Speech from Hizb ut Tahrir / Wilayah Syria at the Khilafah Conference in Jakarta

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Speech from Hizb ut Tahrir / Wilayah Syria for the Khilafah Conference in Jakarta [Speech of Engineer Hisham Al-Baba, Head of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Syria at the Global Khilafah Conference in Jakarta, which was held on Sunday, 23 Rajab 1434 AH, corresponding to 02 June 2013] (Translated)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Bismillah arRahman arRaheem All praise is to Allah, who brings victory to the believers and is the Custodian of the pious... All praise is to Allah, who crushes the oppressors and the arrogant... There is no deity other than Allah, He has no partners, to Him belongs the reign and all praise and He is capable of all things... There is no other deity than Allah, who brings victory to His slave, dignifies His soldiers and He Alone defeats all parties... Glad tidings and peace to the leader of all monotheists, the master of all prophets and messengers and leader of the resplendent, our Prophet Muhammad, upon him the best of tidings and peace, also upon the pure members of his house and his beloved companions and upon those who follow him in the best way till the Day of Resurrection. Further: The revolution in al-Sham was launched as a blatant defiance, refusing to buckle down or to capitulate. It came out of the suffering and the pains elevated and strong. And the first word to be uttered during the revolution was "Allahu Akbar!" And "Allahu Akbar!" remained its slogan, thereby causing the colonialist disbeliever and his tyrant agent Bashar al-Assad nightmares during the days and the nights, and they don't know how to overcome it! They want to stop the Takbeerat of the Ummah that have been spread everywhere and by which Allah has honoured her and He dignified the Ummah by not allowing her to bow down to other than Allah or raising other than His word. Yes indeed, we are the Ummah of "Allahu Akbar", so wherever we go and wherever we are scattered we will exclaim that Allah is the Greatest. The dignity belongs to Allah alone, and the shameful humiliation is for whoever elevates himself to the level of the Lord of the worlds. This venerable Sahabi, Saad Ibn Abi Waqqas, may Allah be pleased with him, when speaking to the soldiers in the battle of Al-Qadisiyyah, while thirty thousand Muslim soldiers were facing one hundred thousand Persians, recited the words of Allah: ((وَلَقَدْ كَتَبْنَا فِي الزَّبُورِ مِنْ بَعْدِ الذِّكْرِ أَنَّ الْأَرْضَ يَرِثُهَا عِبَادِيَ الصَّالِحُونَ)) "And We have already written in the book [of Psalms] after the [previous] mention that the land [of Paradise] is inherited by My righteous servants." [TMQ 21:105] Afterwards he told the soldiers to scream "Allahu Akbar!", so he went on in addressing them: "Allah will not send the blessing of such a Takbeer upon a nation of black headed other than the Muslims. So it will lead you to victory with the permission of Allah!" So through the mercy of Allah it was an overwhelming victory. Dear Brothers and Sisters: When the Ottoman Khilafah fell on the 27th of Rajab 1342, corresponding to the 3rd of March 1924 CE, the Turkish parliament voted for the abolishment of the Khilafah as a ruling system. Thereby a page was turned that had started with the arrival of the Messenger (saw) in the enlightened city of Madina and his establishment of the first Islamic state, which outlived him, carrying after him the name of Khilafah. It was the true embodiment of the unity of the Muslim Ummah and the catering to its worldly and religious affairs and the following generations of Muslims did not know nationalistic states nor were they gathered under banners stemming from the time of ignorance, until the Westerners occupied the Muslims lands and they worked hard to eradicate all that was evidence to the existence of such Khilafah. Because it represents the power of the Muslims even in the days of weakness, that struck the Ummah in the recent decades. So it occurred what no Muslim could have imagined, and the enemy of Allah, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, took over the mission of abolishing the Khilafah and exerted himself to changing the lands from the very root until there was no trace left of Islam and its Arabic language. He declared war on Islam and made it the emphasis of his effort to raise the pillars of secularism and introduce what he called the "Turkish identity" to the people and cleanse them from any Islamic influence. So in 1925 he forced men to wear a hat instead of the fez, as a symbolic measure to erase even the Islamic customs and substitute them with western customs. All of this was done under the name of democracy and the civil state. Soon after that he prohibited women from wearing the Islamic dress and men and women alike from wearing Islamic clothing.  