collaborations with local religious institutions."
Abdul-Adil also dispenses online Islamic psychological advice, on CrescentLife.com. A video of Abdul-Adil giving a lecture on Islam can be found on YouTube.
LINKS here
Dr Jaleel Abdul-Adil also was a conference speaker at the July 19th Hizb ut-Tahrir event at the Hilton Hotel in Oak Lawn, IL. Although a speaker's schedule was not available for the conference, IPT News did obtain his name in order to report the following:
Hizb ut-Tahrir's efforts to rehabilitate its image won't be helped by the menacing tone on display Sunday. One late-afternoon panelist suggested that modern industrial powers could fall to Muslims the way Mecca fell to Mohammed nearly 1,400 years ago.
A speaker identified by conference organizers as Imam Jaleel Abdul Adil said that "if they offer us the sun, or the moon, or a nice raise, or a passport, or a house in the suburbs or even a place to pray at the job, on the condition that we stop calling for Islam as a complete way of life - we should never do that, ever do that - unless and until Islam becomes victorious or we die in the attempt." (To see the clip, click here.)
Later, the following dialogue ensued between the imam and a member of the audience over whether Shariah or the Constitution should be the supreme law of the land in the United States (click here to see the clip):
Audience member: "Would you get rid of the Constitution for Shariah, yes or no?"
Imam: "Over the Muslim world? Yes, it would be gone."
Audience Member: And so if the United States was a Muslim world, the Constitution would be gone?"
Imam: "If the United States was in the Muslim world, the Muslims who are here would be calling and happy to see the Shariah applied, yes we would."
Audience Member: "And the Constitution gone. That's all."
Imam: "Yes, as Muslims they would be long gone."
While Hizb ut-Tahrir's controversial message attracted demonstrators and some media attention, the group at least is open about its ambitions. It not only is determined to destroy capitalism -- it would shred the United States Constitution as well in favor of Shariah law. SOURCE
In related news: Hizb ut-Tahrir, whom Tony Blair promised to ban, calls for jihad and elimination of Israel at London rally. Dr Imran Waheed, told followers of Hizb ut-Tahrir that there could be "no peace" with Israel and urged them to "fight in the way of Allah." A leaflet distributed by the international wing of the organisation also called for Muslim countries to "eliminate the state of the Jews."
The remarks increased pressure on Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir. Patrick Mercer, the Tory chairman of the Commons Counter-Terrorism Subcommittee, said Dr Waheed's comments appeared to represent "incitement to violence" and accused the Government of performing a U-turn on an earlier commitment to ban it.
Speaking in Downing Street in August 2005, just a month after the London bombings, Mr Blair announced a wider crackdown on extremism, adding: "We will proscribe Hizb ut-Tahrir and the successor organisation of Al Mujahiroun."
JihadWatch
SUMMARY
Hizb-ut Tahrir professes to be non-violent, but its doctrine is virulently anti-western. It openly calls for the elimination of Israel, its adherents "to kill Jews", the "peaceful" overthrow of pro-western "puppet regimes" in the Middle East and the expulsion of all western interests from the region. It envisions achieving these goals through mass action, but eschews involvement in regional politics.
Some former members and sympathisers have been arrested in several countries in recent months on terrorism-related charges. This has raised fears that the party's hardliners have become impatient with what many have perceived as its gradualist approach and long-term strategy. That is a concept that has little appeal for the growing number of young, dispossessed Muslims radicalised by events since 9/11. Some of HT's members have been linked to Al Qaeda, and western governments are becoming increasingly alarmed. Zeyno Baran Zeyno Baran (January 31 1972 - ) is the Director of the Center for Eurasian Policy and a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, a think tank in Washington D.C.. has branded the party "a conveyor belt conveyor belt for terrorists. It indoctrinates individuals with radical ideology, priming them for recruitment by more extreme organisations where they can take part in actual operations."
SOURCE
ONE FINAL NOTE
"Dalia Mogahed, a member of President Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, joined a representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) for a television interview in Great Britain on Sunday [Oct 2009].
The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report (GMBDR) noted that Mogahed was interviewed along with Dr. Nasreen Nawaz, women's representative for HT, on the British Muslim show "Muslimah Dilemma," which airs on the Islam Channel. GMBDR described the program as "a show presented by members of Hizb ut-Tahrir" featuring Nawaz "in her capacity as spokesperson" for the group.
