KHILAFAH
JUMADA AL THANI / RAJAB 1426 HIJRI
04 EDITORIAL
05 A MESSAGE FROM
HIZB UT TAHRIR BRITAIN
Allah (swt) described you as the best
Ummah brought forward to mankind.
This is because you speak the truth and
face the hardships that come as a
consequence.
06 BRITISH GOVERNMENT
AIMS TO SILENCE MUSLIM
VOICE IN RESPONSE TO
LONDON ATTACKS
The aftermath of the 7th July bombings
in London has seen the development of
a renewed political campaign of
intimidation towards the Muslim
community in Britain. Inflammatory
statements made by the Prime Minister
and Home Secretary, on the day after
police announced the bombings could
be the work of 'home grown' Muslim
suicide bombers...
10 TRAITORS AND USA CHAIN
IRAQ TO OCCUPATION AND
SECTARIAN CONFLICT
The admission of the US defence
secretary that the insurgency in Iraq
could continue for years is proof, if
proof were needed, that the US
administration intends to maintain its
presence in Iraq for a long time.
AUGUST 2005
AUGUST 2005
CONTENTS
14 NEWS FROM THE
MUSLIM WORLD
1 Malaysian PM offers new Islam
suitable to the West
2 Rulers fear their own people
3 Jordan changes curriculum to
pacify Islam and rewrite history
4 America & Iran- both out of step
5 EU fearful of Islam downgrades
Turkey's entry talks
18 THE ART OF DISCUSSION
One of the greatest skills that any human
can possess is the ability to persuade
people of their ideas through discussion.
A characteristic of an effective da'wah
carrier is the ability to listen, understand
and respond in an excellent manner.
20 GLOBAL DAWAH MAP
Dawah activity from the Shabab of Hizb
ut Tahrir in recent weeks
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
Magazine International
22 ISLAMIC REVIVAL IN
CENTRAL ASIA
An Islamic revival is sweeping Central
Asia driven by the fervent desire of the
Muslims to live by Islam and fuelled by
the brutal tactics of the tyrants of the area.
Places such as Uzbekistan and Tajikistan,
indeed all the Central Asian republics, are
witnessing an unprecedented level of
Islamic activism as the people sense that
significant change is afoot.
26 KHILAFAH
THE TIME
- THE NEED OF
When the Prophet Muhammed (saw)
declared Islam and called upon people
to believe in it, he was met with
ridicule. This was followed by
oppression, boycott and torture.
30 QUOTE UNQUOTE
32 QUESTION & ANSWER
35 THE BURDEN OF
ECONOMIC DEPENDENCY
Poverty has become a worldwide
problem. An estimated 1.2 billion
people suffer from hunger, starvation or
malnutrition; 100 million are homeless
and some 300 million people in Africa
alone do not have access to clean
drinking water. The Muslim world is
suffering too; for example, in
Bangladesh...
3
 EDITORIAL KHILAFAH
Magazine International
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A s S a l a a m Wa A l a i k u m Wa R a h m a t u l l a h i Wa B a r a k a t a h u , Subscriptions & letters :: write to:

Khilafah Magazine International
In the same week as the London train and bus bombings, two other events also Suite 301, 28 Old Brompton Rd,
occurred. Firstly, the US Airforce bombed the town of Chechal in Afghanistan and then
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL

London, SW7 3SS

unleashed a further raid just as some of the villagers went out to attend to the injured
thus incurring further casualties. Many innocent men, women and children perished.
Secondly, it was the 10th anniversary of the massacre of 8000 Bosnian Muslims at the
hands of Serbian forces in Srebrenica whilst under the apparent protection of UN peace
keeping forces. These events received little coverage in the West. They too were victims. EDITORIAL
Yet, not a single Muslim ruler or regime highlighted the plight of these victims. There
were no ceremonies, plaques or two minute silences. The Islamic position on all these Editor:
attacks is clear and not selective. Islam prohibits the killing of civilians and non Zubair Hussaini
combatants and rejects the extension of war to towns and cities.
Editorial Advisor:
Mafkarat Al Islam, an Iraqi humanitarian organisation, reported that the numbers killed Tanveer Ashraf
in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion stood at 128,000. (it did not include those who
had been abducted, assassinated or simply disappeared). If the world were to observe DESIGN & PRODUCTION
even a one minute silence for these men, women and children, one would have to stand
in continued silence for 89 days! The Muslim Ummah is not in need of sympathy, Production Manager
apologies or recompense for past crimes. What we do seek is a caretaker and shepherd, Kosser Mohammad
a Khaleefah, to speak up for our brethren all around the world, to protect our Ummah
and our many victims. An individual and State that is based upon Islam and Islam alone. Design
Zabair Asghar
Prior to the Battle of Badr, the Prophet Muhammed (saw) sent an expedition to spy upon Kamal Hussain
the Quraysh. The Muslims, led by Abdullah bin Jaysh, came across some of them and in
the ensuing fracas killed one of their leaders, imprisoned others and took some of their
caravans as booty. However, the incident occurred in the sacred month of Rajab where
fighting was prohibited.
No Copyrights
The Quraysh revelled in their new found victim status and immediately spread news
throughout the Arabian Peninsula that the Muslims had violated the sacred months and
could not be trusted. They attacked Islam and slandered Abdullah bin Jaysh's actions. Since Islam rejects copyrights and patents you
The Muslims were under considerable pressure to respond to these accusations. The are free to reproduce articles contained within
Prophet (saw) was not affected by this onslaught, but He (saw) understood the unease this publication. It is our kind request that when
felt by the Muslims and reminded the believers to stand firm and await the revelation. doing so you cite the author and source of the
This duly arrived in the glorious verses of the Qur'an and Allah (swt) verdict on the issue article.
was revealed.
Translation of the Qur’an

It should be perfectly clear that the Qur’an is

only authentic in its original language, Arabic.
Since perfect translation of the Qur’an is impos-
sible, the term ‘Translation of the Meaning of the
Qur’an (TMQ) has been used, as the result is
"They ask you concerning fighting in the sacred months. Say, Fighting therein is a great only a crude meaning of the Arabic text.
transgression but a greater transgression in the sight of Allah is to prevent mankind from
following the way of Allah, to disbelieve in Him, to prevent access to Al Masjid al
Haram and to drive out its inhabitants and 'al fitnah' is worse than killing. And they will
never cease fighting you until they turn you back from your religion (Islam) if they can"
[TMQ Al-Baqarah: 217]

Upon hearing the words of Allah (swt), the Muslims rejoiced with the distribution of
sweets. They could now go back to the Quraysh and clarify the situation, their heads
held high, and with a firm resolve to end injustice and oppression.

Zubair Hussaini

4 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL AUGUST 2005


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“You are the best Ummah brought forward to
mankind, you enjoin all that is good and
forbid all that is evil and you believe in Allah”
Dear brothers and sisters!
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
Allah (swt) described you as the best Ummah brought
forward to mankind. This is because you speak the truth
and face the hardships that come as a consequence.
The brutal invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq
has caused many in our community to be at the forefront
of speaking out about western colonialism, the injustices
our Ummah faces, the killing and murder of our brothers
and sisters and the brutality of British and American foreign
policy. Speaking about all of this is not a crime; rather it is
a duty and from amongst the highest duties of a Muslim.
The Prophet (saw) reminded us of the importance of
speaking out against evil when he said:
“I (vow) by the One in Whose hands my soul rests, you
have to enjoin the Ma’ruf (good) and forbid the Munkar
(evil), otherwise Allah will send upon you a punishment
from Him, and then you would pray to Him and ask Him
but He would not answer you”.
If our Ummah does not speak the truth then who will?
Today the world is silent at what is happening to our
Ummah. The brutal murder of 120,000 civilians in Iraq is
‘collateral damage’ which is not counted. The massacre of
Andijan in Uzbekistan is hidden from the world's media.
Women scream in the dungeons of Chechnya, yet their
screams go unheard. There are no vigils for the children of
Afghanistan and no books of condolence to sign for the
children of Iraq. This is because today the value of life is
not equal.
Undoubtedly the life of anyone taken unlawfully is a
munkar (evil) - whether he be in London or Baghdad – but
how is it that lives taken by Britain and America are
justified by Western leaders to be ‘a price worth paying’?
No one questions what possesses a young man, who had
his entire life ahead of him, to put on a green beret and kill
in the name of Queen and country. No one questions that
Islam, which is demonised in the media as violent, never
sent armies to kill for oil and corporate interests.
AUGUST 2005
A Message from
Hizb ut Tahrir Britain
No one will question this if today our voices are silenced.
Voices that ask questions when the media is silent. Voices
that speak for the oppressed. Voices that carry the screams.
Voices that bring justice.
Brothers and sisters!
To speak the truth is not terrorism, extremism or a crime.
To speak the truth is a Shari'ah duty. So embrace this duty
and carry it using the best of speech and argument, with
Hikmah (wisdom).
Our Prophet (saw) carried the truth for thirteen years in
Mecca without using any violent action in retaliation to the
oppression of the Quraish which included propaganda,
physical harassment, torture and boycott. On his return
from Taif, where he was stoned by the children of the city,
he raised his hands in Du’a,
"O Allah! To You I complain of my weakness, little
resource, and lowliness before man. O Most Merciful! You
are the Lord of the weak, and You are my Lord. To whom
would. You confide me? To one afar who will misuse me or
to an enemy to whom You have given dominance over
me?"
So continue speaking the truth, for Allah (swt) will help you
and find you a way that is better.
"We will, without doubt, help our Messengers and those
who believe, (both) in this world's life and on the Day
when the Witnesses will stand forth" [TMQ Ghafir: 51]
Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain
15 July 2005/8 Jumada al-Thani 1426
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL 5
British Government aims to
silence Muslim voice
in response to London attacks
By Asif Dawood
asif.dawood@1924.org
T
he aftermath of the 7th
July bombings in London
has seen the development
of a renewed political campaign
of intimidation towards the
Muslim community in Britain.
Inflammatory statements made
by the Prime Minister and
Home Secretary, on the day
after police announced the
bombings could be the work of
'home grown' Muslim suicide
bombers, sparked off an intense
barrage of criticism, suspicion
and demands for reform on the
Muslim community.
Home Secretary, Charles Clarke,
commented on the BBC Today
programme on 13th July that he
"insisted that it was crucial to 'root out'
the sources of the ideology which
turned four British men into suicide
bombers". He went on to say, "Now
we have to defend the values of our
society against those who would seek
to destroy it. That means standing out
against - in a very strong way -
anybody who preaches the kind of
fundamentalism which can lead four
young men to blow themselves and
others up on the Tube on a Thursday
morning. There is a very fine line
between free speech and promoting
terror."
6 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
In the days since the police concluded
that they believed the attacks were
carried out by British Muslim 'suicide
bombers', scrutiny on the Muslim
community has intensified.
Government agenda to silence
the Muslim community
Tony Blair described a four point plan
in Prime Minister's Question Time on
July 13th on how the government
would now deal with the Muslim
community, these points were:
- New laws planned against
incitement and instigation of
terrorism
- New measures to keep people
inciting hatred out of the UK, or
making it more easy to deport them
- Help for the Muslim community to
counter the "evil" interpretation of
their faith
- International effort to mobilise the
"moderate and true voice of Islam"
The media wasted no time in
sensationalising this agenda and
widening the outrage towards the
community as a whole. The Times
newspaper posed four questions
towards the Muslim community, and
dwelled on one of them as it imposed
its demands on the community,
"It is the fourth question that raises the
toughest issues. Is it really possible that
no one beyond the bombers had any
inkling of their intentions? Were their
extremist views and plans unknown
even in the circle of friends and fellow
AUGUST 2005

Muslims who may have shared their
fanaticism and hostility to the society
“Therefore, the in which they grew up? A tremendous
government and burden of responsibility now rests on
the Muslim community. Its leaders,
media are using educated and articulate, have
repeatedly spoken out and condemned
the aftermath of extremism. But it is at local level that
action needs to be taken. Tolerance of
the London extremism is utterly unacceptable. It is
not some harmless view of hot-headed
bombings to youth; it is an insidious cult that feeds
sustain a climate on fanaticism, intolerance and the
mindlessly macho posing of would-be
of outrage towards rebels hoping to win glory. It leads
directly to tragedy, as the bombs in
the community, London, Madrid, Bali, Istanbul and
elsewhere have shown."
forcing them into a
Therefore, the government and media
corner to concede are using the aftermath of the London
bombings to sustain a climate of
their problems outrage towards the community,
and conform to forcing them into a corner to concede
their problems and conform to new
new reform reform measures imposed by the
government. These reform measures
measures” are consistent with the government's
wider plan to integrate the Muslim
community as was described in a
leaked joint UK Home Office and
Foreign Office dossier published in The
Sunday Times of 10th July 2005.
Some key aspects of this strategy have
been explicitly articulated by
politicians since the London attacks.
They include the following;
- Divide the community - so that
some from amongst us are
described as moderates and some
AUGUST 2005
LONDON
are described as extremists, and the
ATTACKS
two struggle against one another.
Tony Blair mentioned on 9th July
that "The moderates should confront
the extremists and defeat them".
This concords with what was
advised by think tanks such as the
RAND Corporation and CIVITAS.
- Attack Islamic ideas - which they
describe as extremist, such as
rejecting Western values of
freedom, democracy and secularism
and calling for political Islam in the
form of the Khilafah state. Other
Islamic principles such as legitimate
Jihad in occupied lands, hudood
punishments and absolute truth
have been described as extreme.
- Using Muslim organisations - the
government document elaborated
how it intends to use certain
Muslim organisations in an
underhand way. It has been willing
to work with, listen to and fund
certain groups who are 'government
friendly' in their ideals and
philosophy. The leaked document
explicitly mentions how it
manipulated the 'Muslim safety
forum' organisation for its own
ends. These groups will be further
utilised to challenge other groups
who call for ideas the government
considers extreme.
- Home Office Imams - the
document mentions a great deal
about forming a 'moderate',
'European Islam' consistent with
liberal secular values. One method is
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL 7