He allowed the Adhan only to be raised in the Turkish language and still, how upset was this heretic by the declaration of the two Shahadas, because the name of the Messenger (saw) is venerated in both of them, and he saw himself to be more worthy of mentioning. He turned the Hagia Sophia Mosque in Istanbul into a museum and brought back the pre-Islamic times of ignorance, substituting the Hijri calendar by the Gregorian calendar and the Arabic letters by the Latin letters. After abolishing the Islamic laws he introduced man made law by imposing Swiss civil law, Italian criminal law and German trade law. Thereby for the first time in history since the establishment of the Islamic State in Madina by the Prophet (saw), the Muslims were ruled by Kufr law imposed by tyrants rather than reserving the rule of man to Allah alone. Mustafa Kemal in his fierce campaign to erase all traces of Islam and the Arabic language, used the most brutal and monstrous policies, first and foremost aiming at the elimination of religion and not sparing anyone who dared to object to it from killing, imprisonment and displacement, all in the name of freedom, democracy, civil state and progress. Yes indeed, this is how your considerate state fell, the protective mother of the lands and its people, that had come to reach the age of 1292 years: the Islamic Khilafah. What had held the Ummah together was scattered and she was afflicted by disorientation. The Muslims became like orphans watching a banquet of villains, being picked on by the birds and mangled by the dogs. After a state of dignity that lasted almost 13 decades, we are now being insulted in our lands and abroad and being Muslim is equated with being a terrorist and the chaste Muslim woman is declared a threat to morally dissolved societies. And the West, led by the head of all Kufr, America, rioted in crushing Islam and its people and declared war against all that is Islamic via its agents, the rulers of the Muslims lands, until the trees, stones and human beings screeched in pain and cried out for help to Allah from the unprecedented and unimaginable injustice. The prisoner of Guantanamo and his likes are clear evidence to the fall of the Western civilization and remind us of the Christian church in Europe during the middle ages, when it detained people to humiliate and torture them and cut off their limbs. There is no big difference between this and Guantanamo, which is the birthmark of shame on the forehead of Western democracy, for which they try to prepare the Muslim world. This is the cause that led the Ummah to move and take the streets in her lands, shouting NO to injustice, NO to enslavement and NO to the days of ignorance! Dear Shabab and dear Shabbat, these are your lands and at the forefront of our attention are the demonstrations and marches, in which you were from the first to demonstrate and raise the banners of change and return of the Khilafah system. This seed was then absorbed from all corners of the Muslim lands and grew to become the Arab Spring which was converted to an Islamic Spring by the great revolution in al-Sham. So the Muslim masses took the street in the nucleus of Dar al-Islam, the Sham of the Messenger, the Sham of Khalid and Abi Ubaida and Salahuddin. The masses are haunting the colonial powers to scream in their grim faces that their time has come to an end and the era of bloodsucking the people through their agents is over. Oh Brothers and Sisters, The revolution in al-Sham is a great revolution resulting from the greatness of Islam, blessed by legendary steadfastness, history does not state any incident equal to it. It is a revolt against Kufr and tyranny; it is a revolt to eradicate the colonial disbeliever (kafir) and his stooges from the likes of Bashar al-Assad and his helpers. It emerged knowing the degree of the lowliness of this system and its head, and it stood tall to tell the Muslims: Fall into line with us, for my aim is not to rid myself from Bashar and his regime only nor is it to sever the hands of America and its stooges only, but to readopt the Islamic way of life through establishing the rightly guided Khilafah based on the method of the Prophethood. The enemies of the Ummah have realized that the secret of the revolution's power and its stability stems from the elevated Islamic thinking that was embraced by the Ummah. They have realized that the Ummah's steadfastness, the pillars upon which it rests and the source of it civilization is Islam. It is an ancient and a modern truth: The Muslims have no power except if they reestablish their state and rule in it with