The American Campaign to Suppress Islam
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Contents
The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 90's was not just the break up of a state, it was the failure of an ideology, and its end, both internationally and universally. The conflict (Cold War) which broke out after the Second World War between the Western bloc, under the leadership of America, and the Eastern bloc led by the Soviet Union, was not simply an international conflict between two camps, but also an ideological struggle between two ideologies, Capitalism and Socialism. The arena of this conflict was not confined to Europe alone, rather it extended to the whole world, ending with the collapse of the Soviet Union and its fragmentation into many states. The Marxist-Socialist ideology failed as a system and way of life for these states and their people, and Marxism-Socialism ceased to exist internationally as well as universally.
It was natural for America and the Western bloc as a whole to consider this collapse of the Soviet Union and the downfall of Socialism as a victory for the Capitalist ideology as a system and a way of life. It was also natural for the followers of Capitalism to exaggerate in portraying this victory even to the extent that the Japanese philosopher Fukiyama, called it "The End of History".
Ideologies do not end by the downfall of the states which embrace them, even if this downfall led to the break up and fragmentation of the states, rather they terminate when their nations and peoples renounce them and embrace other ideologies and start moulding their lives on their basis. This is what happened with Marxism-Socialism; all the nations and people which the Eastern camp was composed of abandoned it, and turned to Capitalism and started to build their lives upon its basis.
However, Islam, as an ideology, remained existent universally after the destruction of its state, the 'Uthmani Khilafah, in 1924 CE, because the Islamic Ummah with all her different peoples continued to embrace this ideology despite the fact that it was removed from their practical lives and from the international sphere. The ideology remains present in the world as long as there is an Ummah who embraces it, even though this Ummah does not implement its systems for reasons beyond its will. However, it ceases to exist internationally if there is no state to convey it, and to direct international policies upon its basis. Accordingly the Islamic ideology has existed in the world from the time that the Islamic Ummah in Madinah was formed on its basis, after the hijrah of the Messenger (saw) to Madinah where the first Islamic State was built. It continued to exist internationally since that date until the demise of the 'Uthmani Khilafah in the first quarter of this century.
Regarding Socialism, it began in the world towards the end of the 19th Century when it gained a public opinion amongst the peoples of Europe. It existed internationally in 1917 when a state was established in Russia and its neighbouring countries, which was later known as the Soviet Union. Socialism continued to exist internationally until 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed and its peoples abandoned Socialism and consequently Marxism-Socialism ended internationally and in the world. With the downfall of Socialism, Capitalism prevailed alone on the international arena because there was no longer any state in the world carrying any other ideology able to build international policies upon its basis.
In terms of universality, two ideologies remained, Islam and Capitalism. With Capitalism dominating internationally, a new world order emerged. Thus the term 'new world order' is correct from this perspective. Therefore it was natural for the American President George Bush to announce the birth of a new world order, because America is the leading state, the leader of the Capitalist states, and the standard bearer for propagating the Capitalist ideology.
America started to spread Capitalism from the moment she went out to the world as a colonialist state, because colonialism both in its old or new form is the method for spreading this ideology. However, what has emerged recently is that since the domination internationally of its ideology, America has begun to campaign to make it prevail in the whole world. And in the same way that it succeeded with the help of the other Capitalist states in making Capitalism the foundation of the international relationships and traditions, it now wants it to be the way of life for all the nations and peoples of the globe. Based upon this plan the people are not only to implement Capitalism as systems and laws but also to embrace its creed, and take its thoughts, its own concepts, criteria and convictions in all the domains of life and not simply be satisfied by merely implementing it.
America had endeavoured to make the Capitalist ideology the basis of international relations, traditions and laws, since the establishment of the United Nations, when it made the Capitalist traditions the cornerstone of the convention of this international organization. Yet in reality America could not succeed in achieving this goal whilst the Soviet Union still led the Eastern camp on the basis of Socialism and imposed the presence of its ideology internationally and in the world. So Moscow was able to prevent the absolute domination of Capitalism internationally by exploiting the hardship and slavery suffered by colonized nations and peoples which resulted from the oppression, injustice and greed of the colonialist Western states. So it waged a fierce campaign world-wide in which it portrayed colonialism in its true ugly face, by making colonialism and Capitalism synonymous and expounding that the way for liberation from colonialism was only through Socialist revolution. This campaign succeeded greatly to the extent that many people started to incline towards Socialism. The states which gained independence and freed themselves from colonialism, by its old face, raised the slogan of Socialism.
However, America realized that the old face of colonialism would be a danger to the Western international powers, and to Capitalism as an ideology. Therefore, it cunningly worked to contain the aspirations of the nations and the peoples towards Socialism and it started itself to help these nations and peoples rid themselves of the overt form of European colonialism, and started to restrict those independant states with a new vicious form of colonialism based on an indirect economic, political and cultural hegemony which was represented in military accords, alliances, mutual security agreements, economic and financial aid and cultural programs. Thus, under the flags of independence and liberation a new colonialism replaced the old colonialism. However, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and Socialism, the international arena became open for Capitalism and there was no longer any resistance to the sole domination of Capitalism internationally.
The UN, which since the 1940s had served only as a forum of speech, with no real power due to the Soviet right of veto, now changed to become a vast international organization with international authority. And it became an important tool to reinforce the hegemony of America on one side and consolidate the Capitalist traditions on the other.
As for the American campaign to make Capitalism an ideology for all nations and people of the globe, it meets no resistance except in the Islamic world. This is because the rest of the nations and people of the world either already embrace Capitalism as is the case with the US, Western Europe and their followers such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand or others like Russia and the states of what once were known as the Eastern bloc who have renounced Socialism and started to mould their lives on the basis of Capitalism. Although states like China, North Korea, Vietnam and Cuba are still raising the slogan of Socialism, in reality they no longer believe in it and gradually turn to Capitalism without any official proclamation. Other nations and peoples of Latin America, the Far East, South East Asia and some countries and tribes in Africa who continually did not have any ideology, do not perceive Capitalism as a doctrinal rival. The Islamic Ummah is the only nation from amongst the non-Capitalist nations which has an ideology which she embraces, despite the fact that currently she neither lives according to it nor conveys it to the world. Therefore the American campaign to make Capitalism solely dominate the world is not met by real resistance except in the Islamic world.
