Dear Guests and Dear Muslims!

I greet you with the most beautiful of the greetings, the Salaam of Allah (swt).

Assalaamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakaatuhu

I greet you from the souls of the Uthmani Khilafah "Caliphate".

I greet you from the land of Fatih Sultan Muhammed Khan! The Sultan, who defeated the Roman Empire and conquered Constantinople, enabling future generations of Muslims to expand the borders of the Islamic Khilafah "Caliphate" until it reached the doors of Vienna.

I greet you as the granddaughters of Khalifah Suleyman I who sent an armada of 36 ships to Spain to rescue 70,000 Muslims of Al-Andalus - men and women - who were being persecuted by its Christians rulers.

I greet you from the realm of Sultan Abdul Hamid who did not give up a handful of the soil of Baitul Maqdis and who protected Masjid Al-Aqsa.

I call Allah (swt) the Almighty to honour you with obedience to Him and greet you with the most beautiful of my duas.

Dear Guests and Beloved Sisters! These ancient soils we are living on belonged to the Dar'ul Islam (Islamic Lands) for nearly a thousand years. These soils - after Islam came to rule upon them - have always been a safe place for the Muslim and non-Muslim subjects who lived on it, because the Khilafah "Caliphate" State always protected its citizens and took care of their rights no matter what the costs were, and without regards for national or economic interests. And those who benefited most of this sheltered and protected life were undoubtedly the women. It was in the presence of the Khilafah "Caliphate" - that when a single oppressed woman in Amuriyya which is next to Ankara, where I am talking now, shouted: "Ya Mu'tasim! Where are you?" - that we had rulers who took the helm of the state's army in order to respond to her call. But now, we do not have any rulers like Khalifah Mu'tasım who are willing to lend an ear to the outcries of aggrieved women and who are willing to respond to the calls of needy women!

Accordingly, today we live a life far from having such protection and safety. Muslim women across the world are being persecuted and their dignity humiliated because they do not have anyone among the rulers of the Muslim lands who is willing to help them. There is no security of life and property and honour left anymore.

But what is done today in Turkey and across the world in order to rescue women from this dire situation? And if it is asked, "What is it that will defend and protect the woman?" the first answer that comes to mind for many is feminism and gender equality. Unfortunately feminists are given this opportunity - who instead of solving the problem, are rather deepening it - due to not knowing the laws provided by the Islamic Shariah which are in accordance with the nature and the reality of women, and also due to the absence of a state that would implement these laws. The first association generated in the minds by feminism is equality of men and women in rights, roles, and choices.

Feminists therefore undertake a number of actions for women's rights upon this basis, for example, calling for enshrining gender equality in constitutions, legalizing abortion, and engaging in work to enact laws which prohibit polygamy. However, they ignore the fact that countries such as Denmark and Sweden which have been praised for their gender equality laws and labelled as the most gender egalitarian according to the UN Gender Equality Index, also have the highest incidences of violence against women according to a 2014 survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. In Denmark, 52% of women were victims of violence and in Sweden, 46%.

Feminists are also struggling to establish higher numbers of women in parliament or among government staff, claiming that this is the path to improve women's rights. However, they disregard the fact that in Rwanda, even though 64% of its MP's are women, 45% of its population still remain below the poverty line, a figure that includes millions of women. Furthermore, in South Africa, although 40% of its National Assembly are women, the country has gained world notoriety for being one of the rape capitals of the world. Feminists also call for more women to enter the workplace, claiming that this is the path to women's empowerment, respect, and better lives. However, countries such as Malawi, Mozambique and Burundi, where women make up a larger portion of the workforce than men, are hardly role models for securing women's wellbeing. In addition to all this, the feminist method for change also includes reforming individual laws within states, enacting international women's agreements and organizing countless awareness-raising campaigns against problems such as violence against women. However, none of these actions or strategies have been able to even dent the scale of abuse women face within societies, or bring any solutions to women's problems.

So why did feminists not succeed? We can answer this question as follows: Feminism is essentially built upon a wrong basis. Feminists dealt with every problem that women faced as a problem of gender. So while expressing their demand for the rights for women, they did not see that the true cause of women's problems originated from the man-made systems that governed over them and the corrupt thoughts and values that dominated their societies. They did not realize the incapability of man-made ideologies in providing happiness to the human or solving problems effectively due to the flawed, biased and limited minds of human beings - whether male or female. They did not see that implementing such systems opened the door to the emergence of dictatorships that oppressed women and deprived them of their rights. And they did not recognise that it is the capitalist democratic secular system which is responsible for impoverishing millions of women and causing the dire state of education, healthcare and other public services in our lands. They also closed their eyes to the fact that it is this system that has allowed the exploitation of the bodies of women for profit, promoted the pursuit of individualistic desires, and sanctioned the sexualisation of women - all of which has degraded the status of women, causing the epidemic of sexual crimes and other abuses they face today.

Therefore, feminists erroneously sought to partially reform laws and policies, rather than uprooting the systems in our lands. Their method for change therefore simply maintained the status quo and strengthened the corrupt and rotten regimes across the Muslim world, which are the primary source of misery for the region's women. This is because they diverted attention from the real problem and worked within flawed systems rather than a radical overhaul of them, wasting the efforts of many.