LONDONATTACKS
to change the face of mosque
Imams. It also mentions plans that
are already under way such that
Imams coming from overseas should
speak English, pass civic engagement
tests and have acceptable religious
qualifications. The dossier mentions
that they have already recruited a
series of moderate Prison Imams.
These policies are now being explicitly
propagated and most Muslim leaders
who have been bought before the
media are unfortunately not resisting in
the slightest, amidst fear of being
labelled 'sympathisers', or 'extremists'.
The aims of the government from these
policies are to breathe life into their
failing integration agenda. Ultimately,
they do not want the Muslim
community to become a source of
dissent towards British foreign policy
in the Muslim world, or to have
political allegiance to other than
Queen and country, or to reject British
values in preference to Islamic ones.
The opportunity presented in the
aftermath of the London bombings is
an apt window for the government to
bring out more of the stick to goad the
8 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
community into their agenda. It is
therefore imperative that the Muslim
community sense this programme and
work to resist it.
International agenda - learning
from the aftermath of 9/11
In addition to the domestic crack
down on the Muslim community, there
is another sphere of policy which the
government will try and exploit
utilising the current climate of
sympathy and anger- that is the foreign
policy agenda of supporting America's
Global War on Terror (GWOT).
If we remind ourselves of the aftermath
of September 11th 2001, an almost
identical set of events occurred then as
well and that incident was used to
unleash the GWOT on the Muslim
world. America and Bush started by
firstly condemning Muslims, followed
by creating world wide sympathy for
the atrocities and finally creating a
climate and agenda for its subsequent
actions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Anger demonstrated by the American
government was aimed at maximising
sympathy from the world's people and
leaders. Endless remembrance
ceremonies, great speeches of grief
and suffering milked the emotions of
opinion throughout the world. This in
itself was not unexpected as in Islam
such attacks are not permitted and it is
natural for anger and grief to be
displayed as a result. But the point to
consider is how America utilised this
opinion and sentiment for her unjust
purposes. It played upon this sentiment
and began intimidating Muslim
countries and peoples around the
world. In the follow up to 9/11
America paved the way to steam roll
through the Muslim world unabated.
George W Bush's arrogant statement
"you're either with us - or you're with
the terrorists" was not something that
was just mumbled out of anger. It was
a deliberate ploy to harness the
sympathy America was receiving and
force all people and governments to
declare their positions, and in doing so
they strengthened America's hand. The
leaders of the whole world unified and
condemned the perpetrators of 9/11,
and hence they positioned themselves
alongside America.
By unreservedly condemning the
attacks of 9/11, the Muslim rulers and
leaders in the West strengthened
America's moral authority to respond
and they were thereafter sidelined and
unable to resist in any manner
America's brutal retaliation. Therefore,
every country that condemned the
perpetrators of 9/11 without
condemning America's killings
throughout the world actually
strengthened her hand to consequently
go on and strike as and where she
wished.
The problem that the world now faces
is that America refuses to be restrained
by anything, and has built a perpetual
legitimacy for wars, killings and
occupations of foreign lands. In the
run up to the war in Iraq, the US
administration were straining every
sinew to link 9/11 with Saddam, and
as a result of their attempts the
majority of American people actually
believed that the war in Iraq was in
retaliation for 9/11.
AUGUST 2005
Stephen Zumes, writing for the News
centre as Middle East editor for Foreign
Policy and a professor of Politics at the
University of San Francisco
commented on such a strategy when
he said,
"Both Republican and Democratic
presidents have repeatedly tried to
portray U.S. military intervention in
far-away lands-no matter how weak
the enemy or imperialistic the quest-as
vital to the defence of the United
States. President Bush has an
advantage over every other U.S.
president in his lifetime in that the
United States was attacked under his
watch. That Iraq had nothing to do
with that tragedy is apparently beside
the point."
On the 28th June, George Bush
made a speech to the American
people to try and reverse the falling
domestic support for the Iraq war.
His speech was almost exclusively
attempting to link Iraq to 9/11 and
use this to once again rally domestic
opinion for it.
After re-declaring his horror of 9/11
and subsequent attacks by Al-Qaida
and related groups elsewhere in the
world, he stressed America's
determination to defend itself against
future attacks and linked this to the
Iraq occupation, he said,
"Iraq is the latest battlefield in this
war."
These events show clearly that Western
nations will use such attacks to further
their wider political plans. They do not
view such incidents in isolation, but
use every opportunity to gain world
wide sympathy and support for their
policies and discriminatory measures.
This is because they have an ideology
that relentlessly drives them to further
their interests at all opportunities. It
enables them to place events within a
context and make decisions so as to
further their aims. They see the bigger
picture at all times and therefore use
such attacks to paint their grief and
suffering as worthy of international
AUGUST 2005
sympathy so nobody should resist acceptable to the West, Tony Blair's
LONDONATTACKS
their subsequent independently statement "The moderate and true
determined response. voice of Islam must be mobilised" is a
disgraceful admission of how he
In the current climate Muslims in wants to decide how Muslims
Britain need to be aware of the worship Allah (swt).
consequences of their statements. If
they are not balanced in their 4 We must become more vocal in
criticism of the killings of innocents advocating that Muslims in the West
throughout the world, they will must fulfil their obligation to Islam,
inevitably strengthen the hand of the work for the Khilafah and actively
British government in the aftermath of condemn the wars and oppression in
these attacks. Muslim lands. We must play an
international role to support the
The plans mentioned in the leaked Muslim Ummah.
dossier, from the reports of think
tanks and from the lips of Tony Blair We must remember the example of the
himself demonstrate that the Prophet (saw) when he (saw) reminded
government wants to define Islam in us of the importance of speaking out
an image that is liberal and secular. against evil,
Some of their styles they have chosen
to realise means that we could "I (vow) by the One in Whose hands
potentially be divided into two my soul rests, you have to enjoin the
camps, the extremist and the liberal. Ma'ruf (good) and forbid the Munkar
The boundaries of these camps will (evil), otherwise Allah will send upon
not be determined by Muslims, but you a punishment from Him, and then
by the British establishment. you would pray to Him and ask Him
but He would not answer you".
There are some important
implications to consider in the
upcoming weeks and months that
could have a lasting affect on the
identity of the Muslim community in
Britain for years to come.
1 If Muslims succumb to this
intimidation our voice will become
silenced and we will simply witness
the West's injustices across the
Muslim world as spectators and
have no voice in support of our
Ummah. Thereby, we will betray our
position as members of the Muslim
Ummah keeping watch over our
brothers in any way we can.
2 If Muslims insist on repeatedly
condemning these attacks without
resisting the political and media
attack upon them, then they are
actually strengthening the
establishment hand against them by
building further sympathy and
moral authority for the
establishment to act upon.
3 Muslims must resist all attempts to
reform our deen in order to make it
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL 9
 IRAQ
Traitors and USA chain Iraq
to occupation and
sectarian conflict
By Zubair Hussaini
zubair.hussaini@1924.org
T
he admission of the US
defence secretary that the
insurgency in Iraq could
continue for years is proof, if
proof were needed, that the US
administration intends to
maintain its presence in Iraq for
a long time. President Bush's
insistence that America will not
define a timetable for
withdrawal and his stated aim to
remain in Iraq until the Iraqi
forces are fully trained to take
on the task of quelling the
insurgency is a clearer
indication that America intends
to stay in the region for
decades.
For it is well known to all that follow
these events that the Iraqi army and
police have no credibility amongst the
people of Iraq, are poorly trained and
maintained and are far from being in
any position to provide law and order,
let alone stop the insurgency and
rebellion to occupation. As one Iraqi
officer commented, "We don't want to
take responsibility. The way the
10 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
situation is, we wouldn't be ready to
take responsibility for a thousand
years."
By America linking her continued
presence in Iraq to the training of a
new army and police force, she has
revealed her wicked intentions to use
the sons of Iraq to do her devilish
handiwork in suppressing the Muslims
whilst America solidifies her presence
behind the scenes with the building of
permanent bases.
In recent months the US administration
has been scrambling around to
produce an effective strategy that
could stop the insurgency in Iraq as
well as provide justification for the
occupation. The January 30th elections
were expected to be a watershed for
the US administration with authority
being transferred to elected
representatives. In the end, only those
who are the traitors and collaborators
from amongst some of the Shiah and
Kurds put their names forward to
contest.
The interim Iraqi government were
complicit in these crimes. They
remained silent whilst the US bombed
Fallujah to silence the resistance prior
to the elections and helped maintain
the charade even though areas such as
Ramadi, Mosul and Salahadin were
no-go areas for US forces. In
desperation, the puppet Allawi regime
had to bribe people to vote by
threatening to remove their food and
ration cards and large parts of Iraq
were not even contested as it was too
dangerous for the collaborators in the
government to even venture there.
Some of the Shiah were beguiled into
participating due to the erroneous
fatawa of those who cannot see events
for what they are. Ayatollah Sistani's
plea to "Vote or go to hellfire" coerced
many into voting as did Prime
Minister's Jafaari's pledge that he
would secure a timetable for US troop
withdrawal if elected. On the night of
the elections Jafaari betrayed his
promise and stated that a timetable for
withdrawal would not be possible.
Many of our Kurdish brethren also lost
all sense of shame and honour as they
were duped into supporting the US
instigated elections by America's
promise for regional autonomy and a
few positions in the new government.
Since the farcical elections of January
30th, the rebellion and opposition to
the US forces and her lackeys in the
Iraqi government has continued.
Indeed, the insurgency has gained
strength and has drawn support from
many quarters amongst the people of
Iraq.
AUGUST 2005
America has realised that a purely

TRAITORS AND USA CHAIN IRAQ

military solution to the issue of the
resistance has failed. Her soldiers
continue to die in numbers, the US
military are openly questioning the
Bush strategy and public opinion at
home is weakening. Hence, America
has started on a new course of tactics
to divide and manipulate the Muslims,
so as to put Muslim against Muslim,
Shiah against Sunni, and Sunni against
Kurd. All this has been hidden by a
smokescreen of transferring authority
to the Iraqis and encouraging political
participation. The details of how
America and her agents in the Iraqi
government are inciting sectarian
hatred and ill feeling amongst the
Muslims include the following:

- Since the elections America has

instructed the Iraqi government and
the major parties such as the United
Iraqi Alliance (UIA) and Supreme
Council for Islamic revolution
(SCIRI) to use their militia to target
prominent Sunnis from within those
that oppose the occupation.
Assassinations, kidnappings and "This is a play, a scenario of theirs. This
killings of Imams have become a
regular occurrence. These have
civil war will not happen because the
included prominent figures such as Iraqi people are linked by their Arabic
Sheikh Hasan al Nu'aimi. Reports
have emerged of Shiah militia origins and religion. The Shiah follow the
groups putting on army uniforms to
enter mosques to attack Sunnis.
lines of the Imams and they co-ordinate
Other militia groups such as the with the Sunnis. Even if the Sultan is a
Wolf brigade have received
financial assistance and military Sunni - even if he is a dictator or
training from the US and have oppressor - we will follow him and obey
helped them in their attacks such as
'operation lightning' in the west of him, and we will not obey the idolaters.
Iraq.
Our Imams fought [alongside] with the
In response to the targeting of Amawayin states [the Caliphates that
Sunnis by some Shiah militia
groups, Sheikh Harith al-Dari, opposed the Imams Ali and Hussein] and
spokesman for the Association of
Muslim Scholars (AMS), said;
with the Abbasids and with the sectarian
"I declared previously that we knew Ottomans. [Ayatollah Baghdadi]
the parties standing behind the
assassinations conducted against
Imams, preachers and places of
worship….we will uncover the
party for you. It is the Badr brigade"
[militia group linked to SCIRI]

AUGUST 2005 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL 11


TRAITORS AND USA CHAIN IRAQ
"The Prophet
Mohammad (saw) told
his army 'Don't kill old
men, women or the
wounded and take
care of animals'-while
now the enemies kill
women, children and
old people. I swear
that everything that is
happening in our
country is because we
strayed from our
religion. We strayed
from Islam and took
the democracy of the
infidels and the
freedom of the
infidels. There is no
solution except
Islam."
[Sheikh Hussein]
12 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
- US assaults on major cities have
continued with the stated aim to
disavow the insurgency. However,
in recent weeks the US has focused
its attention on towns and villages
on the Syrian-Iraq border as being
the point at which 'foreign terrorists'
are entering the country. Yet it has
also targeted civilian areas with the
aim of inflaming Sunni opinion and
fanning the flames of Sunni-Shiah
animosity. The city of Al Qaim was
attacked indiscriminately in May
this year; US air power bombed the
city and surrounding villages;
ambulances were prevented from
attending to the injured and
medical teams were left with no
facilities. A similar pattern has
emerged in other areas such as Al-
Karabilah and Al-Sadr city.
- The Iraqi government have
increased the use of force and terror
against the Sunni population. Many
of the Shiah within the government
have allowed their hatred of
Saddam and the Baath party to
obscure the fact that Saddam never
represented the Sunnis of Iraq-he
was a tyrant and oppressor to all. To
blame the Sunnis for Saddam's
actions is to play into the hands of
those who want to create enmity
between the believers.
Notwithstanding this, some of the
Shiah militia have joined the Jafaari
regime to settle old scores. General
Hassan al Sade, chief of police in
Basra, conceded that up to 75% of
his police force was made up of
militia groups and that he had very
little control over their activities.
Furthermore, The Washington Post
reported in May that US
Commander General George Casey
had put pressure on Prime Minister
Jafaari to extend the state of
emergency in Iraq and use whatever
means he had at his disposal to
attack insurgent strongholds.
- The use of militia groups as part of
a wider plan to incite sectarian
feeling has been a deliberate ploy
of the new government. President
Jalal Talabani alluded to this in an
interview with the BBC in April
2005, where he questioned the
tactics of using trained police and
army personnel to quell the
insurgency and restore law and
order. Rather, Talabani insisted on
the inclusion of the militia to fight
alongside the police forces so as to
aid the Iraqi government and help
in stopping the insurgency.
- America has also reversed its policy
of 'de-baathification' to include
many former Baathist generals and
officers in the Iraqi government on
the pretext of including more
Sunnis in the political process. After
the war in March 2003, many
Saddam loyalists and army
personnel were prevented from
holding any positions within Iraq as
it was felt they were too closely
aligned to the previous regime. The
US administration is now insisting
on returning former Baathists to
government and official posts.
However, America knows full well
that the overwhelming opinion
amongst the Sunni population is
outright hostility to the occupation
and the Iraqi government
irrespective of whoever allies with
it. Thus, the inclusion of Baathists is
not intended to convince the Sunnis
of co-operating but to inflame and
antagonise the wider Shiah
population and Shiah militia.
AUGUST 2005
 Indeed, it has been reported that the
inclusion of former Baathists in the
new government has led to counter-
insurgency death squads that have
targeted both Sunni and Shiah alike.
In this way the seeds of sectarian
conflict are being planted by
America with the help of the traitors
and collaborators in the Iraqi
government.
- The US is seeking to sow division
within the Sunnis in Iraq with
attempts to drag some of them into
the government. Regrettably, a few
weak and misguided persons have
succumbed and are aiding America
in her dirty work in return for some
petty benefits. From amongst them
have been the likes of Sadun al
Dulaimi, Defence Minister, who as
a Sunni in the Iraqi government has
been used to send troops into
mosques, round up thousands of
suspected insurgents and interrogate
Sunnis. The US is also using well
known collaborators and those with
strong ties to it, like Adnan
Pachachi, to stir up division.
Pachachi has claimed that the Sunni
boycott of the January elections has
resulted in Shiah dominance and
that only by participating in writing
the new Iraqi constitution can the
balance be redressed. The New York
Times reported that Pachachi and
some other parties are intending to
participate in the next set of
elections. Equally, the US has
attempted to target some of the
Ulema in order to create a 'Sunni
Sistani', someone who will give
authority and credence to the US
occupation. America appears to
have succeeded in this with the
announcement in early July by Dr
Adnan al Dulaimi, head of the
Sunni Endowment group and
director of mosques, to his followers
to vote in the next set of elections
scheduled for December 2005.
All attempts to incite sectarian hatred
amongst the Muslims must fail and no-
one must be fooled by the desperate
attempts of America to provoke civil
and sectarian war to justify and
AUGUST 2005
prolong her occupation. Targeting
Sunni or Shiah whether at the
instigation of America or by other
means is a crime against Islam. The
Shiah and Sunni in Iraq have lived for
centuries with and amongst one
another and there is not a single
family in Iraq which does not have a
mix of both Sunni and Shiah within it.
In the early part of the 20th Century,
Shiah and Sunni cooperated with one
another in the Basra uprising of 1914
and in resisting the British occupation
of 1920. As Allah (swt) warns
regarding the disbelievers,
'They are the enemies, so beware of
them' [TMQ Al-Munafiqun: 4]
The insurgency in Iraq cannot be
described as a Sunni resistance alone
or only confined to Baghdad or the
west of the country. For resistance has
been seen in all parts including
Karbala, Hilla and Diwaniyah. After
bombs and explosions occurred in
Najaf and Karbala the loudspeakers at
the mosques were heard to say "We
blame the Americans, let's expel the
Americans, let's unite to expel them
from Iraq, let's unite as one religion."
In anti-US demonstrations in
Baghdad, Najaf and Basra Sunni and
Shiah marched together with the
slogans "La Sunna, la Shiah; hatha al-
watan menbi'a" (no Sunni, no Shiah,
this homeland we shall not sell).
We must beware of the plans of those
who want to sow discord amongst us
by selling their deen to the Americans
for positions of power; the likes of
Allawi, Pachachi, Chalabi, Talabani,
Barzani and Jafaari. The US has lost
all remaining respect, decency and
noble values by its conduct in Iraq-
this is clear to the whole world and it
now wants it agents in the Iraqi
government to continue with this. As
Sheikh Hussein from the west of Iraq
explained, "The Prophet Mohammad
(saw) told his army 'Don't kill old
men, women or the wounded and
take care of animals'-while now the
enemies kill women, children and
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
old people. I swear that everything
that is happening in our country is
because we strayed from our religion.
We strayed from Islam and took the
democracy of the infidels and the
freedom of the infidels. There is no
solution except Islam."
All Muslims must ignore those scholars
who are collaborating with the Iraqi
regime, in various forms, by slowly
preparing the ground work for
recognition of the occupation and a
weakening of the resistance. There are
many within Iraq who have been
steadfast in upholding the Truth. From
both the Sunni and Shiah, figures such
as Ayatollah Qasim al Tai, Sheikh
Hussein, Ayatollah Ahmad Hassani al-
Baghdadi and Sheikh Jawad al-Khalisi,
the Imam of the Shiah Qadhimiya
mosque in Baghdad. We should take
note from the wise words of these
scholars; Ayatollah Baghdadi recently
said,
"This is a play, a scenario of theirs. This
civil war will not happen because the
Iraqi people are linked by their Arabic
origins and religion. The Shiah follow
the lines of the Imams and they co-
ordinate with the Sunnis. Even if the
Sultan is a Sunni - even if he is a
dictator or oppressor - we will follow
him and obey him, and we will not
obey the idolaters. Our Imams fought
[alongside] with the Amawayin states
[the Caliphates that opposed the
Imams Ali and Hussein] and with the
Abbasids and with the sectarian
Ottomans."
Allah (swt) says,
'Muhammed is the Messenger of Allah
and those are with him are severe
against the disbelievers and merciful
among themselves' [TMQ Al-Fath: 29]
13
 NEWS
MALAYSIAN PM OFFERS NEW ISLAM
SUITABLE TO THE WEST
gradualism and hopes that people will make the reference
"easiness in to "Islamic Hadari" instead of Quran and
implementation". Sunnah.
There have been
many Muslims and Such ideas and attempts have long existed,
opposition parties such as the idea of "Maslaha" or "Benefit",
who have called for which has its roots in Islam, but has been
Islam to be twisted beyond recognition by those
implemented totally looking for any opportunity to redefine
and completely in Islam in the shape of western beliefs.
Malaysia. They view
this new approach Islam, in its original and pure form, has the
from Badawi as a complete means by which to look after the
means to curb their affairs of Muslims and non-Muslims alike, as
call by redefining it has done for many centuries prior to the
Islam. In response to present age where it does not exist
them Badawi held a politically in any lands. A genuine Islamic
GLOBALNEWS

Prime Minister of Malaysia, Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi, recently launched his
new vision "Islam Hadari" (Islamic
Civilisation), which he claims is a new
model to develop Malaysia with an
Islamic image. According to Badawi,
Islam Hadari emphasizes the
importance of progress-with an
Islamic perspective-in the economic,
social, and political fields. He also
claims that Islam Hadari is consistent
with democracy because it is about
living peacefully and respecting each
other in a society. In another speech
Badawi spoke of Islam Hadari's ability
to foster a multi-racial society where
non-Muslims would not feel
threatened.
According to the Malaysian ministry of
religious affairs, four characteristics make
up the ideology of Islam Hadari:
Comprehensiveness, Moderation, Diversity
and Humanity. Of these characteristics
Moderation is the main methodology for
the perspective, which is based on
day seminar where
he was forced to
defend his stance in
which he stated, "I
am not trying to
eliminate Islam or
change the religion".
The fact of the matter
is that this is exactly
what he is trying to
do; attempting to
change Islam so that
it accepts western values, practices and
principles.
There has been mounting international
pressure from Human Rights organizations
and Western governments about the levels
of Islamic influence in present day
Malaysian communities. Therefore, Badawi
has embarked on a program of
Westernizing Malaysian Muslim society, by
making the basis by which people judge
issues other than Islam. He is attempting to
replace Islam with Human Rights and
Islamic Hadari (which is a concoction of
western values) and his justification is that
all this "agrees" with Islam. His reassurances
to pro-western detractors about the
similarity with democracy and other
western values clearly reveal this fact. If
Islamic Hadari truly agreed with Islam, then
what is the point of it? Would it not be said
then that by implementing Islam one would
achieve Islamic Hadari? The reality is that
Islamic Hadari does not agree with Islam, it
is a western model that is being brought in
to replace the Islamic culture in the minds
of the people. Hence in the future when
further secular ideas are introduced, Badawi
state can only function when all of Islam is
implemented in its politics, economics and
judiciary and where society is shaped by
Islam alone. Badawi's promotion of Islam
Hadari reveals Malaysia's distance from a
true Islamic state. If there are problems in
Malaysian society it is because Islam is not
implemented. Failures in society are
wrongly attributed upon "shortcomings" in
Islam, when the shortcomings are actually
in the conflict of trying to implement
secularism in the name of Islam!
In truth there is no need to invent new
programs like "Islamic Hadari" when the
Islamic system already has the guidelines to
deal with the problems of modern day
society. All that is required is the sincerity
and knowledge to implement Islam in full,
by establishing the Khilafah.
Badawi is fooling no one by masquerading
Malaysia as an Islamic State, when it clearly
runs on western political and economic
lines. Being a product of a corrupted
western ruling program, the people realise
that he is only capable of presenting similar
westernised political models whilst dressing
them up in Islamic terminology. The revival
of the Muslims today has reached such a
stage that they will only accept the genuine
call to Islam and reject all attempts to alter
it in any way.
Asim Khan

14 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL AUGUST 2005


Rulers fear their
own people
Palestinian Prime Minister, Ahmed
Qureia, received a warm welcome by
his own people recently when he vis-
ited the Balata refugee camp in
Nablus, in the West Bank. As he
entered a sports club filled with
around 500 people, he was wel-
comed by two minutes of fire from
an M-16 rifle. The gun was still firing
whilst he and his compatriots made a
hasty exit and fled.
Fortunate for him, the gunfire was aimed
towards the sky, but was nonetheless aimed
politically at him. As he and his fellow
ministers hurriedly drove away from the
people they preside over, an explosive
device was let off in close proximity, in a
final parting gesture.
The gunman, Mahmoud Hatib, a 21-year-
old member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigade, explained that he was protesting
at the neglect the leadership had shown
the people. Mahmoud was recently
released from an Israeli prison, where his
father had also spent 21 years.
AUGUST 2005
"Officials live in luxury," he complained,
"while people like us, who have given so
much for Palestine, have got nothing."
Though Prime Minister Qureia had dozens
of bodyguards around him, none of them
attempted to arrest Mahmoud, knowing full
well that the vast majority of people felt
just like he did, and indeed viewed his
actions as heroic.
This sad state of affairs is repeated through-
out the Muslim world today, from
Indonesia to Morocco. Those who struggle
for the sake of Islam, to protect the honour
and dignity of the Muslim people and keep
the Islamic lands safe from the predators of
the West, are all too often obstructed by
their own leaderships. Whilst the people
give their lives and wealth to protect their
nations, it is often their own rulers who are
shedding their blood and squandering their
wealth.
The Muslim Ummah is kept from protect-
ing their rights and interests by rulers who
receive political and military protection by
foreign powers in order to keep their
thrones. Such leaders live a life of luxury,
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
NEWS
without want or need, and in return they
sign away the precious resources and sover-
eignty of the Muslim lands to the foreign
hands that feed them.
Is this not the case of Palestine? The
Western appointed Palestinian leadership
shows nothing but empty platitudes to
Israeli transgression whilst it rewards itself
with hollow political titles and great per-
sonal wealth. What more can be said of
the Palestinian leadership that receives
praise from their enemies yet bullets from
their own people.
This is the same case for Musharraf of
Pakistan, who has signed away ownership
of much of his nation's wealth to western
multinationals, surrendered its security to
America's military, and given up half a cen-
turies struggle in Kashmir without any gain
whatsoever. He has received in return for
GLOBALNEWS
such treachery adulation, praise and photo
opportunities from the White House.
The Muslim leaders of today have no
resemblance at all to the leaderships in
Islamic history. The rightly guided Khulafah,
and the Allah (swt) fearing Wulah (gover-
nors) that were appointed over the people,
lived like the people they ruled over. They
lived, worked and prayed amongst their
people. Their concerns and actions were for
the interests of Islam and the Muslim
Ummah, not for the greed of foreign pow-
ers. They were often loved by their subjects,
not fearing to walk amongst them, and
received praise and criticism with humility.
Many of the Wulah had open door policies,
where anyone was free to enter their house-
holds, day or night. Many of them had little
wealth, and what wealth they had, they
gave it away in Allah's (swt) cause.
The Muslim leaders of today live lives that
are far removed from the pain and misery
they cause to the people they represent.
Their values, aspirations and vision have no
bearing to that of Islam or the Muslim
Ummah. They are mere puppets serving the
needs of foreign powers. Being scared by a
few bullets fired into the air is nothing com-
pared to the severe punishment the
impending Khilafah will levy upon them for
their crimes against the Ummah.
Tanveer Ashraf
15
 NEWS
AMERICA & IRAN- BOTH OUT OF STEP
Even before a single vote had been cast,
America had already decided to dismiss
the Iranian presidential election held in
June. Bush said, "Power is in the hands of
an unelected few who have retained
power through an electoral process that
ignores the basic requirements of democ-
racy." After the election, America was
quick to describe the electoral process as
flawed and that Iran was out of step with
GLOBALNEWS
moves towards democracy in the region.
Yet scrutiny of American actions in the region
and beyond demonstrates that it is America
that is out of step with democracy. One of the
basic tenants of democracy is that elections
must be held fairly and free from local or for-
eign interference.
However, this was not observed during the
elections in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan.
These elections were conducted under foreign
occupation, insecurity was rampant, voters
were too frightened to vote and the turnout
was dubious to say the least. Despite this, the
elections were hailed by America as a victory
for democracy.
Furthermore, the selection of the leaders, the
drafting of the constitutions and the convening
of elections were all conducted under the
guardianship of America. America hand picked
Abbas, Karzai and Jafaari to oversee the imple-
mentation of pro-American policies. In the
case of Afghanistan and Iraq, America used the
Loya Jirga and Iraqi Governing Council to
enshrine American inspired canons that would
assure America's dominance over the people
of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Undeterred and unashamed, America still con-
tinues to interfere in the electoral process of
many Muslim countries. Threatened by
Islamists, America has taken the precautionary
step of postponing the parliamentarian elec-
tions in Afghanistan and Palestine. In the case
of Palestine, the Legislative Council was
ordered by Abbas to amend the election law,
so as to prevent Hamas from winning a major-
ity of the seats in the parliament.
America's unabashed support for the munici-
pal elections in Saudi-Arabia, the upcoming
16 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
presidential elections in Egypt and her silence
over the low turnout in the Lebanese election
(the turnout was higher during Syrian pres-
ence) stinks of hypocrisy and falls way short of
the democracy standards that are taught in
American high schools.
In comparison, the presidential elections in
Iran are much more credible. Elections took
place in a relative safety with a 62 % voter
turn out. This was 2 % higher than 2004 US
presidential election. There may have been
some voting irregularities as voiced by
Rafsanjani, but these pale into insignificance
when compared to the farce of the 2000 US
presidential race, where the level of corruption
uncovered rivals that of many banana
republics.
Instead of preaching to Muslim countries
about the virtues of democracy, America
should examine its own handiwork at subvert-
ing democracy in the region. Surely it is
America that is out of step with democracy.
Those who argue that the election of
Ahmadinejad will usher in a fundamentalist
government in Iran are equally mistaken. A
cursory study of Iran's constitution inspired by
Ayatollah Khomeini reveals that it is a secular
state which limits the role of Islam in social,
educational, economic, and foreign affairs. The
few laws of Islam that are implemented are
designed to mollify the Islamic sentiments of
Iranian people.
This gives Iran an Islamic appearance, similar
to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan which also pre-
tend to be Islamic. Professing Iran to be
Islamic, while implementing non-Islamic rules
makes the Iranian regime out of step with
Islam.
Islam stipulates that Muslims must choose a
ruler who will govern all aspects of their lives
according to the rules derived from the Qur'an
and the Sunnah. This can only be accom-
plished by electing a Khaleefah and re-estab-
lishing the Khilafah State. The Khilafah guaran-
tees legitimate representation for the ummah
as well as ensuring that sovereignty belongs to
God.
All of this shows that the western countries are
as far from democracy as the Muslim regimes
are far from Islam. Both are driven by the cul-
ture of secularism, which lies and cloaks itself
with false ideals, whilst political and economic
interests are always the driving force. Truly the
world needs the pure and sincere Islamic
Khilafah, whose leadership will be driven by
the interests of Islam alone, which will be
clear, pure and truthful.
Abid Mustafa
JORDAN CHANGES
CURRICULUM TO
PACIFY ISLAM AND
REWRITE HISTORY
An official re-assessment of the Jordanian
education curriculum is under way as a
government-sanctioned committee
reviews the nation's educational frame-
work. The review is part of the project
entitled 'The collection of values of
human rights, culture of peace, and shared
international values' implemented by the
Jordanian Ministry of Education in co-
operation with the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO)
According to the Jordanian Ministry of
Education, in light of 'conspiracy theories' cur-
rently taught by the curriculum such as the
wild and unfounded idea (sic) of a western
conspiracy to divide the Muslim world,
schoolbooks are being rewritten, curricula
reassessed and teaching techniques scrapped.
The move entails a revamping of the content
in curricula in order to create a more 'open'
mindset. Jordan's Minister of Education said,
"We want to cultivate an enlightened youth
who won't take their faith blindly. We want
them to be thoughtful about what they are
doing, and teach them that violence for the
sake of violence is against our faith." Insisting
that the changes are an improvement and not
reform, educators intend that the new youth of
Jordan will be taught about democratic ideas
and Islam as well as non-violent resistance in
the current age.
The educational reforms in Jordan are by no
means an insignificant change of direction but
they are rather part of a wider scheme set to
initiate reform across Jordan and the wider
Middle East. The Minister of Education boasted
to the Jordanian news agencies that, "the min-
istry of education had begun introducing con-
cepts of human rights into the education cur-
riculum in the 90s". Jordan's eagerness has
won praise from Washington, which the
Jordanian ambassador boasted about in 2003,
"the U.S. administration is pleased with the
performance of Jordan in terms of economic
AUGUST 2005