All the current governments in the Islamic world do not implement Islam, even though some of them claim to do so, but instead implement Capitalism in a distorted form. It is the Islamic Ummah, which did not vanish with the destruction of the Khilafah state, that began from the early 1950's to perceive her path for revival on the basis of Islam. It began to make moves to mould her life according to its basis, and look forward to save the world with it, despite the division which the Kuffar created in her, before and after the destruction of the Khilafah, and despite that her rulers are agents for the Kuffar who maintain the dominance of Kufr established by the West in the Muslim lands. These rulers guard the interests of the West, consolidate its influence, and proceed in all their domestic and foreign policies according to Western directions and orders.
Although the revival of the Ummah is not yet complete, and proceeds slowly due to the oppression and persecution against those who work for it by the agent rulers, and because of what those rulers create of an atmosphere of suppression and terrorism and due to the Kuffar plans that the agents implement against their own people to make them succumb to the yoke of Kufr. Yet despite all this the Kafir West, led by America, is afraid of the Ummah completing its revival and the return of the Muslims as one Ummah distinct from all other peoples which lives as a single entity; the Khilafah State. A state which will resume the conveyance of her message to the world to save it from the suffering, disorder and immorality to which it has sunk due to the hegemony of Capitalism and its opportunistic and materialistic values. Values which have turned the world into a jungle without security or tranquillity, and despite all the scientific and technological fruits which humanity has achieved.
So the Kafir West still recalls how Islam transformed Arabs from fighting tribes living at the margin of history into a civilised, distinguished Ummah, with a civilization that illuminated the world, an Ummah which was able to become the master of the world in a short span of time and continued to be so for ten centuries spreading justice, security, high values and prosperity, in every place that the standard of the Khilafah was raised.
Therefore the West fears that the Islamic Ummah would make a return again and destroy its influence and interests not over its land but over the whole globe. Upon America and the West realizing this fact, the American campaign is directed primarily against the Islamic Ummah despite the fact that the campaign is on a world wide scale.
This campaign has other motives such as the Capitalist greed, the ambitious desire of America and the West towards the resources of the Muslim lands, the geographic and strategic advantages of these lands, and the fact that they constitute a huge market for the products of the West and are a source for the raw materials necessary for its industries as well as its huge oil reserves vital for its life. Notwithstanding all these motives the principle motive behind this campaign is the potential threat from the Islamic Ummah against the interests of the West, and its international influence as well as upon its very existence once the Islamic Ummah wakes up, revives, and carries her message to the world.
The Pillars of the American Campaign
America depends, in her campaign against the Islamic world, on a number of pillars.
The first pillar: Its international weight and influence in the Islamic world, particularly after the second Gulf War policy which resulted in the consolidation of her influence in the whole Islamic region. Due to this weight and influence the existing states in the Islamic world became more compliant to American pressure and plans aimed at suppressing Islam by forcing Muslims to embrace Capitalism.
The second pillar: While America is the leader of the Capitalist states, she ensures that others participate in this campaign. She uses their influence and their agents to guarantee the success of this campaign in the whole Islamic world particularly as these states do not differ from America in viewing Islam as a threat to them, to their proper influence and interests.
The third pillar: The international law, and its tools represented by the UN, its charter and its other sub-organizations and institutions which America employs to implement its plans and cover with the international law. And the measures which it deems necessary to take, whether these measures are political, economic, military or other.
The fourth pillar: The world media dominated by America and her allies, which is used as one of the most deadly weapons in its campaign by using them to propagate its slogans. The media is used to distort the image of Islam and to incite the world against those who adhere to it, portraying them as fundamentalists, zealots, extremists and terrorists. This weapon should not be underestimated especially after the revolution in telecommunications in the second half of this century which has transformed the world into a tiny village where the written, audible and visual media has access into every single home.
The fifth pillar: Perhaps the ugliest and most dangerous of these pillars are the agent rulers and the circle around them of underlings, hypocrites, opportunists and those lured by the Kafir culture and fascinated by its way of life. This circle also includes those who pretend to care about Islam whether they are government scholars or those presented to the people as Islamic intellectuals from some Islamic movements who are in reality nothing more than secularists, calling for the detachment of the deen from life.
All of these serve the American campaign by turning the Muslims away from their deen to Capitalism by all ways and means including media misinformation, distortion of the concepts and rules of Islam, the implementation of Kufr laws, as well as setting up legislation necessary for this implementation. They also serve it by subjugating the state in the Islamic world with various treaties, pacts and constraints to keep them under the influence of the Kuffar and fulfilling their role in executing the plots of the Kuffar to impoverish the Ummah to do away with the Islamic values in her besides the attack against the sincere aware sons of the Ummah to silence them, thereby spreading an atmosphere of submission and intimidation over the people, so that no one dares to voice the truth. All for the purpose of humiliating the Ummah and forcing her to submit to Kufr and the Kuffar.
These are the most important pillars which America relies upon in her campaign against Islam and the Muslims, for the purpose of suppressing Islam through forcing the Muslims to embrace Capitalism. This campaign manifests itself in four slogans which essentially constitute the core of Capitalism: democracy, pluralism, human rights and free market policies.
Before addressing these slogans and refuting them in detail it is necessary to explain the falsehood of the basis from which they emanate.
This basis is the Capitalist creed, i.e. the creed of detaching "Religion" from life. This creed does not result from a rational process, nor even from a logical one, rather it is a compromise between two contradictory ideas; the idea which the clergy used to call for in the "Medieval Ages", namely the submission of everything in this life to the "Religion", i.e. Christianity and the idea which some thinkers and philosophers called for, namely the denial of the existence of a Creator.
