Many people say that Islam is the biggest danger to democracy and human rights. Many American Christians claim this. It is however very hypocrite for a fundamentalist Christian to say that a Muslim is a mortal enemy to democracy and freedom. Many Christians in the USA hate secularism and democracy. They don't say it, but deep in their hearts many would love to see a world were the Bible rules supreme. We are not talking about secular Christians. Many Christians in the USA are radical and theocratic. For them the Bible is the only law they want to see in government!
In Europe many Christians and Jews have turned towards secularism. For them religion is private and they don't want to enforce their views on others. Many Muslims share this believe, because they too love freedom and democracy. But because people with an Islamic background are discriminated against in the western world, many fall under influence of radical groups like the Party of Liberation ( Hizb ut Tahrir ).
This Hizb ut Tahrir is an fundamentalist Islamic party, that claims to have one million members worldwide. Their goal is clear, they want to create an Caliphate of Islam. In this caliphate, the only law is the law of Sharia. There is no separation between state and religion, Islamic morality would rule.
Hizb ut-Tahrir rejects democracy as a western system and un-Islamic despite aspects of it such as elections existing in the Islamic political system. Hizb ut-Tahrir argues democracy as a system is the rule of people, for the people, by the people. The basis of the democratic system is that people possess the right of sovereignty, choice and implementation. ... it is a Kufr system because it is laid down by man and it is not from the Shari'ah Laws!
However, Hizb ut-Tahrir believes the Caliph ( the head of the Caliphate state ) should be elected and be accountable to those who have appointed him. The position should not be inherited through blood lines, or imposed on Muslims, but elected by them, contrary to the principles of Shia Islam. Muslims should then pledge their loyalty to the Caliph!
The '' Caliph" is the head of state in the Khilafah. He is not a king or dictator but an elected leader whose authority to rule must be given willingly by the Muslims through a special ruling contact called baya. Without this baya he cannot be the head of state. This is completely opposite to a king or dictator who imposes his authority through coercion and force. It argues the tyrant kings and dictators in the Muslim world are examples of this, imprisoning and torturing their populations and stealing their wealth and resources!
Islamic democracy for Hizb ut Tahrir means elections for Muslims only. That is not a democracy according to western views, but a democracy only for one group. Much like a single party state, were only members of the ruling party are allowed to participate in elections. For us revolutionary socialists, Hizb ut Tahrir is a danger to the working class. Because of their hostility towards woman rights, gay rights, secularism and Marxism!
Yet some Muslims feel that Hizb ut Tahrir is a force of good. They feel betrayed by the western world they view as degenerated and hypocrite. Revolutionary socialists can partly understand that. With all the racism and discrimination it is understandable some reject the western ideologies. But the working-class must reject Hizb ut Tahrir and their Islamic dogma. Because a theocracy is a danger for all workers, it does not matter if it is called Christian, Islamic or Jewish!
There are many Christian theocratic parties in the world. A Dutch Christian right-wing party is the Reformed Political Party ( Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij ). The SGP is founded in 1918 and the oldest political party in the Netherlands. For the SGP the Bible is the absolute word of God. Since their foundation they try to impose Christian dogma on the Dutch people. They opposed woman rights, hated the idea of secularism and fought against same sex marriage. Until a few years ago the SGP spoke very clearly about the creation of a theocracy in the Netherlands. Now they have reformulated their goals. They claim to support the parliamentary democracy and the rule of law. But that law is based on separation of state and religion, does the SGP support secularism now? Or is it only a mask to hide their Christian theocratic dogma?
Christian sects are famous in the USA. One of them was a leftist Christian cult called the ''People's Temple''. This Church led by Jim Jones committed mass suicide in 1978. More then 900 people killed themselves and their children. After they killed a member of the US congres, the followers of Jim Jones were told to kill themselves . The ''People's Temple'' was a left-wing Christian cult, but today's sects based on fundamentalist Christianity are mostly right-wing. Take the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. The WPC is a small sect with only 40 members. It used to have 70 members a few years ago. But many children who were raised in the WBC have left the church, reducing its members to 40!
The Westboro Baptist Church says their believes are based on primitive Baptist and Calvinist principles. They hate other Christians, gay's, atheists, Muslims, Catholics and all who are not members of the WBC. Fred Phelps is 83 years old and the absolute leader of this Christian sect. His family is famous for picketing at funerals of death soldiers with signs saying ''God hate Soldiers'' or ''God hate gay's''!
In the State of Israel, radical Jews make up only a small part of the Israeli society. Most Jews are secular and support a democracy. Yet a minority of Jews have a lot of influence, as they demand Israel to be completely Jewish. At this moment the State of Israel is a mixture between secularism and Judaism. The extremist Jews want to impose Jewish law on all people living in Israel and the occupied Palestine territories. The most extremist Jewish political party in Israel is the; The Jewish Home. This radical right-wing Zionist party is founded in 2008 and supports ultra nationalism, the greater Israel ideology and religious Zionism. It won 12 seats during the 2013 elections, making it the fourth largest party in the Israeli parliament.
Extremist Jews are also found in the occupied Palestinian territories. Jewish colonists who occupy Palestinian lands are mostly anti-Arabic and hate the Palestinians. There are enough video's of colonialists attacking Palestinian children and their families. With support from the Israeli Army these Jewish colonists have the freedom to bully and intimidate many Palestinians every day. Reminding them that they are the rulers of Palestine. Some Palestinians have turned against the colonists and even committed murder out of anger. Yet the Israeli Army is quick to defend the colonists against Palestinians, who want to fight these extremist Jews who occupy their land!
Western media loves to show radical Muslims. Because when Muslims kill others it is big news. Christian terrorism is weak and limited, but Islamic terrorism is rising and hot news. So the western media is spreading the idea that many Muslims could be terrorists. In the USA this is enforced by radical Christians in the Republican Party. Christian extremist leaders like Michelle Bachman claim that the Muslim Brotherhood is ruling the CIA. Also the Tea Party movement shows a strong radical Christian identity.
A great example of a right-wing populist attacking Muslims we see in the Netherlands. In 1999 a young girl was murdered in Veenklooster in Friesland ( North Netherlands ). Pim Fortuyn a rising right-wing populist, said that the killing was the work of a foreigner. Because the way of the murder was not typical western, according to Pim Fortuyn. The right-wing populist blamed immigrants who fled Afghanistan and were kept in Veenklooster. Many Dutch demanded the arrest of these immigrants, even when DNA proofed their were innocent. Pim Fortuyn was murdered too, but not by a Muslim or a foreigner. In 2012 the killer was finally found. It was a 45 year old white farmer, who raped and killed the young girl in 1999. But because of the hate Pim Fortuyn spread, the immigrants were blamed by the Dutch in Veenklooster!
Many people fear Islam. They fear that Muslims would support the ideology of Hizb ut Tahrir. The right-wing fuels this fear by focusing on young Muslim boys who commit crimes. They focus on the behavior of a few thousand Muslim boys who have problems with the law. There are one million Muslims in the Netherlands, yet only those who do criminal things are often seen in the media. Good Muslims are not hot news, while bad Muslims are always good news!
Revolutionary socialists oppose hatred towards Muslims. But we also oppose Hizb ut Tahrir and Islamism. Religion is private matter and must not be enforced by a political party or the state. Radical religious groups like Hizb ut Tahrir, the Dutch SGP and the Westboro Baptist Church are a danger to freedom and human rights. But so are elements in the Republican Party of the USA, who want to impose Christian morality on people. In this way Hizb ut Tahrir and the Republicans do not differ much from each other!
Hizb ut Tahrir, the Party of Liberation
An extremist political party!