In some ways, Mogahed's performance during the 45-minute program (which has been posted to HT's website and can be viewed here) offers a tutorial on how not to make America's case to the Muslim world. Mogahed, who was interviewed by telephone, did not challenge any of the views expressed by Nawaz or HT - including the group's call for establishing an international caliphate and imposition of Islamic law, or sharia, which includes suppression of women's political rights.
FR THREAD and Links
SOURCES and ADDITIONAL INFO
Fox News
Wikipedia
Islam Watch
Global Security
Investigative Project
Investigative Project
CS Monitor
GlobalJihad
SOURCE
FR Thread
FR Thread
Islamist Group in America: We’ll Impose Sharia on Christians [August 5, 2013]
August 5, 2013 By
Ryan Mauro
![HizbTahrir]()
Hizb ut-Tahrir, a group so radical that the Muslim Brotherhood won’t even touch it, lives and breathes in America. Part of the reason it’s a fringe group in the U.S. is because it is mostly honest about its objectives. For example, one of its websites answers a question about the status of Christians in an Islamic State by frankly admitting that Sharia is imposed upon them and other non-Muslims.
“Everyone who carries the citizenship of the [Islamic] state enjoys the rights and is bound by Shari’ah obligations,” the Hizb ut-Tahrir (HUT) website says.
The article later reiterates that the Islamic state “implements Shari’ah upon all of those who carry the Islamic citizenship whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims…”
Of course, Islamists view this as a great aspiration, otherwise they wouldn’t believe in it. The article extols the fairness of Sharia-based governance. The “basic needs” of all Muslims and non-Muslims are guaranteed, income is redistributed and health care and education are free. Non-Muslims can even be appointed to administrative positions and file official complaints if they are abused by authorities, at least in a way that isn’t consistent with Sharia.
The description sounds swell to those that don’t notice the important caveats.
Non-Muslims have religious freedom, as long “as they are within the general system.” Non-Muslims’ attire and diet are regulated according to their own religions, as long as they are “within that which the Shari’ah rules have permitted.”
The HUT article, written by a spokesman in Lebanon, becomes vaguer when discussing the more sensitive issues. It was written in English for a non-Muslim audience, after all.
On the question of Muslims who abandon the faith, it explains, “The rule of the apostate is applied upon those who have apostatized from Islaam if they are apostates.” That means execution, but that isn’t exactly the loveliest word you want to use when promoting your ideology.
HUT then glosses over the other aspects of Sharia law:
“The state implements the rest of the Shari’ah rules and all remaining Islamic Shari’ah matters in regards to the [transactions], punishments, testimonies, ruling and economic systems amongst others upon everyone. The implementation of these matters is the same in regards to Muslims and non-Muslims alike…”
Jihad is required for the Muslim population of this Islamic State, and non-Muslim participation in this jihad is encouraged. HUT says, “Jihad is an obligation upon the Muslims and training is compulsory” for anyone over the age of 15.
Military service is mandatory for Muslims and is optional for non-Muslims. However, non-Muslims must fight “under the banner of the Muslims” and not as a separate unit and cannot participate in a war against Muslim rivals. It’s okay for Muslims to kill other Muslims in war, but it is not okay for non-Muslims to kill Muslims in war.
HUT repeatedly declares its commitment to non-violence but, again, there are important exceptions.
“[W]henever the disbelieving enemies attack an Islamic country it becomes compulsory on its Muslim citizens to repel the enemy. The Hizb ut-Tahrir in that country are part of the Muslims and it is obligatory upon them to fight the enemy and repel them. Wherever there is a Muslim amir who declares jihad, the members of Hizb ut-Tahrir will respond in their capacity as Muslims in the country where the general call to arms was proclaimed,” HUT’s website explains.
When its conferences in America receive negative attention, HUT is quick to point out that it isn’t trying to transform the country into a Sharia-based state. Like other Islamists, this sweet-sounding proclamation of innocence is conditioned upon ability. Its FAQ section says:
“In non-Muslim countries like the United States, Hizb ut-Tahrir works to cultivate a Muslim community that lives by Islam in thought and deed, whereby adhering to the rules of Islam and preserving a strong Islamic identity. The party does not work in the West to change the system of government, but works to project a positive image of Islam to Western society and engages in dialogue with Western thinkers, policymakers and academics.”
In other words, Sharia is only appropriate for Muslim-majority countries, so a Sharia-based America is a long-term goal but not a present task. HUT uses the U.S. as a launching pad to lead the worldwide Muslim community and achieve a resurrected Caliphate that can overpower the U.S.
“Hizb ut-Tahrir is determined to work within the Ummah in order to implement Islam and achieve its objective by endeavouring to gain the leadership of the Islamic Ummah so that she could accept it as her leader, to implement Islam upon her and proceed with it in her struggle against the Kuffar and in the work towards the return of the Islamic State as it was before, the leading superpower in the world,” its website says.
This isn’t any different from the 1991 U.S. Muslim Brotherhood strategic memo that called for using the U.S. to establish a base “which adopts Muslims’ causes domestically and globally,” ultimately resulting in “eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers.”
The criticism of HUT by Zaid Shakir, a popular Islamist imam in America who preaches that the U.S. Constitution is inferior to Sharia, is illuminating. He tells Muslims not to “vilify” HUT. His disagreement with the radical group is limited to its criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood and its overconfidence in the Caliphate to solve all of the Muslim world’s problems. This light treatment of HUT stands in sharp contrast to his treatment of America.
On June 21, the founder of HUT in Chicago declared in Jordan, “Let Britain, America, and the entire West go to hell, because the caliphate is coming, Allah willing.” Shockingly, the Argosy University-Chicago uses him as an adjunct professor and he is a Visiting Research Scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
On July 12, a HUT spokesperson led a rally on the Temple Mount and declared on videotape, “Allah is greater! Let America be destroyed!” and “Listen, Obama, we are a nation that does not bow down, and the Caliphate will return!”
An official from the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity, describes HUT as a “very marginalized group, a very fringe group.” Even a HUT spokesman in Illinois admits, “[W]e understand that our ideas are not mainstream.”
That does not mean HUT should be forgotten about. It has a major international network that holds large rallies around the world. It even held a 1,000-strong pro-Caliphate demonstration in the Ukraine. Its website lists branches in the U.S., Britain, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Indonesia, Egypt, Pakistan, Palestine, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Morocco.
HUT has expansive resources, it just hasn’t chosen to invest them heavily in America…yet.
This article is sponsored by the Institute on Religion and Democracy.
Islamist Group in America: We’ll Impose Sharia on Christians [August 5, 2013]
August 5, 2013 By
Ryan Mauro
![HizbTahrir]()
Hizb ut-Tahrir, a group so radical that the Muslim Brotherhood won’t even touch it, lives and breathes in America. Part of the reason it’s a fringe group in the U.S. is because it is mostly honest about its objectives. For example, one of its websites answers a question about the status of Christians in an Islamic State by frankly admitting that Sharia is imposed upon them and other non-Muslims.
“Everyone who carries the citizenship of the [Islamic] state enjoys the rights and is bound by Shari’ah obligations,” the Hizb ut-Tahrir (HUT) website says.
The article later reiterates that the Islamic state “implements Shari’ah upon all of those who carry the Islamic citizenship whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims…”
Of course, Islamists view this as a great aspiration, otherwise they wouldn’t believe in it. The article extols the fairness of Sharia-based governance. The “basic needs” of all Muslims and non-Muslims are guaranteed, income is redistributed and health care and education are free. Non-Muslims can even be appointed to administrative positions and file official complaints if they are abused by authorities, at least in a way that isn’t consistent with Sharia.
The description sounds swell to those that don’t notice the important caveats.
Non-Muslims have religious freedom, as long “as they are within the general system.” Non-Muslims’ attire and diet are regulated according to their own religions, as long as they are “within that which the Shari’ah rules have permitted.”
The HUT article, written by a spokesman in Lebanon, becomes vaguer when discussing the more sensitive issues. It was written in English for a non-Muslim audience, after all.
On the question of Muslims who abandon the faith, it explains, “The rule of the apostate is applied upon those who have apostatized from Islaam if they are apostates.” That means execution, but that isn’t exactly the loveliest word you want to use when promoting your ideology.
