On 10 February 2015, Craig Stephen Hicks brutally shot 3 of his Muslim neighbors in Chapel Hill, NC. Muslims in this country are outraged at this senseless and tragic act of terrorism against Muslims. The victims were newlyweds Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, and Yusor Mohammad, 21, of Chapel Hill, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, of Raleigh, NC. May Allah (swt) grant Deah, Yusor and Razan the highest level of Jannah.

This is the latest and most brutal attack on Muslims that has been sweeping the nation over the last several years. Mainstream media initially chose to ignore this incident until they were pressured by outrage in social media. Evidently Muslims are newsworthy only when behind the gun, not in front of it. What is noticeably missing from the rhetoric of the media and authorities is the religious affiliation of the perpetrator, his association with other organizations, and the list of his mentors and associates. In nearly every incident involving a Muslim suspect, Islam and Muslim are heavily emphasized, and links are quickly made to suspected violent organizations, mentors, and associates. Also missing from the news are the voices of Muslim rulers in support of their brothers and sisters killed in hatred. While these same Muslim rulers rushed to condemn the deaths of journalists allegedly killed for insulting the Prophet (saw) as if the blood and lives of those who insult the Prophet (saw) are dearer to them than that of their own brethren.

The family members of the victims vehemently state that this is a hate crime based on previous run-ins with Hicks expressing discontent with his Muslim neighbors. While the media and authorities are downplaying Hicks's resentment against religions and are pointing towards the motive being a dispute over parking. Whether or not Hicks disputed with other neighbors, he chose to kill only the Muslims. Dr. Abu-Salha said his daughter (one of the victims), who lived next door to Hicks and wore a Muslim head scarf, had told her family a week ago that "[Hicks is] a hateful neighbor" and "He hates us for what we are and how we look".

The lack of a strong response from authorities, both local and federal, and the double standards of the media raise deep concerns amongst Muslims in this country for their safety and wellbeing.

While America and the West have been waging a brutal war against Muslims and blaming the victims, the American media has been fanning the flames of hatred. Both conservative and liberal media outlets, including news and entertainment, have been attacking Islam and Muslims at every opportunity. This toxic message is gaining grounds, and it's even being used a political platform by racist politicians. Even minority politicians have seen fit to use Islamophobia and lies against Muslims as a resonating platform. It is this Islamophobic narrative that seeks to portray Islam and Muslims as violent and regressive, in need of policing, all along portraying Muslims as aggressors and the West as its victims. It is this very same Islamophobia that radicalizes some individuals in the West to violently express their contempt for Muslim populations.

As for the Muslims in this country, we must seek safety and security in the Deen of Allah (swt), and we must seek the pleasure and protection of Allah (swt) by putting our trust in Him and obeying His Commands. Neither this atrocity, nor other attacks against Muslims or their property should create any fear amongst Muslims or in any way create a sense of weakness. Nor should Muslims compromise on any part of their Deen. For no harm comes except that which Allah has permitted. Instead, the Muslims must hold fast to the Deen of Allah (swt), for the Muslims in the West are at the forefront carrying the Dawah of Islam directly to the West. We have been honored with the task of taking people from the darkness of the Ignorance to the light of Islam.

((قُلْ لَنْ يُصِيبَنَا إِلَّا مَا كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَنَا هُوَ مَوْلَانَا ۚ وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَلْيَتَوَكَّلِ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ))

"Say: Nothing will happen to us except what Allah has decreed for us: He is our Protector: and on Allah let the Believers put their trust." [TMQ 9:51]

Hizb ut Tahrir Wilayah Syria and its supporters organized a demonstration to stop the fighting between factions organized by the members of Hizb ut Tahrir in Marchuren, Idlib.

Abode of Islam, 27 Rabii'II 1436 AH corresponding to February 16, 2015 CE

The slaying of the 20-year-old psychology student in Turkey, Özgecan Aslan, during an alleged attempted rape has prompted angry street protests across the country and demands that the Turkish government do more to combat violence against women. Police on Friday discovered the charred corpse of Özgecan Aslan in a riverbed in southern Mersin province. According to authorities, she was killed while fighting back a sexual assault by the driver of a minibus she took to go home. (Source: LA Times, 14 Feb 2015)

The brutal killing has refocused public attention on what women's advocacy groups call Turkey's soaring levels of gender-based violence. Women's rights activists argue that the ruling party, the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, is not doing enough to halt such violence-or to ensure those guilty of crimes against women receive adequate punishment. Many argue that Turkey's judicial system is sympathetic to perpetrators of such crimes.
The number of gender-related homicides of Turkish women has soared in recent years. Authorities reported fewer than 100 in 2002, compared to almost 300 in 2014.

