At the July 19, 2009 Hizb ut-Tahrir America (HTA) conference in Oak Lawn, Illinois at the Oak Lawn Hilton, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)’s Jeffrey Imm examined Hizb ut-Tahrir’s rejection of democracy.
In fact, Imm addressed that HT is opposed not only to capitalism, but also to democracy itself. Referencing direct quotes from the HT’s manifesto (alternate link), Imm pointed out that HT states that:
– “the democratic system… is a Kufr [infidel] system” (page 25)
– rejects democracy because it “is the rule of people, for the people, by the people” (page 24)
– “Democratic Capitalism” … “is a Kufr ideology and its ideas are Kufr ideas, and its systems are Kufr systems, and they contradict Islam” (page 24)
– “freedom of belief, freedom of speech, freedom of ownership of capital and personal freedom”… “are in conflict with Islam” (page 24)
– “personal freedom does not exist in Islam” (page 24)
– “liberty and democracy, and the Capitalist and Socialist systems… totally contradict with” Islam (page 7)
– freedom of religion is denied by HT, whose manifesto states the “Muslim is not free in the matter of his belief because if he apostasizes from Islam, he is asked to return. If he does not, the punishment is death” (page 24)
Updates:
December 20, 2009 – Lombard, Illinois – Hizb ut-Tahrir America once again speaks against democracy. Abu Baseer continued to attack democracyat the Lombard event, claiming that democracy was part of “British colonial law” designed to subjugate the Pakistan Muslim population, and stating that democracy is something “other than what Allah” demands, which will result in continued “injustices towards the people.”
March 2010 – United Kingdom: Hizb ut-Tahrir in the UK is now telling Muslims not to vote, but to reject democracy.
At the July 19, 2009 Hizb ut-Tahrir America (HTA) conference in Oak Lawn, Illinois at the Oak Lawn Hilton, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) ’s Jeffrey Imm attended the end of the final session “The Rise of Islam” prior to Question and Answer period. When going into the conference, each participant received a package from HTA which included: HTA Conference Agenda, HT glossy pamphlet ” ‘Islamic Reformation’ – Exposing the Battle for Hearts and Minds,” HT flier, and CDs “An Outcry to the Islamic Ummah – For How Much Longer?!” and “The Shield – Islamic Commentary on the State of the Muslims.”
The glossy pamphlet ” ‘Islamic Reformation’ – Exposing the Battle for Hearts and Minds” distributed by the HTA at the Oak Lawn, IL conference was designed to reject the concept of any type of “Islamic reformation” demanding instead the creation of an extremist caliphate. The HTA pamphlet mocked the efforts by Islamic reformer Irshad Manji (page 6), claimed that challenging the Taliban’s rejection of human rights was merely a ploy “to attack Islam” (page 16), mocks “The Fallacy of Western Universalism” (page 21), mocks “allegedly universal values of secularism, freedom, democracy, Human Rights, pluralism, and the rule of law” (page 23), calls for “Shari’ah rule,” demanded separate laws for men and women, and defends the death penalty for “apostates” – who leave Islam (pages 62 and 67).
Regarding the killing of those who seek freedom of religion and choose to leave Islam, the HTA-distributed pamphlet states: “Apostasy is a question of what kind of person would openly and publicly abandon Islam with full knowledge that they will be killed for it, rather than either keeping it to themselves or leave the Khalifah. Hence, the death penalty only applies on those who in Khalifah openly leave Islam, and choose to remain in the state despite knowing the law; this is considered an open attack on the basis of the state which is Islam, essentially it is viewed as treason and a political attack on the Khalifah in order to undermine it.”
Another Hizb ut-Tahrir web site promoting the July 19, 2009 event in Chicago also promotes an online copy of this same pamphlet (page 62) that supports killing those individuals who leave Islam as guilty of “treason and a political attack on the Khilafah”… deserving the “death penalty.”
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) rejects these views, and supports our universal human rights for all, including freedom of religion. We know that many, many other Muslims in America and around the world also reject such calls for violence and intolerance.
We reject calls for violence against those who seek such freedom, and we reject those who would deny such freedoms.
To those of you who had delays accessing Responsible for Equality And Liberty’s website (realcourage.org), we have stopped an attack on our website this morning which made accessing the pages very slow. There are some people who definitely do NOT want you to find out about our efforts to defend equality and liberty.