So the idea of detachment of the "Religion" from life is a compromise solution between these two sides. A compromise solution is conceivable between two similar views where there is some disparity, but it is inconceivable to exist between two contradictory views. Either there is a Creator who created man, universe and life and accordingly this discussion will then be about whether this Creator has prescribed a system for man to proceed with, in this worldly life, and Who will account him after death on his adherence to this system, or, there is no Creator and accordingly the religion would not be detached from worldly life but rather would be rejected from it.
But to say there is no importance in the existence or non-existence of a Creator is a matter which does not convince the mind or reassure the nafs (soul). Therefore the mere fact that the Capitalist doctrine is a result of a compromise in an issue which allows no such compromise is enough in itself to refute this doctrine for both those who believe in the existence of a Creator or those who deny His existence.
The decisive rational evidence leads to the conclusion that there is a Creator Who created man, universe and life, and that this Creator has prescribed a system for man to follow in this life and He will account him after death on his adherence to this system. However, the issue at hand is neither to discuss the existence of the Creator nor the system which He set up for man, rather it is to discuss the Capitalist doctrine and to expose its falsehood. In this regard it is enough to establish the falsehood by the fact that this creed is a compromise between two contradictory opinions and that it is not built on reason.
The refutation of the Capitalist creed is sufficient to refute the whole of the Capitalist ideology because whatever is built on falsehood is itself false. This means that there is no need to discuss in detail the fundamentals of the ideology. But as some of these ideas have achieved widespread circulation throughout the world and they have gained acceptance by some Muslims, and because they form the slogans of the American campaign in its ferocious attack on Muslims and Islam, it has become necessary to address them, show their falsehood as well as their contradiction with Islam. Accordingly it is prohibited for Muslims to adopt them and it is obligatory to reject them and challenge all those who propagate them.
The four slogans of this campaign are democracy, pluralism, human rights, and free market policies.
Democracy is the political framework of the Capitalist thought, i.e. the ruling system that the Capitalist states and their like implement. Democracy, for those who embrace it, means that people rule themselves by themselves with the systems that they choose. Oftentimes, Capitalists refer to their system as "The Democratic System", but such a connotation is incorrect for more than one reason: Democracy was not innovated by the Capitalists but had been preceded by the Greeks. Moreover, they were not the only ones who implemented it; the Marxist-Socialists claimed that they were democrats and they consistently pretended that they implemented democracy.
The most important element of democracy is that it makes the human being and not the Creator as the legislator, which is logical for those who call for the detachment of religion from life because this detachment means to transfer the right to legislate from the Creator to the human being. The Capitalists, in this issue did not discuss whether the Creator has obliged man to follow a certain law and implement it in his life, nor did they even examine this issue at all, rather they appointed man as the legislator without any discussion.
For Muslims to adopt democracy means to disbelieve in all - may Allah forbid - the decisive and conclusive evidences, among which are many Qur'anic verses which oblige them to follow the law of Allah and to reject any other law. Moreover, these verses consider any one of them who does not follow or implement the law of Allah as either a Kafir, a zalim, or a fasiq,
"And those who do not rule by whatever Allah has revealed are non-believers (Kafiroon)." [TMQ 5:44]
"And those who do not rule by whatever Allah has revealed are oppressors (zalimoon)." [TMQ 5:45]
"And those who do not rule by whatever Allah has revealed are transgressors (fasiqoon)." [TMQ 5:47]
Thus, whoever does not rule by whatever Allah has revealed, denying Allah's right to legislate, as is the case with those who believe in democracy, is a Kafir according to the explicit words of the Qur'an, because by doing so he is rejecting those decisive verses, and denying a conclusive text makes a person a Kafir as the Muslim Fuqaha' agreed unanimously.
The Kafiroon and their agents who rule the Muslim countries, as well as all those who call for democracy who are counted from among the Muslims, whether they are individuals or movements, realise that the basis for democracy is the rejection of the law of Allah and putting man in the place of the Creator. For this reason, they do not present democracy from this perspective, but instead claim that democracy means people ruling themselves by themselves, with equality and justice prevailing among the people, and the accountability of the ruler guaranteed. Although democracy explicitly implies the rejection of the laws of Allah and following the law of His creation, the advocates of democracy intentionally avoid addressing the issue of rejecting the law of Allah.
The remaining claims of democracy have no actual reality, the claim that people rule themselves by themselves is a major fallacy. In all Capitalist Democratic societies, people do not rule themselves by themselves, because this is a fanciful idea. In reality, people are ruled by a certain group of influential people, such as the prominent Capitalists in the United States and the aristocrats in England, which are two of the most deeply-rooted Capitalist Democratic countries. These influential groups in the Capitalist countries hold the necessary means to bring whoever they want into the government and legislative assemblies (parliaments) so that the laws which are passed and those charged with their implementation would be serving their interests.
Regarding what is claimed about equality, justice, and accountability of the rulers, these are all theoretical, without any compatibility with reality. It is enough for one to look to America, the leader of the democratic world, to find that equality, justice, and accountability are all selective, enjoyed and practised by those who have a particular colour, religion, race, or financial wealth. The suffering faced by the blacks, Indians, those of Latin and Asian origins, those who are not Protestant, and those who are not from Western European backgrounds is evidence enough that what is claimed of democracy is - despite some exceptional cases - merely theory. Consequently, it is not allowed for a Muslim to accept democracy, because it is Kufr and gives man what is entitled exclusively for the Creator. It is obligatory upon every Muslim to reject it and to challenge all those who propagate it.
As for pluralism, it emerged in the minds of Capitalists as a result of their view of society, which they view to be composed of individuals who have various beliefs, opinions, interests, needs, and backgrounds. For this reason, they see that it is inevitable to have different groups in the society, each with their own goals that must be represented by a party, a movement, or an organisation. These should all be recognised and allowed political participation. So they view pluralism as being contradictory to the one-group or one party system. However, this pluralism exists only within the framework of the Capitalist system. There is no place in Capitalist societies for a group or party which does not believe in the Capitalist ideology or which works to undermine the existing Capitalist system.
