In December this year, Pakistan's Senate passed two women's rights bills aimed at providing punishments for specific crimes against women and violations of their rights, as well as the law of the Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Bill 2008 establishes jail terms and financial punishments for those found guilty of certain anti-women cultural practices such as depriving them of their inheritance, forcing them into marriage...
Is there now to be a court trial for many Muslims in Britain for having Sayed Qutb's book Milestones (Ma'alim fi al-tareeq) on their bookshelves? I do not think so. Why do I pose the question? It is because of a recent trial in which the ideas contained in Milestones and other books were effectively on trial and ruled as unacceptable by a British judge and jury.
What has been called the Milestones trial did not make huge news headlines in the wider society but has set an extremely dangerous precedent in another step where the Briiish state has prosecuted a Muslim for the ideas they hold or publish rather than for them planning or committing any acts of violence. This is its latest attempt to intimidate Muslims into accepting what the state decides is an acceptable or ‘moderate' Islam.
On the 13thDecember 2011, a well known Birmingham bookseller Faraz Ahmed, was sentenced to three years in prison for publishing and distributing a number of books and DVD's now classed as terrorist material. The court used the opinions of an ‘expert' Muslim witness whose understanding of Islam was clearly different to that of the authors in question, and hence his opinion was a difference of thought, not expertise. In recent cases, British courts have ruled that certain books and videos are terrorist material, effectively banning them and classing the ideas contained within them as not being genuine Islam. Part of the ‘expert'witnesses credentials was that he had memorised two juzz of Qur'an.
The books being judged and sold by Faraz Ahmed inlcluded Sayed Qutub's Milestones, writings by Sheikh Abdullah Azzam , Hassan al Banna and others. These were written in a different era, and for different conflict situations, yet judgements were made on them in Britain in 2011 regarding whether their interpretations of the Qur'an and sunnah constituted legitimate Islam as defined by the states prosecution and ‘expert'. Having decided that the thoughts in this book regarding jihad and other matters differed from that of the state's ‘expert' witness, Faraz Ahmed was bound to be found guilty sincere he was the publisher of these books.
Such ideas have been labelled dangerous and a precursor to people committing acts of ‘terrorism' hence the trail was prosecuted unsing anti-terrorism laws. As people in the Arab and Muslim lands seek to overthrow regimes which labelled ideas of Islamic governance, jihad, shariah and Khilafah "Caliphate" as dangerous and subsequently banned books, imprisoned scholars and Islamic activists, the secular British state is today pursuing a similar path to those regimes but hiding it by labelling this as a fight against ‘terrorism', not against Islam and its ideas. So Faraz Ahmed was sentenced under terrorism laws which don not only target people committing acts of violence but people promoting Islamic ideas of governance, jihad and resistance which challenge Western domination and interference in the Muslim lands.
The message from this trial is not that every Muslim with a copy of Milestones will now be tried - the courts could not cope with the numbers. The message is that certain Islamic ideas e.g. jihad, Khilafah "Caliphate" and resistance are unacceptable and that if Muslims here want to be left alone, they need to let go of these aspects of Islam otherwise they would get into trouble.
Similarly, the message to Muslims around the world - especially those in Arab countries currently going through uprisings - is that if you establish a system that conflicts with Western norms, then expect to be treated as a pariah state by the West.
The challenge for the Muslim community in the UK is whether we clearly see this as another attempt to redefine and enforce a ‘British Islam', whether we will speak against this injustice and whether we continue to support and promote the Islamic ideas the British government seeks to ban.
Taji Mustafa
Media Representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain
Chicago, IL - People from across the Chicago land area attended a rally to support the struggle of the people of Syria against the oppressive Bashar Al-Assad regime. For over five decades, the Al-Assad family has been running one of the most brutal and repressive governments of the Middle East. For the same amount of time, Syria has been used as a client state by Western powers to maintain their interests in the region by conducting proxy operations in Lebanon and Iraq and by protecting Israel. In servitude of its American masters, the Al-Assad regime has run one of the most ruthless dictatorships, carrying out many massacres including the Hama massacre, killing more than 40,000 people and the massacres against the protestors this year. Muslims in Syria have been demanding the removal of this oppressive regime and the return of the justice of Islam through the Khilafah "Caliphate" even as thousands have been brutally killed. Using slogans and holding up signs, rally participants in Chicago were supporting their brethren in Syria will similar calls for the removal of the Al-Assad regime, the removal of Western agents and the re-establishment of the Khilafah "Caliphate".
As expected, with the start of the negotiation phase of the Af-Pak campaign, the US is now all set to change her agent in Pakistan. The writing is on the wall and the PPP-led government can see it loud and clear. The army vs government tussle is ever increasing. The clash on ‘Memogate' scandal has become way too obvious. The scandal started from a "memo" which was conveyed to Admiral Mullen through back-channels and was purportedly conceived and initiated by President Asif Ali Zardari. In the memo, the Zardari government requested America to stop a possible coup in Pakistan, after Osama Bin Laden's "assassination," in exchange for ‘huge concessions' in the War on Terror, the nuclear issue and normalization with India, amongst others.