HUT then glosses over the other aspects of Sharia law:
“The state implements the rest of the Shari’ah rules and all remaining Islamic Shari’ah matters in regards to the [transactions], punishments, testimonies, ruling and economic systems amongst others upon everyone. The implementation of these matters is the same in regards to Muslims and non-Muslims alike…”
Jihad is required for the Muslim population of this Islamic State, and non-Muslim participation in this jihad is encouraged. HUT says, “Jihad is an obligation upon the Muslims and training is compulsory” for anyone over the age of 15.
Military service is mandatory for Muslims and is optional for non-Muslims. However, non-Muslims must fight “under the banner of the Muslims” and not as a separate unit and cannot participate in a war against Muslim rivals. It’s okay for Muslims to kill other Muslims in war, but it is not okay for non-Muslims to kill Muslims in war.
HUT repeatedly declares its commitment to non-violence but, again, there are important exceptions.
“[W]henever the disbelieving enemies attack an Islamic country it becomes compulsory on its Muslim citizens to repel the enemy. The Hizb ut-Tahrir in that country are part of the Muslims and it is obligatory upon them to fight the enemy and repel them. Wherever there is a Muslim amir who declares jihad, the members of Hizb ut-Tahrir will respond in their capacity as Muslims in the country where the general call to arms was proclaimed,” HUT’s website explains.
When its conferences in America receive negative attention, HUT is quick to point out that it isn’t trying to transform the country into a Sharia-based state. Like other Islamists, this sweet-sounding proclamation of innocence is conditioned upon ability. Its FAQ section says:
“In non-Muslim countries like the United States, Hizb ut-Tahrir works to cultivate a Muslim community that lives by Islam in thought and deed, whereby adhering to the rules of Islam and preserving a strong Islamic identity. The party does not work in the West to change the system of government, but works to project a positive image of Islam to Western society and engages in dialogue with Western thinkers, policymakers and academics.”
In other words, Sharia is only appropriate for Muslim-majority countries, so a Sharia-based America is a long-term goal but not a present task. HUT uses the U.S. as a launching pad to lead the worldwide Muslim community and achieve a resurrected Caliphate that can overpower the U.S.
“Hizb ut-Tahrir is determined to work within the Ummah in order to implement Islam and achieve its objective by endeavouring to gain the leadership of the Islamic Ummah so that she could accept it as her leader, to implement Islam upon her and proceed with it in her struggle against the Kuffar and in the work towards the return of the Islamic State as it was before, the leading superpower in the world,” its website says.
This isn’t any different from the 1991 U.S. Muslim Brotherhood strategic memo that called for using the U.S. to establish a base “which adopts Muslims’ causes domestically and globally,” ultimately resulting in “eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers.”
The criticism of HUT by Zaid Shakir, a popular Islamist imam in America who preaches that the U.S. Constitution is inferior to Sharia, is illuminating. He tells Muslims not to “vilify” HUT. His disagreement with the radical group is limited to its criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood and its overconfidence in the Caliphate to solve all of the Muslim world’s problems. This light treatment of HUT stands in sharp contrast to his treatment of America.
On June 21, the founder of HUT in Chicago declared in Jordan, “Let Britain, America, and the entire West go to hell, because the caliphate is coming, Allah willing.” Shockingly, the Argosy University-Chicago uses him as an adjunct professor and he is a Visiting Research Scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
On July 12, a HUT spokesperson led a rally on the Temple Mount and declared on videotape, “Allah is greater! Let America be destroyed!” and “Listen, Obama, we are a nation that does not bow down, and the Caliphate will return!”
An official from the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity, describes HUT as a “very marginalized group, a very fringe group.” Even a HUT spokesman in Illinois admits, “[W]e understand that our ideas are not mainstream.”
That does not mean HUT should be forgotten about. It has a major international network that holds large rallies around the world. It even held a 1,000-strong pro-Caliphate demonstration in the Ukraine. Its website lists branches in the U.S., Britain, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Indonesia, Egypt, Pakistan, Palestine, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Morocco.
HUT has expansive resources, it just hasn’t chosen to invest them heavily in America…yet.
This article is sponsored by the Institute on Religion and Democracy.