First of all we want to express our condolences to our precious sister Ozgecan's family, in particular to her mother. Our hearts burn with your heart. May Allah ease your pain, and may Allah Almighty give the punishment you demand for those men who dared to do this brutal harm to your beloved daughter. And we also want to express that it is your God-given right to demand the heaviest punishment of those killers, for Allah (swt) said in His Noble Qur'an,

((وَلاَ تَقْتُلُواْ النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللّهُ إِلاَّ بِالحَقِّ وَمَن قُتِلَ مَظْلُومًا فَقَدْ جَعَلْنَا لِوَلِيِّهِ سُلْطَانًا فَلاَ يُسْرِف فِّي الْقَتْلِ إِنَّهُ كَانَ مَنْصُورًا))

"And do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden, except by right. And whoever is killed unjustly - We have given his heir authority, but let him not exceed limits in [the matter of] taking life. Indeed, he has been supported [by the law]. [Al-Israa: 33]

And Rasulallah (saw) explained this right in the following way:

قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: «من قتل في قتيل فأهله بين خيرتين إما أن يقتلوا وإما أن يأخذوا الدية» رواه البخاري

"And if somebody is killed, then his closest relative has the right to choose one of the two-- the blood money (Diyya) or retaliation having the killer killed." (Bukhari, K. Lekatah, 2254)

However! Oh Muslims! Oh Muslim Sisters!

This right will not be given by this secular democratic system! Have you not recognized that these atrocities occur again and again due to the secular capitalist system under which we live? Have you not recognized that day by day the more these Western secular, liberal values such as personal and sexual freedoms become entrenched within our societies; forced upon us by the laws implemented upon us; promoted on TV, in papers, films and series; and taught at schools; the more the insults, rapes and murders of women - noble Muslim women - has increased in a horrific manner? And imagine: the greatest increase of these crimes have been witnessed over the last 7 years, as it is reported by the government itself! This is the government that boasts itself with protecting and propagating Islamic values! This government itself announced this week that violence against women increased by 1400% over the last years. What the government itself did not want to publish itself, but was revealed by the Human Rights Association Istanbul in February 2015, was that last year 257 women were killed by men, 282 faced sexual abuse and rape, and 575 faced violence by the hands of their husbands or partners.

So even if this government who absurdly boasts itself as being Islamic, while working with all its efforts to spread and protect the non-Islamic democratic and secular system and its rotten values is not prepared to accept that the way it has chosen leads to destroying the lives of its people. So noble Muslim people and our honourable Muslim sisters, is it not on you to call them to change their path?!

Is it not time to call for the removal of the secular system in Turkey and in all our Muslim lands that implements and promotes the Western liberal values within our Muslim societies - values such as personal and sexual freedoms which encourage individuals to act according to their desires and lusts rather than based upon accountability to Allah (swt)? Such ideas are clearly unable to regulate the relationships of men and women in society in a way that protect women from the lower instinct led desires of men! Islam in contrary declared women as an honour to be protected and to be respected. This reaches that far, that men are even not allowed to stare at other women, let alone being able to assault a woman verbally or physically:

((قُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغُضُّوا مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِمْ وَيَحْفَظُوا فُرُوجَهُمْ ذَلِكَ أَزْكَى لَهُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ))

"Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and to be mindful of their chastity: this will be most conducive to their purity - [and,] verily, God is aware of all that they do." [An-Nour: 30]

Additionally, Islam promotes the concept of taqwa which leads men to be conscious of the Commands of their Creator in the manner they treat women - Commands which oblige women to be viewed and treated with respect always. Islam also prescribes a comprehensive social system that regulates the relationship between men and women, directing the fulfillment of the sexual desires to marriage alone. And finally, should anybody ever dare to harm the honor of a woman, or even her physical, psychological well-being or should dare to kill her, Islam's punishment for such crimes is extremely harsh and aimed at deterring others from doing a similar act.