BosNewsLife: “China Forces Raid Bible School” — “Security forces raided a Bible school in eastern China run by the vice-president of the Chinese House Church Alliance (CHCA) and briefly detained a dozen people, a Christian advocacy group said Monday July 20.”
— “The U.S.-based China Aid Association (CAA) told BosNewslife that Pastor Shi Enhao and 11 students were detained during the July 16 raid on the school in in Suqian city of China’s Jiangsu province.”
“Egyptian Security Refuses to Return Abducted Christian Coptic Girl”
AINA reports: — “Two incidents of abduction of Coptic girls to force them to convert to Islam took place within one week in Upper Egypt. In both cases the Egyptian security predictably played a key role in the outcome of the cases.”
— “Rania Asaad was returned to her family, while Irene Labib is still missing, in spite of pleas from human rights organizations to the security authorities to end this Coptic family’s misfortune.”
— “Irene Hanna Labib, 20-years old, disappeared on 7/1/2009 from Sahel Tahta, Sohag Governorate, 500 km south of Cairo.”
— “The family of 21-year old pharmacy student Rania Tawfik Asaad from Samalut, Minya Governorate, were successful in getting back their daughter, one week she disappeared on 6/27/2009; she was held by her abductor in the small village Of Taha Bosh, Nasser district, in the Beni Suef Governorate.”
— “Rania was approached by Muslim army officer Mohamed Sayed Farag, 29 years old, who posed as a Copt called Mina who was living in Cairo. After a brief courtship, the army officer proposed to her and asked her to meet his elderly mother. According to Ayman Eid of Free Copts advocacy Rania knew the true identity of her abductor only when she arrived at a secluded house in Beni Suef.”
— “Mohamed was also discovered to be a member of the Islamic Welfare Association, which is affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood. He asked Rania to convert to Islam and marry him, but she refused. After a great ordeal her family discovered her whereabouts and learnt that she was forced to convert to Islam by the Association and married Captain Mohamed two days after her abduction.”
Organization Hizb ut-Tahrir's logo for its public conference on July 19 in Oak Lawn Hilton Hotel in Chicago, IL suburb
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)’s Jeffrey Imm will also be staying at the Oak Lawn Hilton Hotel on Saturday night July 18, and will have a shirt with the message “Hizb ut-Tahrir is Against Freedom.” On Sunday, July 19, R.E.A.L. invites those concerned about HTA’s anti-democracy, anti-freedom, and anti-equality message that calls for the replacement of governments with a supremacist caliphate, to join us in protest outside the Oak Lawn Hilton Hotel.
In the morning, we plan to be directly across the street from the entrance to the Oak Lawn Hilton Hotel on the sidewalk near the Charter One Bank (closed on Sunday) on West 94th Street in the morning from about 9 to 11 AM to stand defiant to those HTA supporters driving to the conference (appx. at 4755-4761 West 94th Street area.) After the 11 AM start of the HTA conference, we will move to the corner of West 94th Street and South Cicero Avenue to address more of the traffic in the area. The corner of West 94th Street and South Cicero Avenue is at the front of the Charter One Bank public sidewalk area. It’s address is 9401 S. Cicero Avenue, Oak Lawn, IL 60453; we also plan to be on the side of bank area public sidewalk as well.
We have discussed our specific protest plans with the Oak Lawn Police Department and they have no problem with the exercise of our First Amendment rights to protest against Hizb ut-Tahrir’s conference across the street from the Oak Lawn Hilton Hotel. We have also advised the Oak Lawn Police Department of the nature and ideology of the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, in the event there are any confrontations. We have also advised the Oak Lawn Police Department of our plans to use R.E.A.L.’s small amplified sound system, and they have no problem with that. In addition, we discussed our plans with Oak Lawn Police Department Commander Tom Simon, who is also fine with our plans. The Code also defines general standards of conduct for “parades” that might generally apply to a First Amendment protest.
We urge those in the Chicago area, and those with the means to travel to Chicago for the day (as Oak Lawn is a 10 minute shuttle ride from Chicago’s Midway Airport), to join us on July 19 so that this first major public event by the extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir is publicly opposed by those of who believe in democracy and who are Responsible for Equality And Liberty.
As the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization is the ideological equivalent of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan, we don’t believe that Americans should be publicly silent about this conference by a religious extremist organization opposed to freedom, democracy, equality, and liberty.
Our forefathers and foremothers have made great sacrifices for the Democracy, Equality, and Liberty that we enjoy today. Many have died for such human rights and freedoms. When the international supremacist Hizb ut-Tahrir organization publicly announces its plans to attack democracy and humanity’s universal human rights, surely we can make the sacrifice to send a message to them that says NO – that they will have to get past us first – and that there is a consensus that will remain unreservedly and fearlessly Responsible for Equality And Liberty.
Hizb ut-Tahrir Announces Oak Lawn Press Conference for July 19 — Abdul Bin-Asad: “All media outlets are invited to attend the press conference. The press conference will take place after the event on Sunday, July 19th 2009 from 5:30pm – 6:00pm.”
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— BBC: Hizb ut Tahrir
— “Hizb Ut Tahrir or HT is an Islamic splinter group, which is banned in many countries around the world. It operates freely in Britain.”
— “But Newsnight has discovered that its website promotes racism and anti-Semitic hatred, calls suicide bombers martyrs, and urges Muslims to kill Jewish people.”
— “The party has expressed support of suicide bombings in Israel. It denounces Western governments and what it sees as their lackey regimes in the Middle East.”
— “In Denmark, HT’s spokesman has been found guilty of distributing racist propaganda.”
— April 2008 – Daily Telegraph: “Islamists ‘urge young Muslims to use violence'”
— “Hizb ut Tahrir, which wants to overthrow democracy and establish a worldwide Islamic theocracy, distributed leaflets to young Muslims inciting them to resist the occupation of Islamic lands, according to a TV documentary by a former group member.”
— “One leaflet read: ‘Your forefathers destroyed the first crusader campaigns. Should you not proceed like them and destroy the new crusaders?'”
— “‘Let the armies move to help the Muslims in Iraq, for they seek your help.’ Another leaflet, handed out last August, pours scorn on the UN and tells followers to embark on a Violent Extemism, or ‘holy war’.”
— “The Panorama documentary contains the first testimony indicating it has advocated the use of force. The group has been accused of fuelling terrorism in the past, but has always denied involvement in any form of violent activity.”
— “Omar Shariff, the first UK suicide bomber, who blew himself up in a Tel Aviv bar in 2003, is alleged to have been radicalised by Hizb ut Tahrir.”
— “Panorama has also uncovered a speech made in August last year by Ata Abu-Rishta, the global leader of Hizb ut Tahrir, when he called for the “destruction” of Hindus living in Kashmir, Russians in Chechnya and Jews in Israel.”
— “‘The Caliphate (global Islamic government) will liberate the countries and the people from the influence of the Kafer (non-believer) and its allies and the tyranny of its men and followers,’ he said.”
— “Rishta also spoke recently at its annual conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, where, as video footage in the Panorama expose shows, he whipped the 100,000-strong crowd into a frenzy by calling for a war on Jews. Saleem Atchia, a senior member of Hizb ut Tahrir UK, later made a firebrand speech from the same platform.”
— “Maher, a former friend of the bombers who tried to blow up Glasgow Airport in June and the organisation’s north-east ‘director’ until he left in 2005, claims its aims are the same the world over.”
— “He says its British disciples believe they will eventually fight on these shores.”
— “‘Hizb ut Tahrir despises democracy and believes Shariah law must be imposed over the whole world, by force if necessary,’ he said.”
— “‘I think unless we challenge this we are sleepwalking into a very dangerous future.'”
— UK Guardian: “leaflets handed out by Hizb ut-Tahrir supporters in Copenhagen which claimed suicide bombings in Israel were ‘legitimate’ acts of ‘martyrdom'”
Atlanta: “Keeping quiet is coward’s way out”
— AJC’s Rick Diguette : “A few months ago one of my neighbors mentioned that the Ku Klux Klan had done a lot of good ‘back in the day.'”
— “My silence and yours, if you’re guilty and will admit it, can only help prolong this country’s continued inability to address the issue of race.”
— “if you still stand by and say nothing when a friend or neighbor uses a racial slur — and no, it isn’t only white folks who use them — or praises an organization like the Ku Klux Klan, then you’ve still got some work to do”
— “Silence is golden, but only when we need to get some sleep. Now’s the time to wake up.”