My Dear Sisters! It is Islam, which presents sound solutions to problems related to every sphere of life. It has therefore also determined the most appropriate solutions for women. Indeed, the woman living under the Rayah of the Khilafah "Caliphate" State which implemented Islam's Shariah, was a chaste girl, a protected woman, a distinguished mother and a strong wife. For this State is one that does not tolerate a single word or act against the dignity of women, a state that enables the Muslim woman to wear her Islamic dress and fulfil all her Islamic obligations under the full protection of the law, and a state that mobilises whole armies to defend her blood and honour if needed. It is a state which will be ruled by leaders of taqwa who are devoted servants and guardians of their people as Islam demands, who will shoulder their economic burdens, and strive to provide them good, dignified lives. It is a state that will lift from women the heavy burden of earning their own living, and ensure for them the comfort of financial security. And it is a state that will return all the God-given rights that women deserve, empowering their political voice, and accepting nothing less than providing them with a first-class education and healthcare system. This is what the implementation of the Shariah under the Khilafah "Caliphate" affords the woman - Muslim and non-Muslim!

Therefore sisters, real change for women in our Muslim lands, can only be achieved through the re-establishment of this Khilafah "Caliphate" state. And this can only be realized through political and intellectual work which requires changing the non-Islamic ideas in our societies to Islamic ones, and removing the oppressive man-made systems which poison our lands from their roots, and replacing them with the system of Islam. This is the true path to create real political change for women. Any action, strategy, or method other than this, is doomed to fail in improving women's lives and will only prolong their suffering. The establishment of this state is also an obligation placed upon our necks as Muslim men and women, for Allah (swt) says,

﴿وَمَن لَّمۡ يَحۡڪُم بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ فَأُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ هُمُ ٱلۡفَـٰسِقُونَ﴾

"And whoever does not rule by what Allah has revealed, they are the wrongdoers." [Al-Maidah: 47]

So praise to Allah Ta'ala that today, the call for this sound solution is becoming stronger day by day amongst the Muslim men and women across the world. Indeed, polls of the Muslim world show clearly that the women of the region overwhelmingly support the implementation of the Shariah, for example, a 2012 Gallup poll on the views of women in Arab countries found that 82% of women in Egypt, 90% in Yemen, and 74% in Tunisia support the Shariah as a source of legislation. And at the forefront of the struggle to establish the Khilafah "Caliphate" on the way of the Prophethood has been Hizb ut Tahrir, a global Islamic political party, consisting of hundreds of thousands of members from the East to the West.

This includes thousands of female members across the world who are engaging in an intense and committed struggle to establish this state. For example, in 2012, the women of Hizb ut Tahrir organised a historic International Women's Conference in Tunisia entitled, "The Khilafah "Caliphate": A Shining Model of Women's Rights and Political Role." It was the first and largest women's only conference organized in the region of the Arab Spring since the toppling of dictators and was attended by approximately 1000 women from across the world including politicians, writers, academics, journalists, leaders of society and representatives of organizations. Later the same year, another momentous international conference was organised in Indonesia, entitled, ‘The Khilafah "Caliphate": Protecting Women from Poverty and Enslavement'. The conference gathered around 1500 influential women with female speakers of the party from Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Arab world. The women of Hizb ut Tahrir have also organised a number of global campaigns in recent years, including raising awareness of the plight of the Muslim women and children in Syria, Palestine, Burma, and Central Africa. Alongside these international events, the women of the party across the world work tirelessly within their own societies in carrying the dawah for the Khilafah "Caliphate", preserving the Islamic identity of Muslims and fighting the propaganda war against Islam - organizing talks, conferences, discussions in mosques, madrassahs and homes; participating in debates with politicians, writers, journalists and other female opinion makers; hosting round-table discussions with influential women; producing leaflets, magazines and books; and engaging with the media.

So dear, distinguished guests, at the end of today's important conference on women and Shariah, what is it that we, your sisters from Hizb ut Tahrir are asking of you? Our dear beloved sisters, those of you who have attended today have much influence in your communities and a large network of contacts. This is truly a great blessing from Allah (swt) that He has bestowed upon you for you have the ability to create great change amongst your communities. So we ask of you to use your influence to do three things Insha Allah: Firstly, to reject the concepts of feminism and gender equality which are alien to our belief and have delivered nothing but false hope, broken promises, and worsened the problems of women. This includes rejecting treaties, agreements, laws, and movements shaped upon these non-Islamic ideals as well as strongly challenging any attempts to secularise and reform the Islamic social laws within our communities. It also includes discarding the harmful non-Islamic concept of ‘Islamic feminism'. Secondly to equip and empower your communities with the knowledge and arguments to counter any attacks on the status of women in the Shariah and to present the truth to all they know about the true position, rights, and duties of women in Islam and under Islamic rule. Alongside this, let us endeavour to engage actively with the media and use our own media, social media, and all means at our disposal to fight the lies against our Deen and initiate true debates about the best system to secure dignified lives for women. But sisters, this also means calling our communities to reject any non-Islamic views and practices that are oppressing women and which are exploited by those who have an agenda against Islam to accuse our Deen. And thirdly, we call you to support the dawah for the Khilafah "Caliphate" by discussing with all those you know how this is the system defined by Allah (swt) to govern our Muslim lands, as well as the only system that can solve the oppression and mountain of problems facing women today, and which will give the value to the woman she deserves.

And by fulfilling this great obligation that Allah (swt) has placed upon us, look forward dear sisters Insha Allah to the great rewards He (swt) promises those who struggle to establish His Deen upon this earth, for Allah's Messenger (saw) said,

«إذا جاء الموت طالب العلم، وهو على هذه الحال مات وهو شهيد»

"He whom death overtakes while he is engaged in acquiring knowledge with a view to reviving Islam with the help of it, there will be one degree between him and the prophets in Paradise."

I end my words to you dear sisters with the wish to meet you soon under the Rāyat al-`Uqāb and greet you with the Salaams of Allah (swt).

 

Wa Assalaamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakaatuhu