Q&A: Hizb ut Tahrir and the Syrian Revolution | Sheikh Ata’ Abu Rashta
Greetings to the Scholar Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah from
Mamoun Shehadeh, journalist and political analyst
I would like to ask you, what were the motivating factors that
made Hizb ut Tahrir involve itself in the Syrian revolution and why did it not
do so in other places?
From Mamoun Shehadeh
Answer:
Wa Alaikum us Salaam Wa Rahmatullah Wa
Barakaatuhu
Our work my dear brother is the same and it does not change in
every place that we are able to work. Our work is carrying the Dawah for the
resumption of the Islamic way of life via the establishment of the Rightly
Guided Khilafah in accordance to the methodology that the Messenger of Allah
صلى الله عليه وسلم demonstrated to us from the time that he was tasked with the
mission in Makkah Al-Mukarramah until he established the State in Al-Madeenah
Al-Munawarah. So we make contact with the Ummah to call them to the Haqq
(truth) and that the Khilafah is a great Fard that it is obligatory for them to
work towards. We interact with the Ummah upon this, working with it and through
it to accomplish this matter. In addition we make contact with the people of
power and request their support to establish the Khilafah and we advise them
not to waste their efforts in vain by finding it sufficient to change people
without changing the entire man-made secular system.
Rather they need to exert their efforts, strengths and
sacrifices to change the man-made system from its roots with its rulers and
laws, and establish the Khilafah.
We make this matter clear to them comprehensively just as it has
come in Islam, so the one who responds positively to us we direct him with the
correct direction whilst the one who does not respond cannot be coerced into it
but rather we make Duaa for him to be guided.
This is what we did before the revolutions, what we do during
them and what we will do afterwards. However the revolutions provided a wider
range for the people to listen to the word of truth without them fearing the
security agencies like the situation had been before when the people would keep
their distance from us fearing the security agencies. For this reason it is
noticeable today to see the people surrounding themselves around us and turning
towards us and the presence of a strong active movement of interaction between
us and them. And as such it is noticeable that the scope of the Dawah that we
carry has widened and increased from before because the fear barrier has been
removed from the people.
And it is because of this that you have noticed the strength of
our movement and its increase in the Ummah more than it had been previously
noticeable. This is not because we were not working before but rather because
the people before the revolutions had been fearful to move in our direction out
of fear from the security apparatus which would pursue us and all those whom we
made contact with. So this created a hindrance to our work and placed a barrier
in front of the people if they wanted to approach us.
And it is important to make known that the strength of our work
is not noticeable in the areas of revolutions alone but rather it can be
noticed in other regions and occasionally it can have greater momentum there
than in the regions of revolutions. Perhaps you have seen or heard of our
activities in Pakistan for example where the strength is clear and on par or
similar to what is noticed in Syria. This is despite the absence of a
revolution in Pakistan ate the present time.
In conclusion, our work was present before the revolution but it
widened in a way that caught the attention during the revolution and
specifically in Syria. This is because the barrier of fear had collapsed in the
face of the people uprising against oppression and tyranny.
This is what is new in this matter but we had been working
before the revolutions, through them and after them.
However if you meant by the wording 'involvement in the
revolution' that we now have a military wing, then this is an error and this
does not exist. We do not have a military wing attached to us either in the
past or anytime after. This is because we are a political party whose ideology
is Islam that does not perform any material actions in the stage of Dawah.
Rather it only requests the support from the people of power so they can
establish the state just as that which happened with the Messenger of Allah صلى
الله عليه وسلم in the second Bayah (pledge) of Al-Aqabah. And it is hoped that
this will be realised soon.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ بَالِغُ أَمْرِهِ ۚ قَدْ جَعَلَ
اللَّهُ لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدْرًا
"Allah always achieves His aim. Allah has
appointed a measure for all things."
(al-Talaaq, 65:3)
Your brother,
Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah
30 Shaban 1434 AH
09 July 2013 CE 