From this perspective, that is to say, multiple parties within or based on the same doctrine and in the same framework of one system, Islam has its own multiplicity which is different from that claimed by the Capitalists. Islam allows the multiplicity of parties and movements which are established on the Islamic 'Aqeedah and do not work to undermine its system, as long as their opinions are Islamic i.e. emanate from the Islamic doctrine, or built on its basis. However, the permissibility of multiple parties in Islam does not mean that Islam permits pluralism based upon the Capitalist understanding as called for by America and the West. The Capitalist pluralism emanates from the Capitalist doctrine of detachment of religion from worldly life. So, according to the Capitalist pluralism, it is allowed to establish parties and movements to call for a Kufr doctrine or idea, such as the doctrine of detachment of religion from life, or to be established on a basis prohibited by Islam, such as patriotic and nationalist parties. Likewise, it is allowed to establish movements that call for things which Allah (swt) prohibits, such as sexual perversion, adultery, to establish groups defending gambling, drinking alcohol, abortion, and the use of women as sexual objects.
Therefore, a Muslim cannot accept both the pluralism which America propagates and the unrestricted pluralism which means accepting the existence of calls for Kufr and anything which Allah has prohibited. A matter which is unacceptable for anyone who believes in Allah and His Messenger because he knows, without a doubt, that Allah will punish him for such in the Hereafter.
The third slogan that America and the West calls for and strives to force Muslims to adopt is "human rights". Many Muslims are attracted to this slogan because of the oppression, torture, and persecution they suffer from their rulers. The origin of these rights is the Capitalist ideology's view of the nature of man, the relationship between the individual and the group, the reality of society, and the function of the state. In its view of the nature of man, this principle conceives man as inherently good and not bad, and that any evil that is committed by man is a result of restricting his will. For this reason, the Capitalists call for freeing mans will in order to express his good nature. From this perspective, the concept of "freedom" emanated and became the most prominent idea in the Capitalist ideology. The Capitalists also claim that the relationship between the individual and the community is incompatible. Hence, the individual must be protected from the community, and his freedoms must be secured and protected. This is contrary to what prevailed at the time of the Feudal system, in which the interests of the community were prioritised over the interests of the individual, whereas the Capitalists favour prioritising the interests of the individual and they consider the state's main function to be securing and protecting these interests.
As to their view of society, they said that society consists merely of the group of individuals who live in it. If the interests of the individual were secured, the interests of the society would be naturally secured.
All that the Capitalists claim about man and his nature, about the relationship between the individual and the community, about the reality of the society, and the function of the state, is incorrect. Man is neither inherently good, as the Capitalists claim, nor bad, as the Church used to claim returning to old philosophies based on the concept of man's inheritance of Adam's sin. The correct view of man's nature is that he has organic needs which have to be satisfied. Owing to the mind bestowed upon him by Allah, he acquired the will to choose the way by which he satisfies his instincts and organic needs. If he satisfies them correctly, he will have done good, but if he satisfies them incorrectly or abnormally, he will have done bad. Thus man inherently is ready to do both good or bad, and he is the one who chooses the good or bad by his own will. This is the view that Islam adopts and which Allah ta'ala explained in His words,
"And a soul and what made it so. He (Allah) inspired in it its evil and righteousness" [TMQ 91:7-8]
"And We guided him to both ways" [TMQ 90:10]
"We guided him to the way so he is either thankful or ungrateful." [TMQ 76:3]
Also, saying that the relationship between the individual and the community is a relation of incompatibility and confrontation is an erroneous representation, whether it is claimed by the Capitalists who prioritise the interests of the individual over the interests of the community, or claimed by the Feudalists who called for the dissolution of the interests of the individual in the community, or as pretended by the Marxist-Socialists who made the individual nothing more than a spoke in the wheel of the society.
Islam has prescribed the correct relationship between the individual and the community as a symbiotic and fulfilling relation, and not a relation of incoherence. The individual is part of the community as the hand is part of the human body. Just as the body cannot dispense from the hand, so the hand is useless if it is separated from the body.
Islam has assigned rights for the individual as well as for the community. These rights are neither incompatible nor contradictory, but complementary. Islam also assigned certain duties upon each towards the other, and charges the state with the obligation of securing the balance between the two sides to ensure that neither will dominate over the other, so that each side must obtain its rights and accomplish its duties. The Prophet (saw) magnificently described the relationship between the individual and the community by saying, "The example of a man who watches for the limits of Allah and he who is a transgressor resembles people who boarded a ship; some of them ended up in the upper deck and some in the lower deck. When those in the lower deck want to drink, they would pass by those on the upper deck. Then, the people in the lower deck would say, What if we make a hole in our part of the ship without annoying those above us? If the people in the upper deck let them do so, they will all perish, while if they stop them, all will be saved."
Furthermore, the Capitalist claim, that society is composed of nothing more than a summation of individuals who live in it, is by no means correct. The society does not only consist of individuals, but comprises individuals, the thoughts prevailing amongst them, together with the system applied upon them. The correct definition of a society is a group of individuals who share permanent relationships. The passengers in a ship or a train do not form a society, even if they amount to thousands, whereas the inhabitants of a small village constitute a society even if they do not surpass hundreds.
Based on these facts, the view of the Capitalist ideology towards the nature of society, as well as its conception of human nature and the relationship between the individual and the community, is in error. As for its error in understanding the function of the state, it is even clearer. The state is not only a tool to secure and protect the interests of the individual, but also the entity that takes care of all the affairs of the individual, the community, and the society both internally and externally according to a specific system that determines the rights and duties of all parties. In addition to carrying its message to the entire world if it is built upon an ideology that addresses human beings in his quality as a human being regardless of any other consideration.
In summary the view of the Capitalist ideology towards the nature of the human being, the individual's relationship with the community which he belongs to and the society in which he lives, and the role of the state in securing and protecting the individuals interests, made it (the Capitalist ideology) call to secure four kinds of individual liberty: freedom of belief, freedom of expression, freedom of ownership, and the personal freedom. These freedoms are the basis from which the human rights emanate, and they are the components of the tribulations in the Capitalist societies, which, as a consequence, have turned into jungles of wild animals in which the strong devours the weak and man degenerates to the level of the animal as a result of unleashing his instincts and organic needs. People in Western societies make the issue of attaining as much physical enjoyment as possible their only concern. The Capitalist ideology considers this as the peak of happiness, despite the fact that these societies know not the taste of happiness. Rather, they are overwhelmed by hardship, disorder and unending anxiety.
According to the Capitalists, freedom of belief means that man has the right to believe or to disbelieve in any ideology, religion and thought. Furthermore, he has the right to change his religion, or he has the right not to believe in any religion at all. Some of the "trumpets of the kuffar" who are counted from the Muslims claim that the freedom of belief that the Capitalists call for does not contradict Islam. They support their claim by the words of the Qur'an,
"There is no compulsion in religion" [TMQ 2:256]
"Whoever wants to believe, let them believe, and whoever wants to disbelieve, let them disbelieve." [TMQ 18:29]
They intentionally ignore the subject matter of these two texts; the address in both of them is limited to the non-believers. Muslims cannot force the non-believer to believe in Islam, and the non-believers can accept Islam or reject it, as individuals, so Muslims should not force them to believe in Islam. Such rules do not apply to Muslims because they have no option after embracing Islam to disbelieve in it and to renounce it. The rule regarding the Muslim who becomes apostate is to require his repentance. If he insists on his disbelief, the capital punishment is applied on him because the Prophet (saw) said, "Whoever changes his deen, kill him."
Therefore, freedom of belief does not exist for Muslims because they are obliged to embrace the Islamic 'Aqeedah. It is not allowed for a Muslim to embrace any other creed, whether it is based on an originally revealed religion, such as Judaism and Christianity, or another ideology's creed, such as Capitalism or Socialism, or any creed from any way of life, or any thought other than the creed of Islam. Thus it is evident that the Muslim is prohibited to accept the freedom of religion which Capitalists call for. Consequently, he is obliged to reject it and to challenge anyone who calls for it.
Freedom of expression means for the Capitalists that man has the right to express and advocate openly any opinion about any matter or issue without restriction. This freedom is attractive to some Muslims, because they live in suppressive police ruled states that prevent any person from expressing his opinion if it is against the opinion of the ruler, even if his opinion is based on Islam, and even if his opinion is an ayah from the Qur'an or a noble hadith as long as the content of the ayah or hadith contradicts the opinions or policies of the ruler. As an example, one of the rulers of the Muslims ordered his agents of suppression to remove ayat and ahadith from walls of mosques and public places and to destroy them because they reveal the truth of the Jews, such as Allah's words,
"You will surely find that the people who hold the most enmity to the believers are the Jews and those who associate (partners in their worship of Allah)." [TMQ 5:82]
In spite of the suffering imposed upon the Muslims - the oppression of the rulers, their tyranny, and their transgression against the limits of Allah, they are not allowed to accept what displeases Allah.
Freedom of expression for the Capitalists is not simply confined to the accountability of the rulers, or criticising the behaviour of politicians and others, but it also includes the freedom to openly proclaim Kufr, deny the existence of Allah, and to call for any idea even if it contradicts the Islamic creed or disagrees with the rules emanating from it, such as the call and promotion to what Allah has forbidden like usury, gambling, alcohol, fornication and sexual perversion, and for many ideas that undermine the Islamic values, which Allah has commanded Muslims to hold fast to and protect.
Freedom of expression means allowing the agents, the hypocrites, those who are disobedient to Allah, and the enemies of Islam, to openly call against Islam and destroying the entity of the Ummah, fragmenting her into ethnic groups, regions, sects and groups. It allows the calls for racist tribalism, which Islam rejects and forbade Muslims to call for and which the Prophet (saw) himself described as "rotten". Freedom of opinion also allows the calls for Kufr ideas that encourage immorality among women, vice, profanity, and corruption, and undermines the high values of honour. It is enough for a person to remember how this freedom allowed the apostate Salman Rushdie to openly proclaim and distribute what he said about the Prophet and the mothers of the believers to realise the extent to which this freedom has reached for Capitalists. It is true that Islam allows a Muslim to express his opinion about anything or any issue, but it restricts him only to opinions derived from the Islamic creed or those built upon it, or within what Islam allows him to discuss. He has the right to express any opinion, even if it contradicts the opinion of the Khaleefah and his adoption, and even if it contradicts the opinions of a majority of Muslims. The only condition, though, is that his opinion should be based on an evidence from Shar'a or within the limits of Shar'a. Islam even obliges the Muslim to express his opinion and take the ruler to task if he abuses his authority by saying or ordering something that displeases Allah. Islam even elevated this act of standing up to the rulers to the level of Jihad for the sake of Allah. The Prophet (saw) said, "The master of Shuhada is Hamzah ibn 'Abdul-Muttalib and a man who challenges an oppressive ruler, ordered him (to do good) and forbids him (from doing evil) and is killed by him."
However, it is not allowed for a Muslim to express any opinion that contradicts Islam, whether re the Islamic creed or anything emanating from it. Accordingly, he is not allowed to call for the "liberation of women", or Nationalism, or Patriotism, or Regionalism, or a Kufr principle like Capitalism or Socialism, or indeed any idea that contradicts Islam. Therefore, it is not allowed for Muslims to adopt the freedom of opinion which the Capitalists call for. Everything that is initiated by a Muslim should be confined by the Shar'a. The Prophet (saw) said, "Whoever believes in Allah and in the Hereafter, let him say good or refrain from saying anything." The "good" referred to in the hadith is Islam, or what Islam approves of. Islam forbids Muslims to even show any inclination toward what contradicts Islam because the Prophet (saw) said, "You are not considered a (true) believer until your desires are according to what I came with".