and social development and considers Jordan
at the forefront of the reformation process in
the region".
Under the pretext of eliminating conspiracy
theories, the Jordanian government is actively
initiating a program to indoctrinate the youth
with western values in their early years, and
teach them their history as the West would
want it presented. This education is supple-
mented by vicious repression of those who
wish to impress the Islamic concepts and
Islamic view about the current and historic sit-
uation in the region. Indeed, the Jordanian
government is known to silence by torture all
those who sincerely carry the call for Islam,
even if they work peacefully and intellectually.
The regime's claim that violence for the sake
EU FEARFUL OF ISLAM DOWNGRADES TURKEY'S ENTRY TALKS
European politicians have started to raise
doubts in public about Turkey's entry into
the European Union. Austrian Finance
Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser said that
Turkish membership "would make
excessive demands of Europe." Spanish
Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos
acknowledged after the French and Dutch
referendums, that "without a doubt" the
two rejections were "going to affect"
further expansion plans. Polls in France
and the Netherlands showed that
opposition to Turkey's membership was
one of the key reasons voters gave for
opposing the EU constitution.
The latest developments pour cold water on
Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul's claim last
December that the European Union's decision
to extend membership talks with Turkey
contributes to the Muslim country's stability and
gives it a new position in Europe and the
Islamic world.
Thus European Union's relationship with
Turkey no longer rests on Turkey undergoing
extensive political and economic reforms.
Rather future relations between the two will be
decided by two major factors.
The first is the 'clash of civilizations' and is
pretty obvious to politicians as well as the
peoples of both Europe and Turkey that this
clash is inevitable and ongoing. Valery Giscard
d'Estaing, the former French president once said
that the entry of Turkey, as an Islamic and mostly
Asian power, would spell "the end of Europe".
Today Giscard's remarks are not only echoed by
fellow European politicians, but are widely
shared amongst the populations of Britain,
France, Germany and several other countries.
There is a deep sense of Islamaphobia, which
has swept the region and rekindled past
memories of the Ottoman Caliphate dominating
AUGUST 2005
of violence is against their faith falls down
when one considers the oppression handed
out to their opponents.
It is clear that that the Jordanian government
would rather indoctrinate the youth with a sec-
ular understanding of Islam combined with
decadent values. A move that will render the
nation complicit to all western goals, and keep
its youth intoxicated on a diet of propaganda.
A clear indication of this is the pleasure of the
US government in seeing rulers in the Muslim
world pushing for such values as pacifism and
secular tolerance which coincide with
American interests of making the Muslim
world accept the unjust status quo in the
Middle East. Whilst the West pushes for paci-
fism and tolerance in the Muslim world, it
the affairs of Europe. Equally, the Muslims of
Turkey are opposed to joining the EU. They fear
that they will be stripped of their Islamic identity
and forced to adopt western values.
For example the EU's chastisement over
Turkey's plan to outlaw adultery was quickly
reversed by Ankara. This angered many Turks
and only heightened their anxiety that Europe
was intentionally targeting Islamic values.
This in part is born out of the climate of fear
produced by America's war on Islam and in
part due to the centuries old conflict between
Christendom and Islam. This polarization in
attitudes is impossible to overcome, unless the
ideological differences between the two
cultures are debated and settled.
To proceed in the absence of such a dialogue
will result in failure, no matter what progress is
made towards achieving the political and
economic goals set out by the EU.
The second is that Europe has failed to
accommodate its own Muslim populations, so
what are the odds that it can successfully
manage the inclusion of 70 million Turks?
Take the example of Britain, where Muslims are
the most socially deprived ethnic group. In
October 2004 the British newspaper The
Guardian reported: 'Muslims had the highest
rate of unemployment, the poorest health, the
most disability and fewest educational
qualifications. In most respects Muslim women
fared worse than Muslim men did.'
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
NEWS
wages barbaric wars in these same lands in an
effort to gain total political control by force.
This is why the West is so happy with the pup-
pets it places over the Muslim world, because
they continuously ignore the blatant hypocrisy
and harm done by the Western states to the
Muslim world.
The latest move by the Jordanian government is
another act in further corrupting the Islamic
concepts in the Muslim Ummah. The issue now
is how the Muslims, both in Jordan and interna-
tionally, respond to the continuous and treach-
erous attempts of their leaders to destroy Islam.
Imaad Al-Islam
Muslims in France and Germany fair much
GLOBALNEWS
worse. The banning of the hijab, the random
interrogation of young Muslims and the
withholding of citizenship are at the forefront of
discriminatory acts carried out against Muslims.
Add to this, the reluctance of the European powers
to intervene and protect the Muslims of Bosnia
and Kosovo, preferring instead for the conflict to
be resolved by the annihilation of the Muslims,
underscores Europe's attitude towards Muslims
living on its shores. In European minds, the above
examples only reinforce the idea that Muslims and
Islam are incompatible with secularism.
It is hard to believe that the current clash
between Islam and the West and the injustices
committed by Europeans towards their own
Muslim populace has escaped the notice of
Turkish leaders.
If Prime Minister Gul is serious about Turkey
occupying a new position in the Muslim world
then the very least he can do is to stand firm
against Europe's oppression of its Muslim
populace.
This can be achieved by Turkey demanding a
significant improvement in their circumstances
as a precursor to any talks between Turkey and
the EU. Such a bold gesture would dramatically
increase Turkey's standing in the Muslim world.
Thereafter, Gul should dwell profoundly on
Turkey's past in order to discover how the
present Turkey can occupy a new position in
Europe. He would quickly conclude that only
in Islam and under the shade of the Khilafah
did Turkey occupy a pre-eminent position
amongst the nations of the world. Back then,
the oppressed Europeans used to yearn for the
justice of the Khilafah State and longed to
become a part of it. Did not the people of
Constantinople implore Sultan Muhammed to
liberate them from the tyranny of Constantine?
Abid Mustafa
17
 The art
of discussion
As Salaam Wa Alaikum dear reader,
One of the greatest skills that any human can
possess is the ability to persuade people of their
ideas through discussion. A characteristic of an
effective da'wah carrier is the ability to listen,
understand and respond in an excellent manner.
Far too often people fall short of this and learn
only the ability to dominate and dictate to others. It is
evident that many of us will not tolerate others to raise
views that are different to our own. Many Muslim parents
will tell their children they can or cannot do a certain
action, such that the child will obey their parents out of
fear, but not out of conviction. Often such children will
disobey their parents in secret.
Resentment may also be caused when others are not
allowed to raise their differing points of view, or when
their questions are not answered or dismissed as
irrelevant. For example, a da'wah carrier may be trying to
convince someone that only the Islamic State will truly
solve the problems of the Ummah, but he does not
consider the argument of the person he is speaking to.
Rather, he dictates what he believes in and closes the
doors to discussion. Such an attitude leads to strained
relationships, and this is a further barrier towards winning
over the other person towards your point of view. It is not
surprising to find different members of Islamic groups,
parents and children, siblings, Muslims and non-Muslims,
rulers and their subjects having a strained relationship.
The most dangerous of these is the relationship of the
Ummah with her rulers. The reality today is that the
leaders tolerate no criticism or discussion from the
Ummah and the Ummah itself discusses in secret and
holds the leaderships in contempt. In the future Khilafah
this situation must be radically changed, and the Ummah
encouraged to discuss, debate and account their rulers.
The future rulers must also show signs of humility and
accountability in the face of sincere criticism. This is the
18 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
only way that a Khilafah will succeed and become
prosperous. It is the manner of the Khulafah Rashideen of
old. Therefore it must be the job of the da'wa carriers to
nurture this attitude and level of thinking in the Ummah,
to bring them out of the mode of being told what to do
and just doing it.
Effective da'wah only occurs when people become
convinced of your ideas. They will never be convinced
unless you take their circumstances and their thinking
into consideration in your discussion with them. It is only
through listening to them and relating to their
circumstances, that they will begin to appreciate what
you are saying. They will begin to ponder your statements
closely, and examine their own ideas about those issues.
This also produces in them the ability to think and
examine issues deeply. If on the other hand people are
won over by glorified statements and issues that they
haven't truly appreciated, they become people who
memorise and repeat things in parrot fashion. They are
not convinced themselves, so how will they be able to
convince others?
Often there are several reasons why da'wah carriers may
be lacking in the skills to listen, debate and persuade
others of their ideas. It could simply be because they lack
the correct etiquette of discussion or more seriously it
could be linked to pride and showing off. A da'wah
carrier may want to maintain an 'image' of being
knowledgeable, and therefore will not want to be seen to
'lose' any discussion; this leads them to being very
unapproachable and even insincere. For example, if such
a da'wah carrier gave a speech where he told the
audience that they must work to establish the Khilafah
State, but members of the audience disagreed, he might
respond to their disagreement by ridiculing their points
out of pride. This would be wrong and would distance the
audience even further from what he is trying to convince
them to accept. Another example is that of a Muslim
trying to convince a non-Muslim of the superiority of
Islam; but because he is showing off in front of his
AUGUST 2005

friends, he ends up causing the non-Muslim to become
very bitter instead of swaying him to his side. These types
of examples are evident for all of us to see, if they are
down to lack of knowledge then the solution is to simply
point out the mistake, however if it is down to pride or
showing off, its dangers must be made clear to the one
guilty of such an approach.
The Islamic approach is very clear and we must adopt this
if we are going to be able to succeed in life as parents,
siblings, husbands, wives, da'wah carriers, rulers, friends,
employers or in any facet of life. If we look at the lessons
from Islam we will see that Islam builds a conviction in
people, so Allah (swt) does not demand belief without
bringing a convincing proof. He (swt) says:
"Verily in the creation of the heavens and earth, the
differing night and day, the floating ships in the sea
bringing benefit to people, and what water Allah sends
down from the sky bringing life to earth after drought. And
creating all kinds of animals. The directing of winds and
the clouds between the sky and earth are all signs for those
who have intellect." [TMQ Al-Baqarah:164]
The Prophet (saw) taught us the best etiquette of discussion.
Muslim reported on the authority of Mu'awiyyah b. al-
Hakam as Salami who said: "I was praying behind the
Messenger of Allah (saw) and someone in the congregation
AUGUST 2005
THE ART OF DISCUSSION
By
Abu Muhammad
sneezed. I said [to him]: 'May Allah have mercy upon you.'
The people stared at me, showing their disapproval of my
act. I said: "Woe to me, why do you stare at me so? They
started to strike their hands on their thighs and when I saw
that they wanted me to become silent, I was angered but
said nothing. When the Messenger of Allah finished the
prayer - and may my father and mother be ransomed for
him, I found no teacher better than him either before or
after him - he did not scold, beat, or revile me but he
simply said: 'Talking to others is not seemly during the
Salah, for the Salah is for glorifying Allah, extolling His
Greatness, and reciting the Qur'an.'
There are many lessons from the life of Prophet (saw) and
his Sahabah (ra) regarding our manner of discussion and
the need to always remain sincere, not to try and show to
anyone that you are perfect and without mistakes.
'Abdullah bin Mas'ud said: "O people! If somebody knows
something, he can say it, but if he does not know it, he
should say, 'Allah knows better,' for it is a sign of having
knowledge to say about something which one does not
know, 'Allah knows better.'" This is the characteristic of
humbleness that we should possess so that we become
convincing to the people because of the light of sincerity
and not because of the forcefulness of our debate.
What distinguishes Islam from all other faiths and
ideologies is the fact that it is built upon firm foundations
that brings conviction to the mind. Therefore we must
remain sincere to it by not dictating to others but by
opening the doors of dialogue to give them the opportunity
to scrutinise and question.
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL 19
GLOBAL DAWAH MAP Turkey:
Dawah activity from the Shabab of Hizb ut Tahrir in recent weeks
Leaflet issued entitled 'The Khimar
is the crown of the Muslim woman
and the Khilafah Rashidah is the
crown of the Islamic Ummah'

Lebanon:
A vigil and demonstration against
the desecration of the noble Qur'an
by US forces in Guantanamo Bay

Morocco:
Leaflet distributed widely by
Hizb ut Tahrir, Morocco entitled
'Work to bring the ruler who will
honour the Qur'an'

Al Aqsa, Palestine:
Members of Hizb ut Tahrir
challenge Laura Bush on her
visit and expose the atrocities
committed by US forces in
Afghanistan and Iraq

20 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL AUGUST 2005

 GLOBALDAWAH MAP
Iraq:
An open letter to the National
Assembly of Iraq advising them to
write a constitution whose source
is the Book of Allah (swt) and the
Sunnah of his Messenger (saw),
not the US occupation

Bangladesh:
Demonstration against the
desecration of the noble Qu'ran
by US forces Guantanano Bay

Pakistan:
Demonstrations held in major
cities against the brutal
massacre by Karimov and his
troops in Andijan

Sudan:
Press release issued entitled
'They destroy the Houses of
Allah (swt)' referring to the
Sudanese government's tactics
of destroying mosques.

