Hizb ut-Tahrir Exploiting Latest "Cartoon Crisis"

For a week, beginning on Sunday February 10, teenage youths rioted in Danish cities. The riots began in Aarhus before the controversial cartoon of Mohammed, founder of Islam, was reproduced in Danish newspapers. On Tuesday February 12, five individuals were arrested and three were detained. Danish intelligence agency PET (Politiets Efterretningstjeneste) announced that the three detained individuals had been arrested in connection with a plot to murder 73-year old illustrator Kurt Westergaard.

Westergaard's image of Mohammed with his turban as a bomb was among 12 which had been published on September 30, 2005, by Aarhus-based newspaper Jyllands-Posten. The drawings had been commissioned by the newspaper after author Kare Blultgen said he could find no artist willing to illustrate his children's book on the life of Mohammed.

The publication of the 12 images led to rioting and protests around the world. These protests grew to a peak during February 2006, and by the end of that month at least 50 people had been killed. The anger had initially been stoked by Palestinian-born preacher Abu Laban of the Waqfs mosque in Noerrebro, Copenhagen. He sent a delegation to the Middle Eastern religious leaders. This delegation carried three extra images which had not been printed by Jyllands-Posten.

Westergaard and another illustrator, Franz Fuschel, were placed under police protection and had to go into hiding. On Wednesday February 13, Jyllands-Posten reproduced Westergaard's picture. By the end of last week, the picture had been shown in 17 Danish newspapers. It had also appeared in newspapers in Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Additionally, the Wall Street Journal, the Observer, and German newspapers Frankfurter Allgemeine and Die Welt reprinted Westergaard's illustration over the weekend, leading to these editions being banned in Egypt.

The urban rioting by Danish youths became more widespread after Wednesday February 13, with fires and arson attacks in Aarhus, Tingbjerg (a district of Copenhagen) Ringsted and Slagelse, but appeared to end after Sunday. The school half-term commenced on Monday this week, and most of the youths that were rioting were still of school age.

Hizb ut-Tahrir Denmark

Danish Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) led an official protest against the cartoons on Friday February 15 in Copenhagen's Noerrebro district, attended by 1,500 people. Leading the demonstration was Danish HT leader Fadi Abdullatif.

Officially Hizb ut-Tahrir claims that it is opposed to violence, but the 2002 leaflets stated that suicide attacks against Israel were "legitimate" acts of "martyrdom". As a result of these leaflets, on October 2002, Fadi Abdullatif had been sentenced to a 60-day suspended prison sentence for distribution of racist propaganda.

In 2004, politicians from across the spectrum had demanded that HT should be banned in Denmark, but the director of public prosecutions ruled that the group could remain legal in the nation.

In the same year, Danish HT distributed leaflets which called for Muslims to kill members of the Danish government. Abdullatif had created leaflets calling for Muslims to go to Fallujah, Iraq, to fight Americans. He urged Muslims to "eliminate your rulers if they stand in your way". In August, 2005 Abdullatif was arrested, and in March 2006 he was officially charged with threatening the Danish government. On August 17, 2006, Fadi Abdullatif was found guilty of threatening the Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Additionally he was found to be in contravention of Denmark's anti-racism laws by calling for the killing of Jews on HT Denmark's website. He was sentenced to three months' jail.

On Friday, stated Jyllands-Posten newspaper, at the Noerrebro HT demonstration "a direct threat against Danish society was issued." Danish politicians were outraged that the leader of a prominent Muslim group, widely regarded as "moderate", was at the demonstration, photographed standing beside Fadi Abdullatif.

Kassem Said Ahmad is spokesperson for the Islamic Society in Denmark (Islamisk Trossamfund). On Tuesday February 12, after the men allegedly responsible for plotting Kurt Westergaard's murder had been arrested, Ahmad had called for dialogue in a press release. He also said he would support the battle against extremism. He wrote: "We extend a hand out to the Danish society to participate in dialogue in understanding and respecting each other."

In September 2006, Kassem Ahmad had appeared in a meeting with Kurt Westergaard at one of the artist's "safe-houses". A television crew was present. It was assumed the meeting would be a sign of reconciliation. When Westergaard did not publicly apologize, Ahmad stormed out of the meeting. He said: "I got angry and went away from the session. All attempts at dialogue were futile. I had expected repentance and an apology." He also refused to allow permission for the recorded material to be broadcast.