This is not for the first time that America has changed its old trusted agent with a new one. Whenever she deems that the agent has outlived their usefulness or the public opinion has become hostile to a point that there is a danger of real change, she brings a face-change to stop a system level, radical change. In 1999, Pakistanis witnessed a US stooge, Nawaz Sharif, being replaced by a military stooge, Musharraf. During 2008-2009, the US first forced Musharraf to accept a power-sharing deal with Benazir Bhutto and then finally replaced him with a democratic, corrupt ruler, Asif Ali Zardari. Similarly now, when Zardari has reached his expiry date and the operational phase in Af-Pak strategy is that of negotiations, and not war, the US wants to get rid of Zardari and bring a new agent who is more suitable for negotiations. To achieve this, the US is again banking on its agents in the armed forces. Kayani and Pasha are spearheading this campaign. Currently "memogate" scandal and NRO cases are being used to exert pressure on the Zardari regime. The so-called independent judiciary, which has also been exposed as a veritable arm of the Army is the ace-card for achieving US objectives. This "hostile" role also suits Kayani, as he can pose as someone who is working against the US interests by flogging a dead horse - Zardari. This helps Kayani build himself within the rank and file, who hate him for his connivance with the US in the Abottabad raid, as well as the Salalah NATO attack, which left more than 28 Pakistani soldiers dead and many wounded. It also helps Kayani portray himself as an independent and anti-US General who could wow TTP and Afghan Taliban on the negotiating table, so that the political process could provide permanence to US military gains in Afghanistan and FATA. George Friedman in his article on "Stratfor" alludes to this very point. He says: "The Pakistanis are preparing for the American drawdown. Publicly, it is important for them to appear as independent and even hostile to the Americans as possible in order to maintain their domestic credibility. Up to now, they have appeared to various factions in Pakistan as American lackeys... U.S. accusations that the government has not cooperated with the United States in fighting Islamists are exactly what the Pakistani establishment needs in order to move to the next phase."
A stable Afghanistan and FATA, with US bases in Afghanistan and Pakistan's military check-points in FATA, will allow US companies to build lucrative pipelines for the free flow of hydrocarbons through Gwadar to the rest of the world. Hence, Musharraf and Kayani killed and maimed thousands of Muslims and displaced millions just for the interests of America. After the final military operation in Kurram, the ‘witch-hunt' of Tehreek Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has come to an end, since the Army has built check points all across FATA, which previously was a no-go area. US has started the negotiation phase, which needs political backing from the US agents in the political leadership of Pakistan. Zardari cannot drive this US objective. The US needs another face who has always called for negotiations and is seen by the tribal Muslims as a credible leader.
This is why it doesn't come as a surprise that even Vice President Joe Biden doesn't consider Taliban to be an enemy!
For the new phase of negotiation, GHQ and the ISI are engineering another ‘King's Party' (the new ‘Q League' as they call it here in Pakistan) under the leadership of an ex-captain of the Pakistani Cricket team, Imran Khan. All the corrupt faces are back in Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) after being "baptized" and approved by the ISI. This is why the appeal for Imran Khan and his party has declined sharply amongst the educated middle class citizens who were hoping to see a change, under the leadership of a "clean politician." The criticism became so sharp that Imran Khan had to concede that he could not build a team of angels from a country neck-deep in corruption. This is what Hizb ut-Tahrir has been advocating for decades, you can never bring change through the corrupt system. In a democratic process, one has to depend on the same corrupt politicians to come to power and these politicians make sure that no law is enacted in the parliament, which challenges the status quo. This is why, as an example, in Pakistan no law is enacted to impose taxes on agricultural sector, as most of the landlords are part of the parliament.
The real change can only occur by following the methodology of RasulAllah (saw), which requires us to build public opinion for the implementation of Islam and mandates the seeking of support from the people-of-power to uproot the current kufr system and establish the Khilafah "Caliphate". The notion that clean people within the corrupt system will bring change, is a complete farce. It is even more unlikely when the corrupt have already infiltrated to the highest echelons of the party and championed the slogan of "Change"!
Naveed Butt
The Official Spokesman of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Pakistan
Three Muslims from Melbourne were convicted in Victoria's Supreme Court on Friday, 16 December 2011, of conspiring to plan a terrorist attack. Wissam Fattal, Saney Edow Aweys, and Nayef El Sayed were sentenced to 18 years jail. Justice Betty King emphasised in her sentencing remarks the "extremist views" of the accused whilst admitting the "amateurish" nature of their alleged plans.
Hizb ut Tahrir/ America: PROTEST IN CHICAGO THIS SATURDAY: Support the People of Syria