AUGUST 2005 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL 21

 Islamic
revival in
Central Asia
By Tanveer Ashraf
tanveer.ashraf@1924.org
A
n Islamic revival is
sweeping Central Asia
driven by the fervent
desire of the Muslims to live by
Islam and fuelled by the brutal
tactics of the tyrants of the area.
Places such as Uzbekistan and
Tajikistan, indeed all the Central
Asian republics, are witnessing
an unprecedented level of Islamic
activism as the people sense that
significant change is afoot. Muslims
who have spent several generations
under Communism, and who came
out of it with little if any Islamic
concepts are now adhering to the
Quran and Sunnah with all their might
and are giving their lives for it. They
see an Islamic Khilafah as the only real
and practical alternative to the secular
tyrants who terrorise them. They are so
determined and convinced of this path
that the tyrants are prepared to commit
genocide to stop them- as happened
recently in the province of Andijan in
Uzbekistan.
Islam has a glorious past in Central
Asia and it will have a glorious future
there too. Islam came to Central Asia
as early as the 7th Century. Muslims
controlled Russia by the 13th Century,
and in the 15th Century they marched
south to conquer India. Zahir-ud-Din
Babar, who was the founder of the
Mughal Empire in India, originated
from the Ferghana Valley in
Uzbekistan.
22 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
It was after many centuries of
Muslim rule that the Russians
finally overthrew the
Muslims, gaining control of
Central Asia by the middle of
the 19th century. The Russian
revolution of 1917 together
with the destruction of the
Khilafah in 1924 left the
Muslims without any political
protection and at the mercy
of brutal and tyrannical
Communist regime. The
leaders of the Communist revolution
were determined to impose their
disbelieving and authoritarian system
over the entire population of Russia,
and they began a campaign to remove
Islam from their lands, and imposed an
iron curtain around the Muslim of
Russia.
To gain a greater insight into the rise of
Islam in Central Asia, Khilafah
Magazine International spoke to Abdur
Rahman. He is a member of Hizb ut
Tahrir, the well known Islamic political
party that calls for the resumption of
the Islamic way of life, through the
establishment of the Islamic ruling
system-the Khilafah. Abdur Rahman is
of Arab origin and has lived and
studied for many years in Central Asia.
He has been very active in the Islamic
revival in the region, and recalls the
changing times and situation;
"You know the Muslims never left Islam,
the proper Islam, even though the
Communists made it extremely difficult
for them to have anything to do with it.
They used to pray and learn about Islam
secretly. They would meet in hidden
places, often amongst the locked up
animals, where there would be nobody to
watch them or report them.
"Many times Muslims were called up to
do military service, where they would
be forced to go to places like
Afghanistan, and ordered to fight their
brothers. Many of them would
desert and escape to the
surrounding countries".
Abdur Rahman explains how the party's
call for Islam melted with the sentiments
of the Muslims in Central Asia,
"The Hizb arrived in Central Asia in the
early 90's, firstly in Uzbekistan. They
found that the people were very eager to
learn about Islam. There were many
people who had learnt classical Arabic
(fussaha) to understand Islamic culture. I
mean hardcore fussaha that even many
of us Arabs found it difficult to converse
with the. Their mastery of our mother
tongue was much advanced."
"They quickly understood the Islamic
culture and very much agreed with the
call for Khilafah. They quickly realised
that their problem was not one or two
bad rulers, but because of secular
AUGUST 2005
system in place. When they
understood their Islamic history, they
realised that their magnificent past was
largely due to the implementation of
Islam over themselves politically."
Following the demise of Communism
the stranglehold of Soviet domination
over Central Asia rescinded. A deep
desire for learning and a quest for
Islamic knowledge began in all the
major cities. Instrumental in this
revival were the Shabab of Hizb ut
Tahrir. They contributed to this
awakening and began to culture
people in their study circles (halaqat)
from that time. It was clear that this
call had a resonance with the people,
because by 1997 there were many
thousands of members and many tens
of thousands of people studying in
halaqat. In many cities there were
literally hundreds of halaqat, but also
in many rural areas and the
countryside. By 1997 almost every
family had a member or close relative
studying with the Hizb. So what was
the Hizb teaching the people in its
halaqat that was so appealing? Abdur
Rahman explains further;
"The Prophet (saw) showed us that
Islam is to be applied not only in the
personal life, but also in the public
life, and that means politically. The
Prophet (saw) established a political
Islamic State, and showed the Muslims
how to rule by Islam politically. This is
so important, because it is the Khilafah
state that creates the Islamic society,
the Islamic economy, the Islamic
judiciary and decides the home and
foreign policy based on the interests of
Islam alone. To have this Khilafah is
not only our right as Muslims, but it is
an obligation from Allah (swt). When
Muslims understand this, it naturally
moves them and motivates them."
Having spread and influenced large
parts of society, the Islamic revival
became a serious threat to the
governments of the Central Asian
republics. Many of them began to view
those who called for political Islam,
especially Hizb ut Tahrir and its
members, as enemies of the state. The
AUGUST 2005
reaction in Uzbekistan, where the
Islamic call was most prominent and
strongest, was the harshest. President
Islam Karimov quickly outlawed Hizb
ut Tahrir and other Islamic groups
and began to imprison, threaten and
torture anyone associated with
political Islam. However, this
clampdown did nothing to stem the
Islamic call, and only empowered it,
which incensed Karimov further.
Karimov had begun his attempts to
remove the threat of Islam by
advising people to beware of
extremists and lunatics. However,
realising that these groups were not
lunatics, but rather people calling to
something very real and very likely to
remove him from his seat, he claimed
he would fight idea with idea.
In fact, when his security services
suspect a member of the Hizb is
hiding in some house, they will raid
it at night. If they do not find the
person they will threaten those they
do find. Parents will have guns
pointed to their heads, whilst
children will be beaten severely in
front of their mothers and
grandparents to force them to give
information. Wives will often be
arrested, brutally tortured and
threatened with rape, a threat that is
carried out more and more regularly.
If suspects are caught in public they
will be arrested and beaten severely
in front of their children and for
everyone else to see in the market
place, sometimes to the point of
death. Tens of thousands of Muslims
have been arrested in such fashion
throughout Uzbekistan. The prisons
are overflowing with such prisoners
and it is in these institutions that the
worst crimes occur.
Vitaly Ponomarev is the Director of
the Memorial Human Rights Centre.
He has extensively investigated and
recorded the crimes committed by
tyrants like Karimov. He has collected
so much information he has
published a 63 page book entitled
"Islam Karimov against Hizb ut
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
Tahrir". He details the initiation
ISLAMIC REVIVAL IN CENTRAL ASIA
ceremony that is practiced at one of
the prisons in Tashkent, KIN-1; on
arrival, the prisoners who are religious
or linked to the Islamic political work
are told to walk down a corridor,
where prison guards kick them and
beat them with truncheons and sticks.
Following this they are forced to sing
the national anthem on their knees.
Those who do not sing loudly or
correctly are beaten, kicked in the
head, made to kiss the floor and kept
in solitary confinement for several
months. They are beaten and tortured
on a daily basis until they renounce
their beliefs and declare themselves as
Christians.
Abdur Rahman believes that what
Ponomarev has documented is the
norm in most of the prisons. Abdur
Rahman says;
"Prisoners are tortured in the most
unthinkable, inhumane ways possible.
Prisoners are electrocuted, have
needles put into their eyes, buried in
excrement, and even injected with the
Aids virus as well as other unknown
substances. They even have a prison in
a remote place where nuclear waste is
kept. The area is uninhabited. It is said
that anyone who is sent there is never
seen or heard of again."
Karimov imagined that sheer brutality
would destroy the Islamic revival, and
people would cower into submission
before him. However, by
demonstrating his inability to fight
thought with anything but mindless
brutality, he has given strength to the
da'wah carriers in both courage and
numbers. People are not afraid to
speak even in the face of severe
torment, often risking death than
capitulating to his demands. Abdur
Rahman says that men, women,
children and old people are equal in
their desire to speak the truth and
eager to participate in the Islamic
awakening. He cites many examples,
"There are many of our sisters who
distribute leaflets. One sister I know has
been arrested many times, serving prison
23
 sentences on each occasion. Every time
ISLAMIC REVIVAL IN CENTRAL ASIA
she is let out she begins to distribute
again. They [Karimov's henchmen] used
to be lenient on woman, but today the
women suffer greatly, physical and
sexual abuse is rife.
"A group of people were arrested and
charged with being members of Hizb
ut Tahrir. They appeared in court, and
one of them was a boy, only 15 or 16
years of age. He was actually only just
beginning to study, not a member. The
judge asked him whether he was a
hizbi (member) or a shabab (student).
The members pressed him to answer
that he was shabab, because it would
have meant a more lenient sentence.
But he refused, and asked one of the
members, "What is that ayah, that ayah
that makes it fard for the Muslim to
work for Khilafah?" He meant the ayah:
"Let their arise from amongst you
groups, who call to khair (Islam),
enjoin the maruf (good) and forbid the
evil (munkar) and they are the
successful ones" [TMQ Ali-Imran: 104]
"He repeated it in front of the judge.
Then he asked one of the members to
make him a member in front of the
judge, and he took the oath (qasm)
that all the members of the Hizb take
to work sincerely for the sake of
Islam."
Sincere Muslim prisoners often have
sentences far exceeding those who
commit the most heinous of crimes.
But there is no shortage of people
willing to take up the positions of
those who have been removed from
the da'wah. Abdur Rahman smiles as
he remembers the reaction of one
woman who had her son sent to prison
for 17 years,
"She brought her grandson, who was
just a baby, and demanded that we
make him a hizbi (member). She said
24 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
she wanted him to become a hizbi and
carry on the work for Islam until his
father was released from prison."
Indeed the society has now been
changed so much by the da'wah for
Islam that people are no longer scared
of the tyranny of Karimov and his
harsh sentences. Rather people regard
the punishments handed to the da'wah
carriers as an honour, and something
that elevates the Muslim by bringing
him great reward from Allah (swt).
Abdur Rahman relays the story of a
seventy year old man, who was
sentenced to prison after being caught
distributing leaflets,
"When he finished his sentence and
was released, the entire village came
out and greeted him with such joy and
vigour; it was like someone who had
just returned from Hajj"
The more that Karimov cracks down
upon the people, the more they realise
they are calling for the truth, and it
makes them much closer to Allah
(swt). There is a great desire to learn
about Islam, to study it, to practise it,
and to call for it. Even those who have
to flee from persecution do not give up
their desire to increase their
knowledge. Abdur Rahman recalled
the story of an Uzbek woman who had
escaped to Russia after Karimov had
killed both her son and husband. Her
only concern was how she could travel
to Saudi Arabia to study Islam.
With such tenacity, bravery and
confidence in the Truth of Islam, the
da'wah carriers are a constant
nightmare for Karimov. Indeed, they
have driven him to paranoia, once
declaring on national television that he
would "smash the heads of Hizb ut
Tahrir". For many years he has failed
to achieve this, and it seems now out
of sheer intellectual bankruptcy and
desperation, he has resorted to
genocide.
In a widely publicised leaflet by Hizb
ut Tahrir dated the 21st May, the party
details the events leading up to and
after the barbaric massacre of
innocents in Andijan. A similar chain
of events has subsequently been
documented by others such as human
rights activist Tolib Yoqubov. The leaflet
describes how Karimov's security
forces first spread news amongst the
people, pretending they were with the
people and inciting them to move
against Karimov in demand for a better
standard of living in terms of services:
water, electricity and gas; besides
demanding that their sons be released
from prison.
The leaflet continues that Hizb ut
Tahrir was aware of that plan since
many of those calling for such things
were known to be with the security
services. The agents claimed they had
turned against Karimov, and they
began to contact many people
including the families of members of
Hizb ut Tahrir. The Hizb tried to warn
people not to fall into this trap, but the
security services managed to fool quite
a few people, including some human
rights organizations.
The Hizb states that on the 12th of
May in the main city centre of Andijan
many people began to gather and
protest. The numbers continued to
grow, and by the next day there were
close to 50,000 people present. During
the night of 12th, it was reported that
an armed group of protestors freed
prisoners from a local prison. The truth
is that an armed group, which were
mainly from the followers of Karimov
headed for the prison of Andijan. They
released a number of prisoners - most
of them were killed and only a few
survived. According to the testimony of
AUGUST 2005
one of the surviving prisoners, the
Shabab of Hizb ut Tahrir were the first
to be led to their death by that armed
group, and these prisoners were not
seen after that.
On the morning of Friday 13th May,
Karimov came to personally supervise
the "crisis" in Andijan. However, the
airport had been prepared three days
prior to welcome him, i.e. it was pre-
planned. Karimov had made
arrangements with Russia to commit a
massacre. He asked Russian soldiers,
who were brought to Andijan on the
previous day, to kill all those gathered
in the main square of Andijan, whether
they were elderly, women, children or
youth, without discrimination. He
feared his own troops might be
reluctant to commit a massacre against
unarmed civilians however, the
Russian troops have much experience
of this.
The Hizb leaflet of 21st May describes
how troops began to fire into the
dense crowds, killing many innocent
people. From trusted sources it is
thought that close to 7,000 people
were murdered on that day. Karimov's
henchmen began to collect and hide
400-500 dead bodies at a time.
Anyone found alive was finished off
with a shot to the head. Following this,
an iron curtain was cast around the
country so that no word of this
massacre could get out, or be
independently verified.
On Saturday evening, 14th May,
Karimov accused Hizb ut Tahrir of
being behind these events. Karimov
accused a small Islamic group
(Akramiyyah) of attacking the prison,
opening its doors and killing those
prisoners who did not rebel with them,
whilst it was Karimov's group itself that
killed the prisoners inside the prison
and outside it and not Akramiyyah.
Finally, the leaflet attests to how
Karimov fabricated the plot that
Islamic groups had staged a violent
insurgency, in order for him to be able
to kill all the da'wah carriers in huge
numbers. After this event reports were
AUGUST 2005
obtained that many of Hizb ut Tahrir's
members in other prisons were also
being executed. Some of these reports
suggested that many thousands had
been killed.
Yet Karimov's genocide and bloodshed
will have no more success than his
previous brutality. Already there has
been massive coverage of his
massacre, and Muslims have
demonstrated in their thousands at
embassies in Britain, Turkey, Indonesia,
Pakistan and Bangladesh. Muslims
throughout the world have put intense
pressure on governments in the West,
such that they have had to seriously
rethink their complicit silence in
supporting Karimov's failing regime.
Karimov is coming to the end of his
days. He cannot murder his entire
population, and Allah (swt) knows he
has tried! But the people on the street in
Uzbekistan are very clear in their view
of him; they repeat the description of
the da'wah carriers about him, "the
kaafir Karimov!" Today their
steadfastness, sacrifice and bravery have
become known internationally and the
tide has begun to turn against the tyrant
oppressor.
Truly the goodness is in this Ummah
until the Day of Judgment. Indeed, this
Ummah has given birth throughout
history to men of strength and taqwa,
who have restored its dignity and the
mighty position. Today, the Ummah
should be proud that she has Shabab
with full belief and conviction in their
Creator, who has strengthened and
guided them by His (swt) grace. They
have set their minds to working day
and night, sincerely for Allah (swt),
with the aim to resume the glory of
this Ummah by re-establishing the
righteous Khilafah. They fear the
censure of no one until they have
achieved what they have resolved for
or die while endeavoring to achieve
that-for the sake of Allah (swt).
They are very conscious that the
Messenger of Allah (saw) has given
glad tidings about the return of a
righteous Khilafah. Allah (swt) says;
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
"Allah has promised to those among
you who believe and work righteous
deeds, that of a certainty, He will
cause them to accede to power on
earth, as He granted it to those before
them" [TMQ An-Nur: 55].
Many Muslims throughout the world
have done much to aid their brethren
in Uzbekistan, largely by speaking up
against their oppression. Many
thousands have participated in public
demonstrations, complained to
international embassies, written letters
of protest to multinationals who invest
in Central Asia and have refused to
allow the Andijan massacre to fall from
the public's attention. This has placed
huge pressure upon those corrupt
regimes and shaken their international
backers.
The momentum for change in Central
Asia, and in particular Uzbekistan, has
reached such a level that is has become
an inspiration for other parts of the
Muslim world to work for the re-
establishment of the Khilafah. Moreover,
the call for Khilafah will not be drowned
out by either the West in continuing to
support Karimov or the ever more brutal
antics of his security forces.
For those who remain unsure as to
how the Khilafah will be established,
they should consider the events in
Central Asia as testimony to the
strength of this idea. To the ever
dwindling band of skeptics that view
Khilafah as a distant mirage on the
horizon, they should take lessons from
the swift change that has seen Central
Asia emerge from the godless,
inhumane times of Communism to a
people on the brink of returning to
ruling by the laws of Allah (swt). This
transformation has not taken decades
or even a generation, but a matter of a
few years. By Allah (swt) will the
victory is imminent. As for Islam in
Central Asia, its time has come.
25
 Khilafah -
the need of the
time
By Yusuf Patel
yusuf.patel@1924.org
W
hen the Prophet
Muhammed (saw)
declared Islam and
called upon people to believe in
it, he was met with ridicule. This
was followed by oppression,
boycott and torture. He suffered
greatly for nearly thirteen years
at the hands of the Quraysh in
Makkah with his Sahabah (ra);
small in number, but with
complete conviction and
fortitude to the call of Islam.
After much sacrifice, patience and
perseverance, when all looked bleak
and darkness was setting in, against all
odds Allah (swt) changed the fortunes
of the Muslims, and they found the
support they had been looking for from
the tribes of Aws and Khazraj in the
city of Medina. Overnight, the Prophet
(saw) was transformed from a
Messenger sent with guidance, to one
who would rule a state with an army
at his disposal. The State that the
Prophet (saw) ruled over went from
strength to strength, and very quickly it
had domination over the whole of the
Arabian Peninsula. This state of affairs
continued even after the death of the
Prophet (saw) when the Khulafah took
over the ruling of the Islamic State. The
greatest armies, and powers of the time
were defeated by the Muslims, and
Islam spread throughout the Middle
East, Africa, Asia and arrived at the
gates of Europe.
26 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
The Muslims were the number one
superpower on Earth for many
centuries, presiding over lands where
the justice of Islam was implemented.
The non-Muslims found sanctuary
from their own despotic lands, whilst
Muslims took the culture of Islam to
new depths- opening the gates to
scientific, medical, and technical
achievements.
This was the zenith of the Muslim
Ummah, truly the best nation revealed
to mankind. But complacency allowed
the seeds of division and confusion to
be sown by the enemies of Islam. Over
many centuries, erroneous thoughts
and ideas left the Muslim Ummah
dizzy, fumbling, and politically weak.
One by one, parts of the Islamic lands
were stripped away. The final nail in
the coffin was the destruction of the
Khilafah in 1924. As the enemies of
Islam rejoiced at the fatal blow they
had delivered to the Ummah, it was
Lord Curzon who declared this news
to the House of Commons in July
1924:
"The situation now is that Turkey is
dead. And she will never rise again
because we have destroyed her moral
strength, the Khilafah and Islam."
It was Sir Anthony Eden, the British
foreign secretary, who remembered
precisely the potential strength and
danger that lay in the Muslim Ummah,
when he wrote to the British Prime
Minister shortly before World War II:
"We must put an end to anything that
will bring about any Islamic unity
AUGUST 2005
between the sons of the Muslims. As
we have already succeeded in
finishing off the Khilafah so we must
ensure that there will never arise again
unity for the Muslims whether it be
intellectual or political unity."
What has befallen the Muslim Ummah
in the last century is truly their darkest
hour. Their lands have been carved up
to make insignificant kingdoms and
statelets over which traitors and tyrants
have been appointed to keep watch
like prison guards. The great wealth
and resources from these lands have
flowed freely to the western nations,
but not a penny has reached the
Muslim masses that live in poverty
and misery.
Muslim nations have been driven into
bloody wars with each other;
controlled like pawns in a great game,
whose moves are being battled over by
players sat comfortably in their tea
houses in Washington, London and
Paris. Every decade brings with it a
new fad, a new renaissance, a new
way forward; Arabism, Patriotism,
Socialism and most recently
Democracy- are all successful in one
thing alone, driving the Muslim
Ummah further and deeper into
darkness.
As with all issues that Muslims face,
they should seek the command of
Allah (swt) and guidance of
Muhammed (saw). The lowly situation
of the Muslim Ummah today requires
us to seek the Islamic view, and
behold, the reality becomes clear and
the solution obvious.
Muslims often wonder how they are
almost a fifth of the world's
population, yet are preyed upon so
easily. Those living in the West are
accused of being terrorists and a fifth
column. Whilst in the Muslim lands,
they watch helplessly as one Muslim
country after another is bombed to
prehistoric times, and occupied by
western troops.
In a hadith, Muslim narrated from Al-
Araj from Abu Hurayrah from the
AUGUST 2005
Prophet (saw), who said: "Indeed the
Imam is a shield, from whose behind
(one) would fight, and by whom one
would protect oneself."
The Messenger (saw) described the
leader of the Muslims, the Imam, as a
shield that would protect them,
meaning their lives, affairs and
interests. It highlights the central and
critical role that leadership plays in the
affairs of the Muslim Ummah. It is
clear that the current rulers do not act
as a shield; rather, they are the
complete opposite! They protect the
interests of the West, and in return,
secure their own thrones.
By studying the life of the Prophet
(saw) it becomes clear that he (saw)
showed the Muslims how to
implement a ruling system based upon
Islam. Nations before Islam had
Messengers and Prophets who ruled
over them, or came to inform them
how to rule by Allah's (swt)
commands. But the Prophet
Muhammed (saw) was the seal of the
Prophets, there will be no more
Messengers or Prophets sent by Allah
(swt). The final revelation, Islam, is
complete and comprehensive; with the
Prophet (saw) demonstrating how the
Muslims should implement a ruling
system, the laws of Allah (swt), over
mankind. It is only through this
Khilafah, that the Islamic laws can be
practically and fully established, and
the Islamic message conveyed to the
whole world.
Muslim reported on the authority of
Abu Hazim that he said: I
accompanied Abu Hurayrah for five
years, and heard him informing about
the Prophet (saw), who said: "The
Prophets ruled over the children of
Israel, whenever a Prophet died
another Prophet succeeded him, but
there will be no Prophet after me.
There will soon be Khulafa'a and they
will number many." They asked: 'what
then do you order us?' He said: "Fulfil
the Bay'ah to them, one after the
other, and give them their dues- for
Allah will verily account them about
what he entrusted them with."
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
Therefore, the Prophet (saw) stated
KHILAFAHTHE NEED OF THE TIME
clearly that what he left behind was a
ruling system- which would have as its
head the Khaleefah. The issue of giving
the Bay'ah (pledge of allegiance) to the
Khaleefah further underlines the
obligation of establishing his existence.
It has been narrated that Nafi' said:
Umar told me: I heard the Messenger
of Allah (saw) say: "Whoever takes off
his hand from an obedience to Allah,
he will meet Him on the Resurrection
Day without having any proof for
himself; and whoever dies while
there were no Bay'ah on his neck, his
death would be that of the days of
ignorance," as narrated by Muslim.
In this hadith the Messenger of Allah
(saw) made the existence of a Bay'ah
(pledge of allegiance to a Khaleefah)
on the neck of the Muslims an
obligation. From other evidence, it is
known that not every single Muslim is
required to physically give his Bay'ah
to the Khaleefah. Rather, it should be
given widely by the notables and
representatives of the Muslim Ummah-
such that it is clear that the pledge to
the Khaleefah exists on behalf of all
the Muslims. The hadith speaks rather
of the obligation of the existence of
this Bay'ah, and this Bay'ah cannot
exist when there is no Khaleefah to
give it to. Therefore, it becomes
incumbent upon the Muslims to ensure
that a Khaleefah exists in order to have
this Bay'ah on their necks.
Ibn Abbas reported that the Messenger
of Allah (saw) said: "If anybody sees in
his Ameer something which displeases
him, he should remain patient, for he
who separates himself from the
authority of Islam (Sultan), by even so
much as a hand span and dies
thereupon, he would die the death of
the days of jahiliyah (ignorance)," as
narrated by Muslim.
The Prophet (saw) made it clear that
the position of leadership over the
Muslims is not a debatable matter, and
nor is it a matter about personality-
where one can choose to follow and
obey the Khaleefah if he liked him, or
27
 KHILAFAH
choose to disobey and leave him if he
disliked him. Rather, as long as the
Khaleefah ruled and implemented
Islam, the Muslims have an obligation
to remain united and obedient to him.
This makes the Islamic State the pivotal
focus for the entire Muslim Ummah- as
the Khaleefah is the sole leader of the
entire Muslim Ummah.
This also places into context many of
the well-known concepts in Islam,
such as unity and brotherhood. Allah
(swt) addresses the Muslims as
'Innamal Mu'minoona Ikhwa' (one
brotherhood), or 'Ummatun Wahidah'
(One Ummah). Muslims speak about
these terms freely today, but one has to
seriously question how these terms
have any real meaning without a single
political state? Clearly it has meaning
under the Khilafah, demonstrated by
the Prophet (saw) and the Khulafah
after him- who ruled and united the
Muslim lands from east to west for so
many centuries. But today, when the
Muslim Ummah is divided into so
many countries, each having its own
prejudices and grievances with one
another, how can such concepts be
realised?
There are many today who wish to
surround the subject of Khilafah in
ambiguity and indifference Confusion
can only occur in this matter- if one is
not clear on what the purpose and
nature the Khilafah is, and not
understanding the evidences that make
it an obligation; which have already
been discussed. The Prophet's (saw)
role was to show the Muslims how to
implement Islam in their lives. If Islam
was purely a spiritual religion, there
would be no need or place for a state.
However, Islam came to organise
many types of relationship in life.
Islam does indeed organise the
spiritual relationship, between an
individual Muslim and the Creator
(swt). It does this through the prayers,
the fasts, the Hajj. Islam also organises
the relationship between people- it
defines the roles and responsibilities
28 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
THE NEED OF THE TIME
between parents and their offspring,
between the spouses, between the
neighbours, between the trader and his
customer. Lastly, Islam organises the
relationship within society as a whole,
between the ruler and the people, and
vice versa. It ensures that the ruler
establishes all the systems of Islam:
such as the judiciary and Hudood
(punishments) in order to solve all
disputes and punish the wrongdoers;
the Bait ul Maal (treasury), to cater for
the collection of zakat and other taxes
so that it can be spend on the needy as
well as the needs of the citizens; to
prepare the armies for jihad - defensive
and offensive; to ensure that lewdness
and debauchery are not permitted in
the media…etc. Islam also ensures that
the people account the rulers upon the
implementation of Islam, and the
fulfilment of their rights as citizens.
"We must put an end to
anything that will bring
about any Islamic unity
between the sons of the
Muslims. As we have
already succeeded in
finishing off the Khilafah
so we must ensure that
there will never arise
again unity for the
Muslims whether it be
intellectual or political
unity." [Sir Anthony Eden,
British foreign secretary
1938]
The basis of the Khilafah stems from
the commandments of Allah (swt) to
His Messenger (saw) to rule the
Muslims by Islam. Allah (swt)
addressed His Messenger (saw),
"And rule between them by that which
Allah has revealed to you, and do not
follow their vain desires away from the
truth which came to you"
[TMQ Al-Maidah: 48]
And He (swt) says:
"And rule by that which Allah has
revealed to you and do not follow
their whims, and beware that they may
deviate you away from some part of
that which Allah has revealed to you."
[TMQ Al-Maidah: 49]
The speech of Allah (swt) to His
Messenger (saw) is also a speech to the
Muslims, unless there is evidence that
indicates that the speech is limited to
the Prophet (saw). In this case, there is
no evidence limiting this speech to the
Prophet (saw). Thus, Allah (swt)
obliged the Prophet (saw) to rule by
the Islamic laws; ensuring that the
economy, judicial and societal rules
were all in accordance with His (swt)
laws. The Khulafah after the Prophet
(saw) took over this role to ensure that
Allah's (swt) laws were implemented.
In reality, the Khilafah remained and
continued to implement the laws of
Allah (swt) for over a thousand years-
till 1924 when it was officially
disbanded by the European
colonialists.
Since the destruction of the Khilafah,
the Ummah has witnessed calamity
upon calamity. Can we be happy with
the situation we have today? Do we
prefer to have our leaders from
amongst those loyal to the Kuffar? Or
would we wish to be with those who
are sincere to Islam? Would we want
AUGUST 2005