Kassem Ahmad's appearance with Hizb ut-Tahrir on February 15 this year was condemned by Henrik Dam Kristensen, integration spokesperson for the Danish Social Democrat party. He said: "If the Islamic Society chooses spokespeople who sympathise with the Hizb ut-Tahrir and participates in this sort of demonstration, then to me, the society has lost a large portion of its legitimacy."

One of the HT speakers at the demonstration said (translation): "Do you believe we will forget (the insults)? Do you believe we have forgotten? We have not forgotten and we will never forget. The government must know that they have seen nothing yet of the potential of the Muslims. If our reactions last time (i.e. during the cartoon crisis) were enough to give them a nervous breakdown, then they shall wait and see what happens when the Muslims resurrect the Khilafah and unite the whole Muslim world under its banner. The west must know that the Muslims are about to rob them of the political initiative, and on that day, dear fellow Muslims, we will hold them accountable for everything. We have not forgotten!"

One Danish politician wrote an angry response to Hizb ut-Tahrir on his website. Villy Søvndal is chairman of the Socialist People's Party (Socialistisk Folkeparti). He wrote (translation):

Hizb-ut-Tahrir: You are on the wrong path!

Hizb-ut-Tahrir has not only taken a wrong turn - they are at the wrong place. If they are so brain dead they really want the Kalifa and the Sharia, they are simply in the wrong country. They have nothing to do in Denmark and they will never reach their goals here. 

With age, I have learned that you must choose your struggles carefully. Therefore my advise to HT is - not friendly but nevertheless heartfelt - to seek other pastures. 

There are - a tragedy in its own right - countries in the world that are much more fertile to the wet dream of these idiots. So, if they really want the Khalifa (Caliphate) or the Sharia, the potential is much higher in, for instance, Iran or Saudi Arabia. So, from me a clear appeal: You must press on - and it can only happen too slowly. 

With their usual sense of timing the HT struck again as an extension of Cartoon Crisis version 2.0. With never failing precision they managed to pour petrol on the fire while talking directly to the Danes, who are fed up by religious fundamentalism, and to a minority of Muslims who seemingly cannot have enough of it. 

Therefore, this is my message to HT and their followers - among them apparently the spokesman for Islamisk Trossamfund (Islamic Society in Denmark), who have gladly marched in a demonstration arranged by HT: Find other pastures. Your purpose has no perspective and no future in Denmark. 

And to the ordinary Danes, who rightly are tired of the grotesque point of views and crazy demonstrations of HT: You are not alone. I too am tired of them. Let us therefore join forces and send them a message: Your unspirited idiocy has no right on earth, for in the long run nobody wants to live unfree, in ignorance and with your pathetic haplessness. 

Some say that among the immigrants, HT are those who are doing best when it comes to education and jobs. I don't know - I'm not a sociologist. But I must conclude that they are extremely bad at all other aspects of life. And maybe that is the real tragedy: That people who are brought up in freedom, who have been offered opportunities that their parents in their home countries never could have offered them, nevertheless end as religious bigots and with hatred towards the society they live in. 

To those who feel themselves attracted to HT, and who meet resistance in their life - just like everyone else meets resistance in their lives: Free yourself of the victim paradigm. Free yourself of the middle ages. Have the courage to use your common sense. Acknowledge, as a lesson in history, the superior qualities of democracy, acknowledge the equal rights of women and their authority. Acknowledge reason and knowledge as the basis on which you meet other people. Do this and you'll feel welcome in this society.  

Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international group with a sense of common purpose. In February 2006, the group was behind some of the cartoon protests, and again it is trying to exploit grievances on the part of Muslim individuals to promote its own agenda.

On Wednesday February 20 protests had spread to Indonesia. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Danish and Dutch embassies in Jakarta, Indonesia. And here Hizb ut-Tahrir was organizing protests and making political capital from the event.

Once again contradicting HT's official claim to be against violence, Indonesia HT's official spokesman called for the death of those who defamed Islam such as Salman Rushdie and Theo van Gogh (who was killed on November 2, 2004). Muhammmad Ismail Yusanto also said: "We heard they have reprinted the cartoons to defend the freedom of speech while in fact they have thereby clearly and seriously insulted the Prophet Muhammad and Islam, and this has happened several times."

