Living with the Caliphate
Across the Islamic world support for the caliphate is a very real phenomenon, which deserves a serious and measured discussion. Sadly, Jean-Pierre Filiu dismisses the aspiration of millions of people as a fantasy and a dead end, against the evidence of history and of public opinion.
For over 50 years, Hizb ut-Tahrir [the Liberation Party] has used only non-violent political activism and intellectual means despite the harshest of repression, to win the support of people to the call to restore the caliphate as a political system in the Islamic world. In that time support for Islam’s political ideas has grown across the whole region. This year there were open public conferences in Lebanon, Yemen, Sudan, Ukraine, Palestine and, most significantly Indonesia where 100 000 people packed a Jakarta stadium debating and discussing the subject of the caliphate as a system of government.
The gathering of 100000 delegates – the majority of whom were women – is an impressive enough demonstration that support for the caliphate is actually mainstream, particularly when one considers it was in a country that is held up by western governments as a ‘model moderate Muslim state’. However, this is… Click Here to Read Further…
Dr Abdul Wahid
Chairman UK Executive Committee
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Prospect
January 2008