our economies and judiciaries in
accordance with the justice and mercy
that the laws of Allah (swt) provide? Or
do we prefer the greed, inequality and
injustice of the Capitalist systems? Do
we want our societies to be
characterised by good morals, piety,
altruism, justice and honesty that will
be naturally produced as it is governed
by the laws of Allah (swt)? Or do we
want the corruption, greed and
degradation that is gripping all
societies affected by the secular and
capitalist thought?
There are many Muslims who have
realised this incorrect state of affairs
and the obligations upon their necks,
and who work tirelessly to bring back
the rule of Allah (swt). The duty to
establish the rule of Allah (swt) is in
fact a collective duty (fard kifayah); if
some of the people accomplished it,
the duty would be fulfilled, and the
responsibility would be discharged
from the rest of the Ummah. But if a
section of the Ummah failed to
accomplish this duty, though they
undertook all the steps required to
fulfil it, then it would remain an
obligation upon all the Muslims, and
no one would be relieved of the duty
as long as the Muslims remained
without a Khaleefah. The similitude of
this is to the burial of dead. As long as
a section of the community is engaged
in the burial of the deceased, the rest
AUGUST 2005
are absolved of the duty. However, if
they were unable to bury the dead,
then the obligation falls on all the
Muslims until the obligation is
achieved.
We saw an exception to this after the
death of the Messenger (saw). The
Sahabah (ra) were engaged in the
discussions concerning who should be
the Khaleefah. In spite of the fact they
all understood that the deceased must
be buried as soon as possible, and the
fact that it was the Prophet of Islam
(saw) who lay unburied, nobody could
say that companions like Umar (ra), or
Abu Bakr (ra) did not care for the
Prophet (saw). Conversely, these were
his (saw) two closest companions, and
the love they showed for him was
immense- far outweighing anything we
can imagine today. Yet, it truly speaks
volumes about the magnitude and
importance of ruling and uniting the
entire Muslim Ummah under one
Khaleefah- to the effect that the
Sahabah debated the successor to the
Prophet's (saw) rule, before burying
him. This, together with other
evidences, shows us that there was a
consensus amongst the Sahabah
(Ijma'a as-Sahabah) for the obligation
of appointing a Khaleefah over the
Muslims.
All Muslims who grieve at the situation
the Ummah is in today, and yet neglect
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
KHILAFAH THE NEED OF THE TIME
the responsibility that Allah (swt) and
His Messenger (saw) have entrusted
them with, should realise that Allah
(swt) and this Ummah are not in need
of tears. This deen was not brought to
life in Medina by tears alone, rather, it
was by the diligent work of the
Prophet (saw) and his Sahabah (ra)-
who worked practically to change
society, and sacrificed much in its
cause.
Today, we are required to work
diligently to bring back this glorious
deen, so that we salvage the honour
and dignity of the Muslims in this
world, and gain the rewards of the
Hereafter. The Muslim Ummah is in
great need to unite politically, so that it
can once again play the central role in
the affairs of this world. The non-
Muslims are in great need of being
saved from the darkness, injustice and
misery of the Capitalist systems-
serving the needs of the rich and
powerful alone.
In working for this deen at this time,
we pray that the hadith of the Prophet
(saw) refers to us:
"Verily, the deen began strange, and it
will return strange. So, blessed are
the strangers who make good what
the people after me have corrupted
of my Sunnah"
29

In America, democracy is only
admired when it produces the
favoured result. And America's view of
the world is exactly the same. Iran
needs democracy, according to Bush,
but only if Iranian democracy
produces a regime favourable to U.S.
interests. If Iranian democracy
produces an anti-American regime,
according to the will of the Iranian
people, then Iranian democracy is a
“QUOTEUNQUOTE”
sham, according to the American
government.
America's current government uses
democracy in a ruthless manner to
advance its own interests. American
democracy is shameless and intrusive,
meddling in other nations' affairs while
thwarting its own self-professed
principles everywhere, including at
home. American democracy talks like
a virgin while acting like a whore.
Stan Moore, 28th June Media
Monitors Network
We are all capable of believing things
which we know to be untrue… And
then, when we are finally proved
30 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
“QUOTEUNQUOTE”
wrong, impudently twisting the facts so
as to show that we were right.
Intellectually, it is possible to carry on
this process for an indefinite time: the
only check on it is that sooner or later
a false belief bumps up against solid
reality, usually on a battlefield."
Gary Younge writing about the war in
Iraq, quoting George Orwell, 27th
June The Guardian
The reality is that the US war with Iran
has already begun. As we speak,
American over flights of Iranian soil
are taking place, using pilotless drones
and other, more sophisticated,
capabilities. The violation of a
sovereign nation's airspace is an act of
war in and of itself. But the war with
Iran has gone far beyond the
intelligence-gathering phase.
Scott Ritter, 21st June
Al Jazeerah.info
Thirty prisoners have now died in US
custody. I don't believe in the few bad
apples line. It's happened on far too
great a scale. And how do we excuse
all this filth? How do we excuse
ourselves for this immorality? Why, we
say Saddam was worse than us. Robert
Fisk, 25th June The Independent
"The White House is completely
disconnected from reality. It's like
they're just making it up as they go
along. The reality is that we're losing
in Iraq." Chuck Hagel, Republican
Senator from Nebraska
When asked his views on Turkey
joining the European union, 'This is a
crusader plan, and its aim is [to
change] the identity and history of the
Turkish nation. Ultimately they - that
is, the Westerners - want to melt the
Muslims into the Christian religion,
and to conduct missionary activity
amongst them. In order to prevent this
and to repel the 'Crusader attack'….
There is no substitute for establishing
an Islamic caliphate.' Turkish Imam,
quoted by Tarek Harno in his
research into Muslims in the West
Their division of the world into good
and evil influences world politics as
AUGUST 2005
 much as does the agenda of the
neo-fundamentalists, who are even
prepared to enter into alliances of
convenience with traditional
Islamists. That's the case, for
example, with Hizb ut-Tahrir, which
has influence in Central Asia,
Pakistan and some Middle Eastern
countries. The movement preaches
non-violent resistance against
repressive dictators and has built up
an effective network in the region.
Michael Ludders, June 2005
Senator Richard J Durbin on the
treatment of prisoners in
Guantanamo Bay:
"If I read this to you and did not tell
you that it was an FBI agent
describing what Americans had
done to prisoners in their control,
you would most certainly believe
this must have been done by Nazis,
Soviets in their gulags, or some mad
regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that
had no concern for human beings.
Sadly, that is not the case. This was
the action of Americans in the
treatment of their prisoners."
Washington Times, 16 June 2005
AUGUST 2005
On allegations that the Hizb was
responsible for the massacre in
Andijan, "It's all lies….We completely
renounce violence. That is not our
road. Groups like [Islamic Movement
of Uzbekistan] are our brothers, but
they do not follow the way of the
Prophet". Member of Hizb-ut Tahrir,
16th June The Guardian
We will establish here a paradise, a
caliphate, in which Muslim cares for
Muslim, taking what he needs and
giving away what he can do without,
as it says in the Qur'an," Bakhtiyor
Rakhimov, talking about Uzbekistan.
16th June The Guardian
"Here in the land of the Turks we have
nothing to complain of. We possess
great fortunes; much gold and silver
are in our hands. We are not
oppressed by heavy taxes and our
commerce is free and unhindered.
Rich are the fruits of the earth.
Everything is cheap and each one of us
lives in freedom. Here a Jew is not
compelled to wear a yellow star as a
badge of shame as is the case in
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
Germany where even wealth and great
fortune is a curse for a Jew because he
therewith arouses jealousy among the
Christians and they devise all kinds of
slander against him to rob him of his
gold. Arise my brethren, gird up your
loins, collect up your forces and come
to us."
A Rabbi writing to Jews in Europe
where they were facing increasing
persecution after 1453 -
'Constantinople' by Philip Mansel
British and American aid intended for
Iraq's hard-pressed police service is
being diverted to paramilitary
commando units accused of
widespread human rights
abuses.........of alleged terror suspects
from Baghdad and the Sunni Triangle
which demonstrate serious abuse of
suspects including burnings,
strangulation, the breaking of limbs
and - in one case - the apparent use of
an electric drill to perform a knee-
capping. 3rd July The Observer
31
 QUESTION&ANSWER
Answer By Kamal Abu Zahra
kamal.zahra@1924.org
Q. The need for Khilafah has become
well established and many Muslims
now call for it. However, some people
claim that the Khilafah only lasted for
30 years and that thereafter the
Khilafah ceased to exist. Does this
understanding have any Islamic basis?
And is it a valid justification for not
establishing Khilafah today just
because it only lasted 30 years?
A. There is no doubt that the Islamic
State, which Muhammad al-Mustafa
(as) established in Medina existed until
it was destroyed at the hands of Kamal
Ataturk on the 3rd of March 1924. The
continuity of the Islamic ruling system,
the Khilafah system, beyond the time
of the Khulafah Rashideen is
established by the historical reality and
by the text. As for history we should
bear in mind the structure of the ruling
system so that we can asses historically
whether if it existed or not. This
structure is based on the following
pillars: the Khaleefah, i.e., the head of
State, the Khaleefah's delegated
assistants (mo'aawin Tafweed), the
Khaleefah's executing assistants
(mo'aawen Tanfeez), the Ameer of
Jihad, the Governors (Wulah), the
Judges (qudah)), state departments, and
the state assembly (Majlis al-Ummah).
If we analyze history we can see that
all but one (the Shura) existed
throughout the eras until its destruction
in 1924. The absence or neglect of the
Shura after the Khulafah Rashideen
does not mean the ruling system
32 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
changed because ruling is possible
without Shura even though it is the
right of the Muslims. As for the periods
in history where no Khaleefah existed
whether due to civil war or occupation
by foreign armies, the Khilafah still
continued to exist as the rest of the
pillars were in place.
As regards the claim of hereditary rule,
it is true that the bay'ah i.e. process of
appointing a Khaleefah was mal-
administered but that did not affect the
continuity of the Khilafah. This is
because even though a Khaleefah
might have taken the peoples' bay'ah
for his son before his death, it was
always renewed afterwards. This bay'ah
was usually given either by the people
of influence and representation (ahl al-
Halli wal- 'aqd) or as we saw in the
latter period by the Shaykh al-Islam.
The scholars accepted that the Khilafah
continued after the Khulafah
Rashideen, although some from the
Salaf disliked using the title Khaleefah
for latter rulers because of the
following hadith reported by at-Tirmizi
on the authority of Safeenah who said
that the Messenger (saw) said: "The
Khilafah in my Ummah after me will
be for thirty years. Then there will be
mulkan 'aduudan (hereditary rule) after
that." [Similar narrations are also to be
found in the Sunan of Abu Dawud
(2/264) and Musnad of Ahmad (1/169)]
According to the scholars, this hadith
does not mean the Khilafah ceased to
exist after thirty years because it
contradicts other authentic texts. For
example it has been narrated by Jabir
b. Samurah (ra) that the Messenger
(saw) said 'The Islamic Deen will
continue until the Hour has been
established, or you have been ruled by
twelve Khulafah, all of them being
from the Quraysh' [Sahih Muslim]. This
hadith indicates that the Ummah will
have not four or five but twelve
Khulafah, indicating that the Khilafah
could not have been restricted to only
thirty years. Regarding this hadith
Qadi 'Iyad said: '…it has been
mentioned in the latter hadith 'The
Khilafah after me will be for thirty
years, then there will be a hereditary
rule' this contradicts the hadith
regarding the twelve Khulafah for in
the thirty years there were only the
Khulafah Rashideen and months in
which the bay'ah was given to al-
Hasan b. al-Ali. The answer to this is:
What is meant by 'the Khilafah will be
for thirty years' is the Khilafah of the
Nubuwwah (Prophethood)…' [As
quoted by an-Nawawi in his Sharh
Sahih Muslim, 1821] As for the
reference to twelve Khulafah it does
not mean it was restricted to that
number as Qadi 'Iyad explains:
'Perhaps what is meant by twelve
Khulafah in these hadith and their like
is that they were the Khulafah during
the strong period of the Khilafah, the
power of Islam, when the affairs were
in order and the people were united
on those who undertook the post of
Khilafah.' [Tarikh al-Khulafah of as-
Sayuti, p.14]. Ibn Hajar said in Sharh
of al-Bukhari: 'What Qadi 'Iyad said is
the best of what has been said
regarding the hadith. I think it's the
strongest because it is supported by
sayings of the Prophet through
authentic lines of transmission: 'And
AUGUST 2005

people will gather round all of them…'
[Fath al-Baari] and then Ibn Hajar
gives a historical account of how
people had gathered round and united
under certain Khulafah after the
Khulafah Rashideen; he mentions the
likes of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz and he
even mentions "Khulafah bani Abbas"
i.e. amongst the Abbasids.
Sayf ad-Deen al-Aamidi, the great
Shafi'i scholar and Usuli, said in his
book al-Imaamah min abkar al-afkar fi
usul ad-din (p.306): "And his (saw)
saying 'After me the Khilafah will be
for thirty years and then it will turn
into a mulkan aduudan (hereditary
rule)' this hadith does not indicate that
the Khilafah is restricted to the
Khulafah Rashideen (they are Abu
Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman and 'Ali [may
Allah be pleased with them]) since
their Khilafah lasted for thirty years as
stated by the Prophet (saw). And nor
does the hadith mean that there is no
Khilafah after the Khulafah Rashideen.
Rather what is meant is: The Khilafah
after me in terms of the responsibilities
of the Imamah and following my
Sunnah without increase or neglect
will be for thirty years, contrary to the
period after this when most of the
ruling will be of kings.
Despite this the continuity of the
Khilafah is indicated by the following
two things: Firstly, the Ijmaa' of the
Ummah in every age on the obligation
to follow an Imam of that time and
upon the fact that the Imam and
Khaleefah must be obeyed. Secondly,
the Prophet (saw) said: 'then it will
become (taseeru) mulkan (hereditary
AUGUST 2005
rule)'. The personal pronoun (dameer)
in 'taseeru mulkan' refers to the
Khilafah. Since the mentioned (verb)
cannot refer to anything other than the
Khilafah, as if it is saying 'and then the
Khilafah becomes a mulk (hereditary
rule)' The hadith judged that the
Khilafah will becomes a mulk, the
judgment on a thing requires that the
thing itself exists."
As for the first point, Imam Aamidi
explains that the Ummah is agreed,
and this of course is due to text, that
the Imam of that age must be followed
and hence one cannot argue the
hadith is restricting any Khilafah after
it. And his second argument is
linguistic, the hadith is saying an
aspect of the Khilafah will change and
not the Khilafah itself. It is like saying
'and then Tariq became angry' the
transforming of Tariq to a state of anger
does not mean Tariq has become Ali or
'Umar. He is still Tariq but an aspect of
his state has changed which is that he
has become angry. Similarly when the
hadith says 'thumma taseeru mulkan'
(and then it became a hereditary rule)
it does not mean it ceases to be a
Khilafah. In fact in one of the
narrations of the above hadith it says:
'The Khilafah of the Prophethood will
be thirty years and then it will become
a hereditary rule,' In other words what
will cease is the Khilafah of the
Prophethood, i.e. the perfect Khilafah
and not the Khilafah itself.
Imam at-Taftazani referring to the fact
that the rulers after Imam Ali were
considered kings says: 'This is a
difficult problem, for the people of
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
QUESTION&ANSWER
influence and representation (ahl halli
wal 'aqd) of the Muslim people were
agreed on the Khilafah of the Abbasids
and some of Banu Marwan, such as
'Umar b. 'Abd al-Aziz, for example.
Perhaps the meaning here (referring to
the above hadith that the Khilafah will
be thirty years) is rather that the perfect
Khilafah, in which there is no dross
due to difference [of opinion] or
inclination away from following [the
right Khaleefah], will be for a period of
thirty years, and then after it there
might be or there might not be a
Khilafah...If objection is made that
since the period of the Khilafah was
thirty years, then the time subsequent
to the rightly guided Khulafah is
devoid of the Imam and whole of the
Muslim people are thus disobedient
and when they die, they die as in the
days of ignorance, we reply that it has
already been pointed out that the
perfect Khilafah is what is meant.' It
is well known from the hadith that to
die without a Khaleefah is to die the
death of Jahiliyyah, so what about the
Muslims after the thirty years? At-
Taftazani replies by saying the Muslims
in those days were not sinful because
the Khilafah did exist as the hadith
only refers to the perfect Khilafah.
Imam Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (b.911 AH)
in his Tarikh al-Khulafah (History of the
Caliphs) recounts the history of the
Khulafah until his time with the death
of Khaleefah Mutawakkil Abul 'Izz in
903 AH and the appointment of his
son al-Mustamsik Billah. He says in his
introduction to the Tarikh: 'This is a
brief history in which I present the
biography of the Khulafah, the Amirs
33
QUESTION&ANSWER
of the Believers who looked after the
affairs of the Ummah from the time of
Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq - may Allah be
pleased with him! - until this our
time…' and that was 900 years after
the Hijrah!
The notable scholars throughout the
ages had a relationship with the
Khulafah whether they accounted
them, such as Abu Hanifah and al-
Mansur, or they worked for them such
as Qadi Abu Yusuf who was the Qadi
al-Qudah (chief judge) under Harun ar-
Rashid or they participated in the
bay'ah of a Khaleefah such as 'Izz b.
Abd as-Salam, who gave bay'ah to
Mustansir Billah after the defeat of the
Tatars. Towards the end of the Uthmani
Khilafah when the big powers were
conspiring against it, Sheikh ul Hind
Maulana Mahmood Hassan (who was
the then head of Darul Uloom
Deoband and direct student of
Maulana Qasim Nanautavi, the
founding father of the Darul 'Uloom) in
the 1920's,mentioned a fatwa regarding
saving the Uthmani Khilafah from the
enemies of Islam. The respected
Maulana said: 'The enemies of Islam
have left no stone unturned to strike
against and harm the honour and
prestige of Islam. Iraq, Palestine and
Syria that were won over by the
Prophet's companions and his
followers, after numerous sacrifices,
have once again become targets of
greed of the enemy of Islam. The
honour of Khilafat is in tatters. Khalifa-
tul-Muslimin, who used to unite the
entire community on this planet; who
is the vice-regent of Allah on this earth;
used to implement the universal law of
Islam; who used to protect the rights
34 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
and interests of Muslims and used to
preserve and ensure the glory of the
words of the Creator of this universe be
preserved and implemented, has been
surrounded by enemies and made
redundant.' [From the Fatwa of Sheikh
ul Hind Maulana Mahmood Hassan,
16th Safar 1339 AH, October 29 1920
CE, page 78 of English translation of
'The Prisoners of Malta' by Maulana
Syed Mohammad Mian, published by
Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind].
Also, Maulana Mohammad Ali Johar, a
founder of the Khilafat movement said
about the Khilafah: 'The ruler of Turkey
was the Khaleefah or successor of the
Prophet and Amir -ul- Mu'mineen or
chief of the believers and the Khilafah
is as essentially our religious concern
as the Quran or the Sunnah of the
Prophet.' [Johar, Mohammed Ali, My
Life a Fragment pg.41] Also Maulana
Abul Kalam Azad wrote a book in
1920 called 'The Issue of Khilafat',
where he stated: 'Without the Khilafah
the existence of Islam is not possible,
the Muslims of India with all their
effort and power need to work for this.'
In that book he listed all of the
Khulafah from the time of Abu Bakr
(ra) until the time when he wrote his
book. Thus, we can see the 'Ulema
were concerned to ensure the
continuation of the Khilafah until the
very end.
The continuity of the obligation of
Khilafah after the Khulafah Rashideen
is a pillar of Ahl as-Sunnah and hence
at-Taftazaani (who was a Shafi'i
scholar) in his commentary of the
Aqeedah of Imam an-Nasafi (who was
a Hanafi) said: 'The position of
agreement is that it is obligatory to
appoint an Imam. The difference of
opinion is on the question whether the
appointment must be by Allah or by
His creatures, and whether the basis
[for appointment] is text or reason. The
correct position is that the creatures
must appoint a Khaleefah because of
the statement of the Prophet (saw):
'Whosoever dies without knowing the
Imam of his time, dies the death of
Jahiliyyah.'
At-Taftazani also says: 'The Muslims
must have an Imam who will carry out
the administration of their decisions,
the maintaining of their restrictive
ordinances, the guarding of their
frontiers, the equipping of their armies,
the receiving of their alms, the
subjugation of those who get the upper
hand and robbers and highwaymen,
the performance of worship on Fridays
and the festivals, the settlement of
disputes which take place amongst
creatures, the receiving of evidence
based on legal rights, the giving in
marriage of young men and maidens
who have no guardians and the
division of the booty and things like
these which individuals of the people
are not entrusted.' [Sharh 'Aqidat an-
Nasafiyyah, p.147] What Imaam at-
Taftazani says is considered the last
word on what Ahl as-Sunnah agreed
and the above quote on the obligation
of appointing a Khaleefah is clear
regardless of ones historical
interpretation.
AUGUST 2005
 The burden of
economic dependency
By Javed Ansari
javed.ansari@1924.org
P
overty has become a
worldwide problem. An
estimated 1.2 billion
people suffer from hunger,
starvation or malnutrition; 100
million are homeless and some
300 million people in Africa
alone do not have access to
clean drinking water. The
Muslim world is suffering too;
for example, in Bangladesh
35.6% of the population live
below the poverty line, and an
alarming 77.8% live on less than
$2 a day. Some countries like
Bangladesh, Indonesia, and
Malaysia appear to be
progressing with some of the
fastest growing economies in
the world but, ironically, the gulf
between rich and poor
continues to widen.
World poverty, however, is not
sustained by chance but by the very
system that permits global trade
injustices and manipulates and exploits
the economies of its debtors. It would,
therefore, be naïve to fall for the idea
that the economic imbalance can be
restored by cancelling debt without
AUGUST 2005
pausing to evaluate the current
capitalist economic model which is
responsible for the growing global
crisis. The growth of poverty, conflict
and illiteracy is intrinsically linked to
the culture of economic dependency
that the West has successfully
cultivated in Muslim and third world
countries. This has been done through
a whole array of measures such as the
manipulation of currencies, the use of
state loans, and the legalisation of
multinational corporations which then
go on to destabilise and destroy
indigenous economic activity.
Economic dependency
Institutions such as the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and
their governments have long been
lending money to Muslim countries.
Though nominally to help with
development, any benefits such loans
bring are short lived and in fact end up
causing economic dependence on the
lending institutions and a future of
reliance on international aid for
survival. Currently, twenty one Muslim
countries are classified by the World
Bank as either low-income or severely
indebted. Others that, according to
growth indicators, are 'performing
well', such as Bangladesh, are so
dependant on foreign aid that they it
would not take much for the World
Bank to reclassify them as severely
indebted countries.
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
The debts are repaid at extortionate
interest rates, which cripple economies
because a massive proportion of the
country's revenue is spent on paying
back foreign debt. This was
appropriately described by the Prime
Minister of Malaysia who said,
"Although Japan furnishes loans, it
takes back with its other hand, as if by
magic, almost twice the amount it
provides." To take some examples,
Pakistan has a combined foreign and
domestic debt of $60 billion with 50%
of its budget spent on debt servicing.
Also, 50% of Egypt's annual revenue
and Tk 80 crore (Tk 800 million) from
Bangladesh's budget is spent on debt
servicing in their respective countries
each year. The consequences of such
severe debts are harsh, pushing
countries to extreme poverty.
The loans from the IMF and World
Bank are not without conditions. They
include various trade concessions to
foreign traders such as 15 year tax
breaks and duty free exports in export
processing zones, so that an
'investment friendly environment' is
created. This gives foreign businesses
an unfair advantage over local ones,
preventing competition and forcing
them into bankruptcy. Other conditions
require countries to reduce their
national health budgets by imposing
fees on healthcare users and privatising
hospital facilities, all to ensure that
debt repayment is given priority.
35

Lack of, or reduced spending on basic
amenities is also a problem and can
have devastating effects on the health
of a nation. For example, many
diseases common in the Muslim world
are related to poor water supply, poor
sanitation and unsafe hygiene
practices, including: cholera, typhoid,
hepatitis A, dysentery and polio.
Other deleterious conditions come
under the guise of 'better governance'
or 'economic reform' which usually
means trade liberalisation, privatisation
and lowering barriers to trade for
foreign goods. Privatisation opens up
the market to foreign companies which
often end up owning public utilities
such as gas and oil. This in turn
drastically reduces a government's
control of its own resources. This again
has a considerable impact on local
businesses which cannot compete in a
market dominated by multinational
corporations leading to further reliance
on foreign aid. Internal markets are
additionally undermined by unfair
clauses imposed by the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) as conditions of
debt reduction or aid. For example, the
WTO often forces third world
countries to agree not to impose
import tariffs on foreign products.
This means that such countries cannot
36 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
‘Ineffective and
insincere leadership
is one of the main
reasons that Muslim
nations have made
little economic
progress or effort to
break away from the
stranglehold of
economic
dependency’
protect their internal markets which
lead to an increase in cheap (often
‘However, the
subsidised) agricultural products from Islamic economic
the West and the destruction of the
livelihood of indigenous farmers. system cannot be
Exports & Currencies implemented either
One of the conditions of debt on a piecemeal basis
repayment is that debtor countries
must increase their exports. However, or in its entirety
unlike the West, what they export are without the
generally not specialised goods and
hence furnish very low profit margins. simultaneous
Bangladesh for example exports
mainly cotton textiles and garments, implementation of
jute and jute products, frozen fish and
seafood. By contrast, goods exported the Khilafah State’
by the West are composed mainly of
industrial machinery and weaponry
which are very profitable. The West
also concentrates on selling finished
products to be consumed by others
such as chocolate or coffee but not the
tools or the machinery to produce
them. This allows them to maintain a
monopoly over the tools of production
and increase the economic
dependency of others.
Countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan
and the poorer sub-Saharan African
countries are unable to make the
investment needed to manufacture
AUGUST 2005

ECONOMICDEPENDANCY
more profitable goods because much
of their annual revenue is spent in debt
repayment. Debt, therefore, is an
efficient tool that, among other things,
ensures cheap access to other peoples'
raw materials. To guarantee this,
institutions such as the IMF make sure
they are able to manipulate the
currencies of exporting countries so
that, in effect, they can purchase goods
at whatever price they want. For
example, Bangladesh's decision to
float its currency on the foreign
markets on 1st June 2003 was ordered
by the IMF; they refused to grant an
emergency loan when the country's
reserves dropped below $1bn unless it
floated its currency. Thus, western
countries and not Bangladesh Bank
became the actual regulators of the
taka manipulating it according to their
purchasing needs.
The net result of manipulating the
Bangladeshi currency is that foreign
countries can now buy raw materials,
and even industries, cheaply. In
AUGUST 2005
addition, large corporations can now
enter the local economy and dominate
it with their foreign products. The
devaluation of the taka has caused
inflation to rise and, consequently, the
real value of money has decreased and
led to an increase in the prices of basic
essentials such as bread and fish, and
a drop in the real value of wages.
Rulers add to the burden of
dependency
Ineffective and insincere leadership is
one of the main reasons that Muslim
nations have made little economic
progress or effort to break away from
the stranglehold of economic
dependency. Despite the existence of
great wealth human miseries are
widespread because governments lack
the political will to change the systems
that allow poverty and suffering to
become commonplace. Though some
Muslim countries face countless
economic problems, others by contrast
are oil-rich but their rulers have done
little to develop their countries
economically, build multinational
conglomerates or buy in expertise to
learn to build tools of production in an
effort to become more economically
independent.
Indeed, the rulers of those countries
that have natural resources could have
designed a policy of self-sufficiency to
strengthen their national economies
and make them independent from
outside interference. However, they
have instead worked to increase
economic dependence. In the late
1990s, the Prime Minister of
Bangladesh, Sheikh Hassina after the
discovery of huge reserves of gas in
Sylhet and the Bay of Bengal, eagerly
gave the gas contracts to US and
foreign companies such as UNOCAL.
And this year, the government signed
the 'memorandum of understanding' of
the 'Myanmar-Dhaka-India' tri-nation
gas pipeline, further weakening the
country's economic position.
In a similar vein Pakistan, under
Musharraf, has privatized electricity
and domestic gas companies such as
KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
WAPDA mostly to US and European
multinational corporations. This will
severely harm the economy because
much needed cash that ought to be
circulating within the Pakistani
economy is now being siphoned off
and injected into western economies.
However, simply changing the ruler
will not produce a change in the
economic destiny of Muslim countries
or even stop the cycle of dependency
that exists. The problem is rooted
deeper and is attributable to the
adoption of Capitalism as an economic
system; a system that lacks the
capacity to provide for the basic needs
of man let alone eradicates poverty.
This is related to the way in which
Capitalism views the economic
problem. Its starting point is that the
economic problem is one of 'scarcity
of resources and unlimited needs.'
Thus, Capitalism seeks to manage the
economic problem by maximising
production in order to generate
wealth, which will in turn satisfy most,
if not all, needs. It is therefore
premised on the idea that the needs of
every individual cannot be met and
therefore poverty will co-exist with
wealth. As such, it inherently accepts
that poverty, homelessness, and hunger
will be familiar traits of every capitalist
society. Thus, poverty is not the sole
characteristic of Muslim and third
world countries, but rather it also
exists in the West in huge numbers.
The Islamic economic system differs
markedly from the capitalist system in
both its underlying basis and the
details. Islam does not share the
fundamental capitalist perspective that
resources are scarce but rather views
the earth as being abundant in
resources enough to satisfy the basic
needs of all of mankind. The Shari'ah
allocates the responsibility of
guaranteeing the basic needs of its
citizens to the Khilafah State, which
were defined by the Prophet
Mohammad (saw) when he said:
"The son of man has no better right
than that he would have a house
wherein he may live and a piece of
37
 cloth whereby he may hide his
ECONOMICDEPENDANCY
nakedness, and a piece of bread and
some water." (Tirmidi)
In terms of ensuring the economic
independence of individuals and
preventing them from relying on others
unnecessarily, people are obliged to
work for a living if they are capable of
earning. Thus, Allah (SWT) said:
"So walk in the paths of the earth and
eat of His sustenance which He
provides." [TMQ Al-Mulk: 15]
Islam does not ignore the disparity
between the rich and the poor. It
rejects the idea that an increase in
production will reduce poverty without
there being any specific strategy of
distribution. Islam views the poverty
problem as being linked to the lack of
an effective method of distribution. It
therefore has specific rules to ensure
that wealth is not hoarded by the
wealthy, something which has become
common practice in both the western
and Muslim World. Allah (swt) forbids
the hoarding of wealth:
"And those who hoard up gold and
silver and spend not in the way of
Allah; announce to them a painful
chastisement." [TMQ At-Tauba: 34]
Rather, those who have wealth are
encouraged to trade and invest such
that others may benefit from this
activity. As a result, unused capital is
spent instead of being hoarded in
banks and unused land is cultivated,
so that wealth is effectively injected
back into the economy. It is an
obligation to circulate wealth in the
economy to prevent its circulation
from being restricted. Allah (swt) says:
38 KHILAFAHMAGAZINEINTERNATIONAL
"Lest it circulate solely among the
wealthy from amongst you."
[TMQ Al-Hashr: 7]
The Shari'ah introduces zakat as a tool
to collect and redistribute wealth and
ensures that the poor enjoy the
dividends of the nation's wealth. Islam
therefore makes it compulsory for
every eligible Muslim to contribute a
percentage of his savings on an annual
basis. This is then re-distributed by the
Khilafah to the poor and needy.
The Islamic economic system rejects
interest based contracts without
exception. State borrowing from
institutions such as the IMF and World
Bank is therefore unlawful from the
perspective of Islam. Usury or interest
is strictly prohibited by Allah (swt):
"O you who believe! Observe your
duty to Allah, and give up what
remains of your demands for usury, if
you are (in truth) believers. And if you
do not, then take notice of war (against
you) from Allah and His Messenger.
And if you repent then you have your
capital (without interest). Deal not
unjustly, and you shall not be dealt
with unjustly."
[TMQ Al-Baqarah: 278-279]
Poverty, homelessness, disease and
deprivation in the Muslim world are
some of the bitter fruits witnessed as a
result of the economic dependency on
the West and its institutions. Debt
relief, further aid or superficial
tinkering with parts of the economy
will not solve the problems of being
enslaved to the global capitalist order
which will continue as long as
Muslims are led by rulers and
politicians that cannot see beyond the
economic vision inspired by the major
western powers.
A mindset of defeatism and
dependency has infected such rulers so
that they are content to be led rather
than to lead. They experience no
humiliation in remaining impotent
slaves to their colonial masters and
they consciously hinder the call for
economic independence. In order to
break free from this cycle of economic
dependency, the Muslim world must
unite as one to form an independent
power bloc under the sincere
leadership of a ruler guided by a
different vision and with courage to
create a system which is independent
of the existing western framework.
The Islamic economic system can
generate wealth and prosperity and
eradicate poverty and homelessness
indefinitely. The free circulation of
wealth in society will raise the
standard of living and allow the
Khilafah to invest in education, health,
and defence, creating the conditions to
allow Muslims to aspire to be at the
forefront of future technological and
scientific advancement. However, the
Islamic economic system cannot be
implemented either on a piecemeal
basis or in its entirety without the
simultaneous implementation of the
Khilafah State. It is a part of the
management of affairs undertaken by
the State, which implements Islam as a
complete system for life, state, and
society. It offers a vision of self
sufficiency and the capacity to provide
a lasting solution to the crisis of
economic dependency that
undermines Muslim countries today.
AUGUST 2005