Based on the Capitalist thought, freedom of ownership implies that man has the right to own anything by any means and to do whatever he wants with what he owns. The only condition is that he does not transgress against the rights of others, which are defined as such by the Capitalists. According to this definition, man has the right to possess anything, whether Allah has allowed it or not, and he has the right to do whatever he wishes with what he owns, whether he acts according to Allah's commands or not.
According to this type of freedom, an individual can possess public property such as oil wells, mineral mines (which is considered like inexhaustible water springs), sea shores and rivers, and water which is needed by the community, etc. Also, he has the right to possess items that Allah allowed, such as a house, a garden, a shop, or a factory, as well as possessing things that Allah prohibited, such as a pub, a bank dealing in usury, a pig farm, a brothel, or a casino, etc. Furthermore, according to this freedom, man has the right to earn money and invest it through allowed means like inheritance, gifts, business, hunting, agriculture, and manufacturing as well as through forbidden means like gambling, usury, trade in alcohol, or drugs, and many other prohibited means.
It's clear that freedom of ownership as such contradicts Islam and is therefore forbidden for the Muslims to accept. As a result of adopting freedom of ownership, the Capitalist societies suffer from innumerable diseases. Immorality, organised crime, selfishness, and love of oneself at the expense of others have become established norms. Deadly diseases, crime, deterioration of the social fabric including the family, and epidemic social problems, have spread as a result of promoting everything whether beneficial for people or harmful, like drugs for example.
As a result of this kind of freedom, wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, called Capitalists, who because of this wealth, became the dominant force that rule societies and states in their internal and external policies. The Capitalist system derived its name from these people (as a connotation for its most important matter). Some of these Capitalists who became owners of arms factories and arms traders have incited their states, or other states under their influence, into wars which their people derive no benefit from. Their only concern is the profit that they accumulate from selling weapons for the sake of business, regardless of the blood that is shed and the tragedies that may result.
The fourth type of freedom which the Capitalist system calls for and works to achieve and protect is the personal freedom. According to this system, every human being has the right to live his private life as he wishes unless he transgresses against the private lives of other people. He has the right to marry or to have an extra-marital relationship with any woman as long as it is done with her consent. He has the right to practice sexual perversion as long as this practice does not involve a minor. Also, he has the right to eat, drink and wear whatever he wants within the public laws. For these Capitalists, the concept of halal and haram does not exist when it comes to personal conduct, as long as the person behaves lawfully, and "lawful behaviour" in the Capitalist societies is subject to disparity from one society to another and from one time to another.
Religion has no influence upon this freedom. The system is detached from religion according to the Capitalist ideology. As a result of applying this type of freedom in the Capitalist societies, immorality has spread. Men and women live together without any legal relationship, and even men and women have partners of the same sex and establish abnormal relationships amongst themselves under the protection of the law. The personal and sexual perversions that prevail in the Capitalist societies result from personal freedom which has also led to unbelievable conflicts. Pornographic magazines and movies, sex phone lines, and nude bars are just a few examples of the abnormalities and perversions which the Capitalist societies have degenerated to as a result of personal freedom. The evident disparity between one Capitalist society and another in the practice of this freedom results from the origin of the Capitalist societies and their gradual application of the Capitalist ideology.
The Capitalist societies were established on the ruins of the Feudal system and the traditions and culture upheld by the Church. Because it was impossible to change these traditions overnight, the Capitalists were divided among themselves. One group pushed to immediately abandon these traditions, whilst another group called for removing the old traditions and culture gradually by taking into consideration the reality of the societies and the prevalent culture and traditions at the time. Those who called for the immediate practice of freedom were called Liberals, and those who called for the gradual application of freedom were called Conservatives. Another intermediate group has surfaced between these two groups who were called Moderates. This "Middle Group" was also divided; some of them were more inclined to the Conservatives and were called Rightists, and some of them were more inclined to the Liberals and were called Leftist. The Capitalist societies still have these classifications of groups today.
A Muslim is not allowed to accept personal freedom because it allows what Allah has forbidden, even aside from it being a source of various social diseases. Personal freedom is the freedom of fornication, sexual perversion, immorality, drinking alcohol, and other diseases.
These are the four fundamental freedoms which the Capitalist ideology calls for and the Capitalist states implement, the Capitalists would even sometimes ascribe these freedoms to their ideology by calling it "The Free Ideology" or the "Free World". These freedoms form the basis of the concept of human rights which America calls for, they contradict Islam and it is consequently forbidden to accept or call for them. Despite this, many call for human rights including from amongst the rulers presiding over the Muslims as well as their supporters and advocates, who are counted among the Muslims, together with those enchanted by the Western culture and the misguided and naive who are either ignorant, transgressors or kafir . A person who does not realise the contradiction between "human rights" and Islam, and calls for it is fajir, however the person who believes in it as an idea emanating from the creed of detachment of deen from life, which is a Kufr creed, and calls for it upon this basis is undoubtedly a Kafir because in this case he does not embrace the creed of Islam.
Human rights within this context were first advocated at the time of the French Revolution in 1789 CE and were added as a document to the French Constitution issued in 1791 CE. Before that, the American Revolution had called for these rights (1776), and the rest of the European countries adopted them in the 19th century. However, they (human rights) remained an internal affair for each state. Human rights did not emerge into an international law until after the second World War and the establishment of the United Nations in 1948, when the International Declaration for Human Rights was issued. And, in 1961, the "International Agreement of Human Civil and Political Rights" was added to it. Moreover in 1966, the "World Pledge for Economic, Educational and Social human rights" was issued. These concepts remained only international. Only in 1993 efforts were initiated to make them universal: i.e. a law adopted by people and not only by states. Two years after the collapse of Socialism and the dominance of Capitalism in the world, a conference was held in Vienna for the non-governmental organisations for human rights, and the "Vienna Declaration for the Non-Governmental Organisations for Human Rights" was issued, elevating human rights from an international into a universal tradition that the states as well as the people had to adopt. It emphasised the universality of human rights and the need to implement them equally on various educational and legal levels whilst rejecting the claim that these rights differ from one society to another. This means to reject taking Islam into consideration when implementing "human rights" in the Muslim lands.