the Qur'an. That is why back in the day the British prime minister stood before the House of Commons holding the Qur'an in his hand to address them: "As long as this Qur'an remains with the Muslims, we shall not have any power over them." Therefore Islam shall give the Muslims awareness and insight into their enemies' plans and they shall understand the reality of things: ((وَكَذَلِكَ نُفَصِّلُ الْآيَاتِ وَلِتَسْتَبِينَ سَبِيلُ الْمُجْرِمِينَ )) "And thus do We detail the verses, and [thus] the way of the criminals will become evident." [TMQ 6:55] And they shall not take the disbelievers as patrons, according to His saying: ((لَا يَتَّخِذِ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الْكَافِرِينَ أَوْلِيَاءَ مِنْ دُونِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَمَنْ يَفْعَلْ ذَلِكَ فَلَيْسَ مِنَ اللَّهِ فِي شَيْءٍ )) "Let not believers take disbelievers as allies rather than believers. And whoever [of you] does that has nothing with Allah, except when taking precaution against them in prudence. And Allah warns you of Himself, and to Allah is the [final] destination." [TMQ 3:28] The revolution of the Ummah in al-Sham has laid clear that the strength of the Muslims stems from their Aqeedah, they have united after hard labor for Allah alone, they have screamed that it is for Allah: "It is for Allah, it is for Allah!" and they have proven this with their saying: "Ya Allah we have none other but You." They looked to the sky with pure and earnest hearts: "To your service ya Allah!" And when they understood that there is no refuge other than the Islamic state, the second rightly guided Khilafah state, they screamed at their highest voice: "Our leader eternally is our master Muhammad!" The enemies of Allah know that they will be defeated if the Muslims implement what they have declared. That's why they have taken some of the sons of this Ummah, misusing them to split our strength and disrupt our potential. So they established the military councils and national coalitions and held conferences and started plotting, not to save the lives of Muslims but to eliminate the revolution and prevent them from reaching their goal. To understand what is really called for in those conferences, I convey what Professor Richard Wilkins - President of the International Center for Family Policies says: "The Western society has entered a death spiral, and it wants to drag the world behind it." Only if those who claim their protectiveness on al-Sham and its people and those who meet with ambassadors and American and European ministers, only if they would realize that what is being done is like fatal poison to us. They are prolonging tyranny with all types of weapons and equipment to continue our killing while proclaiming to hold conferences to rescue us from wild wolves' claws which continues to kill and destroy, following the order from his master in the White House and through the tools handed to him by the stooges in Russia, Iran and their Lebanese henchmen. And Allah the Almighty has spoken the truth when He said: الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالْمُنَافِقَاتُ بَعْضُهُمْ مِنْ بَعْضٍ يَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمُنْكَرِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَقْبِضُونَ أَيْدِيَهُمْ نَسُوا اللَّهَ فَنَسِيَهُمْ إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ. وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الْمُنَافِقِينَ وَالْمُنَافِقَاتِ وَالْكُفَّارَ نَارَ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا هِيَ حَسْبُهُمْ وَلَعَنَهُمُ اللَّهُ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مُقِيمٌ "The hypocrite men and hypocrite women are of one another. They enjoin what is wrong and forbid what is right and close their hands. They have forgotten Allah, so He has forgotten them [accordingly]. Indeed, the hypocrites - it is they who are the defiantly disobedient. The hypocrite men and hypocrite women are of one another. They enjoin what is wrong and forbid what is right and close their hands. They have forgotten Allah, so He has forgotten them [accordingly]. Indeed, the hypocrites - it is they who are the defiantly disobedient." [TMQ 9: 67-68] On the other hand stand the sons of the Muslim Ummah with the people of al-Sham in their strife to revive the Islamic way of life and reestablish the second Khilafah state, following the promise of the Prophet (saw) when he said: «..