So no matter what feminist groups and movements demand and what secular democratic politicians and rulers promise, solving the problem of violence against women cannot be achieved by changing a few laws here and there, but requires radically changing the non-Islamic values and laws in the society to those based upon the ideology of Islam that has a clear strategy to deal with such problems.
It is time now to confess that the problems of women increased and expanded since the digress from the Islamic rulings and values and since replacing them with the provisions of capitalist systems.

Therefore, to solve this heinous problem of violence against women and all acts of injustice against women we have to demand a change, but not in the way that feminist, secular women's rights activists do! Because their way has proven as a sure way of destruction and failure over the last 90 years in our Muslim countries! And furthermore, Western states that have ruled by this secular system for centuries and championed it to the world, still have not found a solution for their own women for such crimes, who are until today plagued with soaring levels of abuse and violence against women within their societies.

The Muslim women have never witnessed such ruthless times during the implementation of Islamic rule upon Qur'an and Sunnah from the time of our Prophet Muhammed (saw) until the last Khalifah!

So if you want to achieve a change and to reach a satisfying compensation for the injustice and especially the murder of your daughters, sisters and mothers, then call for what Allah (swt) has promised will give life to you! And this is and will only be the removal of this false secular capitalist system and the implementation of Islamic rule under the Khilafah "Caliphate" Rashidah:

((يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اسْتَجِيبُواْ لِلّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُم لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ))

"O you who have believed, respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life." [al-Anfal: 24]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Zehra Malik

News

The Danish National Bank is fighting to save the Danish krone. Today on the 5th of February, it lowered the interest rate to -0.75%, which is not only an all-time low, but the lowest in the world together with Switzerland, and it seems as if they might have to go even lower. At the same time, the National Bank is increasing the Euro reserves in a battle against speculators who are buying the krone.
If the battle against speculators is lost, it will cause a devastating blow to Danish economy.

Comment

In Europe, there is an almost permanent struggle to escape the financial crisis, and the European Central Bank (EBC) has recently tried to devaluate the Euro and decrease the interest rate to get the wheels of the economy running. This should have a positive impact on the members of the monetary union, but can be damaging to other countries, which Denmark is sensing exactly these days.
When many European countries changed to the Euro, Denmark kept its national currency, the krone, but made a fixed exchange rate with the Euro and this is now potentially dangerous. Fixing the Danish krone to the Euro means that the Danish National Bank has to devaluate the krone with the Euro by buying Euro and decreasing the interest rate. This, and the fact that the Danish economy is relatively stable, has been spotted by large investors and currency speculators who are now buying the Danish krone in huge amounts. This makes the currency rate increase and the battle of the krone is raging these days.

If the speculators win, the National Bank will have to leave its fixed exchange rate with the Euro, which recently happened to the Switzer Franc. In this case, it would mean profit for the speculators, but a strong currency these days would also mean a decrease in competitive edge, loss of export, loss of production and a rise in unemployment, and eventually an even worse situation than now.
Problems like these are inherent in the capitalist economic system. All their attempts to get out of the crisis are doomed to fail, since they are based on the same flawed system. They fail, or even avoid examining the reasons for the crisis and focus, on the symptoms instead. All this currency fluctuation and the results should provoke a reconsideration of alternatives to this unstable fiat paper money. The only way to get a stable currency is to return to the Gold Standard.

The only system of governance that unequivocally insists upon the Gold Standard is the Islamic economy as applied by the Islamic State (Caliphate). In Islam, a dual metallic standard with gold and silver is applied. No Fiat money will be issued by the state, and any paper currency must be 100% backed. This is just part of the Islamic economic system, which is the only system that has a correct view on economy and the relations between ownership, individuals and state. It is the only system that in practice, can ensure fair distribution of wealth and at the same time ensure progress.

The current crisis and the search for solutions should not only end with an economic alternative. Since the economy is the most significant factor in the capitalistic ideology, the crisis and the flaws should even encourage people in the west to reconsider the entire basis for their view on life. Islam came as a mercy to mankind; not as a philosophical or metaphysic mercy, but a practical one as a result of the Islamic Aqeedah and systems, which can be examined and sensed by all human beings.

((قَدْ فَصَّلْنَا الْآيَاتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَفْقَهُونَ))

"We have detailed the signs for a people who understand" [Al-‘An'am, 6:98]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Junes Kock
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Scandinavia