Yusanto led a 7,000-strong HT rally at which calls were made for an Islamic caliphate to govern the world in August 2007. Yusanto spoke at a HT rally in Lakemba, Sydney, Australia on January 28, 2007. He said to 500 people: "Sacrifice must be encouraged. If the capital (of the new Caliphate) fell and was occupied by the invading forces the rest (of the Caliphate) must be involved in an all-out war against the occupiers. Call for all military-aged Muslims to obtain military training and prepare for jihad. There is no victory and glory without hard work and sacrifice - no pain, no gain."

In Indonesia, the group has frequently colluded with the Front Pembela Islam (FPI or Islamic Defenders Front) a violent Islamist group which in February 2006 threatened tourists and stoned the American Embassy over the cartoon issue. After the tsunami of December 24, 2004, HT joined forces with FPI during the relief effort. One FPI member threatened to "chase down any Christian (relief) group that does anything beyond offering aid."

When in 2006 the nudes-free Indonesian version of Playboy was published, Hizb members promised to take to the streets alongside FPI who were already smashing windows at the magazine's offices. In June 2006 the Indonesian government suggested that Hizb ut-Tahrir and FPI could be officially outlawed due to their reputation for disrupting security and public order, but such a move was never made.

In Indonesia, HT took root in the 1980s, when KH Abdullah bin Nuh, the owner of the Al-Ghazali Islamic boarding school in Bogor, West Java, invited HT Asia-Pacific leader Abdurahman Albaghdadi from his home in Australia. It now claims to have 100,000 members. It is currently gaining popularity among students at University of Indonesia, Bandung Institute of Technology and Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

HT in Bangladesh also has a reputation for encouraging violence. In February 2006 HT organized a rally of 5,000 protesters at Dhaka. There were cries of "Death to those who degrade our beloved prophet!" and "Hang Culprits!" as HT members demonstrated against the Danish cartoons.

HT was introduced to Bangladesh by Golam Mowla who had encountered the group when he went to London to become a PhD student in 1993. He met Nasimul Gani and Kawsar Shahnewaj and by 2000 these, together with Mowla, had set up Bangladesh's first HT office.

In July 2004, Bangladesh HT was accused of making death threats against ten politicians. Mohiuddin Ahmed, leader of the Bangladesh HT, denied the claims. The Bangladesh group has a student wing, called Chhatra Mukti.

In Bangladesh, several HT members were arrested for protesting about the Swedish cartoons. At the same time, stated Dominic Whiteman, HY in Britain were busily recruiting Bangladeshis from the Brick Lane/Tower Hamlets region of east London, and taking out advertisements in British Bangladeshi newspapers.

The cartoon issue is one that is now being exploited by Hizb ut-Tahrir. The group was founded in Jerusalem in 1953 by Islamic jurist Mohammed Taqiuddin al-Nabhani (1909 - 1977). The group is banned in Russia, the former Soviet states in Central Asia, the Netherlands and Germany. It banned in most Middle East nations, such as Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. It is banned in Pakistan, but remains legal in Britain, North America and Australia. In some Central Asian states, where the authorities enact harsh punishments, the group has been linked with sporadic terrorist actions.

The first British branch of HT was founded by Omar Bakri Mohammed. He had been expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1985 after he had formed a group two years before called Al Muhajiroun. This was viewed as a "front group" for Hizb ut-Tahrir. Arriving in the UK as an asylum seeker, Bakri founded UK HT in 1986 with a Syrian called Farid Kassim.

On February 16, 1996 Bakri broke with HT and took some members to form his own group called Al Muhajiroun. Under Bakri, HT had gained a reputation for violence and intimidation. It was banned by the NUS from attending university campuses in 1996 after its members had intimidated Muslim women students to wear the hijab or headscarf.

No-one should forget that Hizb ut-Tahrir was said to be responsible for the murder of an African student at an east London college in 1995. The student, Ayotunde Obanubi, had been accused of "insulting Islam". He attended the (former) Newham College of Further Education in East Ham. After a college visit by Omar Bakri Mohammed which was attended by 200 individuals, Mr Obanubi was stabbed in the arm at the college. A few days later, on Monday February 27, 2007 Obanubi was again assaulted by a group of young Muslims. The Nigerian student died on the steps of the college.

The gang that killed him was led by Saeed Nur, an older brother of the student who had inflicted the stab wound. This individual had earlier warned Mr Obanubi with the statement "Don't mess with Muslim boys and my religion." Nur was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996. Former HT member Ed Hussain has said that the killing was directly inspired by Hizb ut-Tahrir's ideas.

HT maintains that it is opposed to violence, but it is opposed by many moderate Muslims. Despite this opposition, the group is constantly trying to inveigle itself into the ranks of "acceptable" Muslim society in Britain.

This event, called "Has Political Participation Failed British Muslims?" will take place on February 26. Speakers will include Lord Nazir Ahmed and also Makbool Javaid, a lawyer. Mr Javaid may not wish to be reminded of this, but in 1998, he was a signatory to a fatwa by Omar Bakri Mohammed, who was then leading the extremist group Al Muhajiroun.

This fatwa included the statement: "We the undersigned call upon the Muslims around the world including Muslims in the USA and in Britain to confront by all means whether verbally, financially, politically or militarily the US and British aggression and to do their Islamic duty in relieving the Iraqi people from the unjust sanctions."

In 1998 Javaid threatened to sue various newspapers for reporting that his support for the fatwa meant he supported Osama bin Laden. The Sunday Mirror of August 23, 1998 called Javaid a "supporter of Muslim fanatic Osama bin Laden".

Javaid argued that he had only been involved with Al Muhajiroun as a legal adviser, and that if he knew of the group's support for terrorism, he would not have helped them. Even if Al Muhajiroun's support for terrorism was not so well known at that time, its anti-semitism was no secret. In October 1997, the group had carried banners outside Ealing Town Hall. One carried the legend: "The hour will never come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them."

Without wishing to disparage Makbool Javaid because of his former associations, one should also note that another speaker at the upcoming Cordoba Foundation meeting will be Osama Saeed, who has acted as spokesman for the Scottish wing of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB).

In November 2006, Saeed urged Muslims in Dundee not to cooperate with Tayside Police's Special Branch community contact unit. He said: "The police are doing their jobs and their job is to push the boat out and push the limits they can push. Our job is to resist that, and resist that we must."

One question remains, apart from the obvious one of why rate-payers are funding the meeting. That question is: Why is the Cordoba Foundation called "Cordoba"?

Cordoba is in Andalucia in southern Spain. After Muslims, led by Tariq bin Ziyad invaded Christian Visigoth Spain in 711 AD, Cordoba had become the capital of the Western Umayyad Caliphate.

What is the message that is implied in the choice of this name? According to the group's website: At times when human minds and intellects clash, the spirit of Cordoba is evoked. The symbol of human excellence, intellectual ingenuity and spiritual elation, Cordoba, the city, civilization and people, remains living evidence of the ability of minds and aspirations to meet, collaborate and strive for the common goal of advancement and success.

The group claims that its aim is to prevent a clash of civilizations. Yet the invasion of Spain was exactly that, a conflict of civilizations. Bin Laden still argues that Andalus should be returned to Islam.

The Cordoba Foundation was founded by Anas Altikriti who was president of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) from 2004 to 2005. One should also remember that MAB was founded by Kemal el-Helbawy of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). The MB was founded in Egypt after the last Caliphate, that of the Ottomans, was dismantled in March 1924. The MB slogan is: "Allah is our goal; the Messenger is our model; the Quran is our constitution; jihad is our means; and martyrdom in the way of Allah is our aspiration."

For Britain's policy makers and politicians, both at local and national level, it is not always so easy to pick out the moderates from the radicals amongst Britain's Muslim representatives. Hizb ut-Tahrir stands out because it proclaims loudly its desire to create a Caliphate. But for some other groups with less extreme reputations, whose leading figures are influenced by Jamaat-e-Islami or Deobandi (Taliban) ideology, all roads ultimately lead to the Caliphate.

 (Danish translations courtesy of Wiking)

 Adrian Morgan is the Current Affairs Editor of The Westminster Journal

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