To emphasise human rights as an international law, the United States adopted this concept as one of the pillars of its foreign policy in the late seventies during the term of Carter. The State Department has, ever since, been issuing an annual report covering all the states of the world and their compliance with these rights, as well as the extent to which their people are allowed to practice these rights. America has embarked on taking a certain stance against those states that do not abide by these rights. As an example, America linked the selling of American wheat to the Soviet Union to its permission for the Soviet Jews to migrate to Israel. Also, America took violation of human rights as an excuse to intervene militarily in Haiti in 1994. As is the case with American foreign policy in general, American policy on "human rights" is also selective towards the world states. It ignores the violation of these rights by certain states if American interest makes it necessary not to raise that issue. For some states, she stops at verbally warning them, whereas it takes military actions against others, like Haiti. In some cases, America takes economic and trade measures as was the case with China, or political and diplomatic measures as it did against other states. All of that is done according to the American interests, and to the requirements of dominating and subduing specific states. For Muslims, the rejection of the concept of "human rights" stems from the fact that it emanates from the Capitalist ideology with its corrupted doctrine, and from this concept being an expression of the view of this ideology toward the individual and the society, as well as a detailed explanation of the four types of freedom upheld by Capitalism. The creed of this ideology and all thoughts that either emanate from it or are established upon it contradict Islam. Muslims have to reject and refute them, and challenge their advocates.
The fourth slogan that America and the West raise in their universal campaign to make the Capitalist ideology the way of life of all human beings, including Muslims, is the slogan of "Free Market Policy". Free market policy in this campaign represents an international application of the freedom of ownership (property) that emanates from the creed of the Capitalist ideology i.e. the application of freedom of ownership onto trade relations between states. Free market policy is defined as diminishing or ending government interference, specifically in trade but also in the economy in general. Based upon this definition, America forces all states of the world to lift trade and custom restrictions that are barriers to world trade, regardless of their type. Other policies that America seeks to end in the name of free market policy includes direct trade protectionism, such as import restrictions on certain goods to protect similar domestic goods from competition, and includes indirect protective policies such as imposing high custom fees on certain imports, subsidising selected domestic products, or limiting the volume of trade exchange. By imposing these market policies upon other governments America aims to change the world to a "free market" and open the markets in other countries to foreign investments, and thereby force countries to abandon their role in managing their own economy. It means forcing these countries to privatise the public sector, especially in those countries where the public sector constitutes a high percentage of the economy and is an obstacle to the prominence and growth of the private sector.
To achieve this goal, America embarked, along with the other major Capitalist states, upon holding international trade agreements and establishing economic blocs. Examples of such blocs include NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, the United States and Mexico), the European Common Market, and EPAC (between the NAFTA countries and Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the so-called "Tigers of Asia" and Indonesia - all of which have access to the Pacific Ocean). The Capitalist countries also used the club of the "Group of Seven" wealthiest countries as a tool to establish and follow up on the implementation of different international economic, financial, and trade decisions. These decisions would soon be considered as international law, particularly those decisions relating to trade.
GATT (the General Agreement for Tariffs and Trade) remained the reference for international trade until 1995. Almost all countries abide by this agreement, whether signatories or not, and because this agreement is confined to organising trade relations among countries, and because it has nothing to do with how these states administer their internal economic and trade policies, the United States found it insufficient to achieve its goals. Accordingly, America worked to initiate another alternate agreement in the form of an institution called the "Organisation of World Trade" whose establishment was announced in Morocco in 1995 by the major trading countries of the world. Most of the world's states will sign the new agreement and join the new organisation as a result of the pressures applied upon them for that purpose by America. What distinguishes this new agreement most is that it allows the wealthy and powerful Capitalist states, led by the United States, to intervene generally in the economic and trade affairs of other member states through systems imposed by the powerful states. It is no secret that the main goal of America and the Capitalist states in internationalising Market Policies is to open the markets of all the world states to their superior quality products and investments. Such a policy will maintain the developing countries under the economic and trade grip of the wealthy nations and will prevent them from building their economies on strong foundations, which may free them from their economic subordination to the wealthy states, a subordination which leaves them only as consumer markets for the goods of the wealthy nations. Further, under the grip of the wealthy states, developing countries will not be able to transform their economies into production economies that depend on heavy industry, without which they will never develop.
For this reason, Muslims are not allowed to accept the free market policies that America, and the West in general advocate. These policies are an implementation of the concept of freedom of ownership in the Capitalist ideology, which contradicts Islam and its rules. Moreover, if the Muslim lands abide by these policies, they will enable the Kuffar to have control over their economies and could prevent them from ridding themselves of the grip of Kufr and the Kuffar, a matter which Allah (swt) has forbidden for the Muslims,
"Allah will not accept for the Kafireen to have authority over the believers." [TMQ 4:141]
Although Islam prohibits the imposition of custom tariffs upon trade because the Prophet (saw) said, "Whoever takes custom tariffs will not enter paradise". And though Islam absolutely prohibits imposing customs on traders who are citizens of the Islamic State, regardless of the source of the goods (because the Islamic trade policy doesn't take into account the origin of the goods rather, it looks at the citizenship of the trader). And though it doesn't allow imposing custom fees upon other traders regardless of their citizenship, unless similar measures are taken by other countries, such facts by no means indicate that the Capitalist concept of "Free Market Policies" agrees with Islam and that Muslims are allowed to adopt them. The existence of similarities between some Islamic rules and other rules in another system in some aspects does not mean that Muslims are allowed to take rules from a system other than Islam. Also, such similarities do not justify some Muslims labelling Islam by Kufr terms simply because of some apparent similarities between what Islam calls for and what other ideologies call for, such as describing Islam as Socialist (as the poet Shawki did when he addressed the Prophet, "You are the leader of the Socialists") or associating shura in Islam to democracy. Everything emanating from Islam is Islamic and is neither Socialist, Democratic, or anything else. Furthermore, Islam existed before Socialism and Democratic Capitalism.
Therefore, Muslims must reject Market Policies because they contradict Islam from the perspective of their origin and from the perspective of their basis, and from the dire consequences of their implementation by Muslims, the least of which results from linking the economies in the Muslim lands to the Capitalist economy. This will prevent building their economies on a productive basis and will lead to enabling the Kuffar to maintain their control on Muslims and their lands.
These are the main slogans which America and the West call for in their global campaign to make the nations and peoples of the world embrace Capitalism. After explaining the corruption of the creed of this ideology, the corruption of the systems which emanate from it and after refuting its intellectual foundations (democracy, pluralism, human rights, and free market policies), and the clarification of their contradiction with Islam, it is forbidden for a Muslim even to think for a moment of accepting this ideology or to adopt anything from it. The American campaign undoubtedly targets the Muslim Ummah first and foremost because only the Muslim Ummah has an ideology capable of confronting and challenging Capitalism. The Kuffar know the history of the Muslim Ummah, which bears witness to what this Ummah can achieve when she applies its ideology and carries it as a message to mankind. The clearest proof of this fact is that America, while simultaneously campaigning to make Capitalism universal, has initiated another campaign to fight Islam either by labelling those adherents to Islam as terrorists, or by forcing the corrupt rulers in the Muslim lands to oppress those who are working faithfully to revive the Ummah on the basis of Islam, in addition to distorting the concepts of Islam with the help of these agents and their cronies.
For this reason, the danger that Muslims face today surpasses all the dangers they were subjected to throughout their history.
The Crusade Wars were aimed at occupying parts of the Muslim lands. The abolishing of the Khilafah in 1924 CE aimed at destroying the entity that protected the unity of these lands from the Kuffar and prevented them from looting the resources of these lands, fragmenting them, and implementing the systems of Kufr upon them. However, those who waged the Crusade Wars, as well as those who abolished the Khilafah, it did not cross their minds to deviate Muslims from their 'Aqeedah nor did they work towards achieving that objective, therefore as soon as the Crusader's invaded, the Muslims were quickly lured back by their 'Aqeedah and united again behind it to fight back the Crusaders and eventually repelled them. Also, not long after the destruction of their Khilafah, Muslims began to return to their 'Aqeedah once again. Life began to flow into the Muslims, and they started working to build their Khilafah and to resume carrying their message. Whereas the current American campaign aims to destroy Islam by making Muslims reject their creed and embrace the creed of secularism which calls for the separation of deen from life and to take Capitalism as a new "deen" for them as the basis of their thinking as well as the systems they live by, which means to keep Islam completely away from their lives such that nothing remains of it but clerical rituals conducted in the places of worship.
This is the truth about what America is calling for as well as what the agents of the West and their cronies are promoting.
Oh Muslims! In light of this dreadful goal, you must wake up and realise the reality behind what the Kuffar and their followers are plotting. You are today called upon to defend your creed, your deen, and your existence as a Ummah because nations last as long as their ideologies remain, but they vanish when their ideologies vanish.
It is time to distinguish Truth from Falsehood as clear and distinct as life is from death. On one side, the side of Falsehood - are America, the Kafir West, and your rulers and their supporters which includes the politicians, thinkers, economists, people of the media, and others allured by Capitalism and seduced by its way of life, together with those who call for democracy, pluralism, human rights, and free market policies. And on the other side, the side of the Truth - are the aware and sincere carriers of the Islamic da'wah and those who follow them from among the Muslim Ummah who adhere to their deen.
Your destiny is determined by this battle. After this battle, there is either dignity in this life and the Hereafter or death and the disgrace of both this life and the hereafter, may Allah forbid. Every Muslim who believes in Allah and His Messenger, and the deen that the Prophet (saw) came with, is obliged to stand on the side of Truth. He has no other choice because there is no room for neutrality in this decisive battle.
There is no doubt that the danger of perishing will continue to threaten you as long as you live like sheep without a shepherd to protect you and to defend you against misfortunes. Islam has designated for you, as your shepherd, a Khaleefah to whom you give bay'ah (pay allegiance) to rule according to the book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Prophet (saw). You have lived long without a Khaleefah, which is one of the greatest sins against Allah because the Prophet (saw) said, "Whosoever dies without a bay'ah (an oath of allegiance) upon his neck, he will die in a state of ignorance (jahilliyah)". Only the Khaleefah can re-unify you to fight back mischief and evil. The Khaleefah will return you to the true identity that Allah (swt) has designated for the Muslims - the best nation ever brought to mankind.
Indeed, if you are loyal to Allah (swt) and sincere in your intentions, you have the capability to free yourselves from the sin and misery you live in. The Kuffar and their helpers calling for misguidance - realise this fact. Therefore your rulers spread an atmosphere of intimidation, fear, and terror amongst you so that you do not dare to voice the Truth and remain subdued to the Kufr of Kuffar.
But Allah ordered you to fear none but Him alone. Allah says,
"Do not fear them and fear Me if you are true believers." [TMQ 3:175]
If you fear only Allah, then He will grant you victory, as He promised,
"If you support the cause of Allah (His deen), He will help you and make your feet firm." [TMQ 47:7]
Allah never breaks His promise, so nothing remains except for you to help by rejecting the Kufr of Capitalism, as well as all that it calls for of democracy, pluralism, human rights, and free market policies, and challenge all those who promote them. Your submission to Allah will not be complete unless you work with the sincere and aware Muslims to establish the Khilafah, the shield of the Muslim Ummah, from Kufr, division, mischief, and evil.
Oh Muslims! We call you to submit to the commands of Allah,
"O you who believe! Answer (the call of) Allah and His Messenger when He calls you to that which gives you life." [TMQ 8:24]
Hizb-ut Tahrir
6th of Zhil-Qidaa, 1416
AH 25th March, 1996 CE