ثم تكون خلافة على منهاج النبوة» "Then there will be a Khilafah on the method of the Prophet." It will be a Khilafah as in the best of times and the strongest eras. He (saw) told us that al-Sham is the nucleus of Dar al-Islam and that Damascus the great city will be the place of a major epic between Good and Evil, where Good will be victorious and the flag of Islam will be raised. He (saw) said: « يوم الملحمة الكبرى فسطاط المسلمين، بأرض يقال لها الغوطة، فيها مدينة يقال لها دمشق، خير منازل المسلمين يومئذ  » "On the day of the great epic that will befall the Muslims, in a land call al-Ghuta, in it there is a city called Damascus, it will be the best home for Muslims on that day." (Extracted by al-Haakim). Congratulations to those who worked for it and raised its banner, for the mercy of the Master of all servants will descend when Muslims work together to raise the word of Allah and to implement His laws and build His state and to protect their Ummah from the vicious plans of the planners and the malicious intrigues of the intriguing and to preserve the supremacy of the word of Allah and the debasement of the word of the disbelievers. He (swt) said: وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتُ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ يَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَيُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَيُطِيعُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ أُولَئِكَ سَيَرْحَمُهُمُ اللَّهُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ "The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and establish prayer and give zakah and obey Allah and His Messenger. Those - Allah will have mercy upon them. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise." [TMQ 9:71] Dearest Brothers and dearest Sisters, It does not surprise us that the enemies of the Ummah plan these vicious plots and intrigue against the Muslim Ummah. Deplorably some of our compatriots hasten to support these destructive policies and conniving plans and deceptive slogans, which are those who share the ideas of the enemies and advocate their calls, among them are the ignorant and fooled and among them are many of the elder thinkers and intellectuals that have substituted with the western secularized thinking the guidance from the Lord of the worlds and the Sunnah of the master of messengers (saw): ((وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ لَا تُفْسِدُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ قَالُوا إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُصْلِحُونَ. أَلَا إِنَّهُمْ هُمُ الْمُفْسِدُونَ وَلَكِنْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ)) "And when it is said to them, "Do not cause corruption on the earth," they say, "We are but reformers." Unquestionably, it is they who are the corrupters, but they perceive [it] not." [TMQ 2:11-12] And when the sincere face their plans and expose their falsehood, they accuse them of reactionism, obscurantism, inertia and hostility against civilization and science: ((وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ آمِنُوا كَمَا آمَنَ النَّاسُ قَالُوا أَنُؤْمِنُ كَمَا آمَنَ السُّفَهَاءُ أَلَا إِنَّهُمْ هُمُ السُّفَهَاءُ وَلَكِنْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ)) "And when it is said to them, "Believe as the people have believed," they say, "Should we believe as the foolish have believed?" Unquestionably, it is they who are the foolish, but they know [it] not." [TMQ 2:13] The circles of conspiracy have intensified until the colonial Kafir has only very little left to oppose the strength of Islam and the greatness of the political project. It is the project of the Ummah in its entirety, a project not only to save the Ummah, but humanity as a whole. We are firmly determined that in the Islamic Sham after today there is no place except for an Islamic state, we want it to be a Khilafah on the method of the Prophet. Sooner or later Damascus will return as a light house for mankind, spreading the light of its culture and development to all corners of the globe and the Muslim will restore his dignity and with permission of Allah will travel from Jakarta to al-Sham, not fearing anyone but Allah and the ravages of the road. Allah grant us this and use us for it and make us from the soldiers of the Khilafah state and bless us with the pledge of allegiance to the Khalifah of the Muslims in the nucleus of Dar al-Islam. We pray to Allah that our Ameer will be the Ameer of Hizb ut Tahrir, the honorable scholar Sheikh Ata Bin Khalil Abu Rashtah. May he be the Khalifah on whom we focus our hopes and who puts our hearts at ease. Then America and its stooges will see who the Muslims are and what the Khilafah is: ((وَسَيَعْلَمُ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا أَيَّ مُنْقَلَبٍ يَنْقَلِبُونَ )) "And those who have wronged are going to know to what [kind of] return they will be returned." [TMQ 26:227] Wa Sallaamu alaikum wa Rahmatu Allah wa Barakatu Engineer Hisham Al-Baba Head of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in the Wilayah of Syria 23 Rajab 1434 02/06/2013