Headlines

• Survey: Islam Will Become World's Largest Religion in 2070

• French School Kicks Muslim Girl Out of Class Because Her Skirt's too Long and Provocative

• Saudi Prince Sees Power Grow in Oil Restructuring

• Pakistanis See Double Standard in American Drone Strikes

Details

Survey: Islam Will Become World's Largest Religion in 2070

At a youthful 1,400 years, Islam is the youngest of the world's major religions - and it's on track to be the largest sometime this century. That's the prediction from demographers at the Pew Research Center who say high fertility rates among Muslim women and a youth bulge in the faith are fueling its growth. A Pew survey released this month, "The Future of World Religions," says that if current trends continue, Islam will surpass Christianity in 2070 to become the world's largest faith. A panel of demographers discussed the findings of the report recently during a seminar at the headquarters of Pew's Religion & Public Life project. Conrad Hackett, the lead researcher on the report, said that while fertility rates around the world are slipping toward the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman, Muslim women are having on average more than three children each. At the same time, around a third of all Muslims are under age 15. "What this means is that the Muslim population has more people who are going to grow into their childbearing years in the years to come than any other religious group," he said. In fact, Islam is the only major religion expected to grow faster than the global population. In the United States, Muslims will edge upward from around 1 percent of the population to a little more than 2 percent. In Europe, the increase will be from around 6 percent to 10 percent. [Source: Voice of America],

Allah (swt) says:

((هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَى وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ))

"It is He who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to manifest it over all religion, although they who associate others with Allah dislike it." [TMQ: at-Taubah: 33]

French School Kicks Muslim Girl Out of Class Because Her Skirt's too Long and Provocative

According to French media reports, a 15-year-old French Muslim girl was banned from her class twice for wearing a skirt that was too long, and therefore supposedly a conspicuous display of religion. France's state secularism has led to very strict laws prohibiting students from wearing overtly religious symbols in institutions of education. The student, identified as Sarah, already apparently removed her headscarf before entering the school, in accordance with French law. But her long skirt was deemed a "provocation," and potential act of protest. "The girl was not excluded, she was asked to come back with a neutral outfit," a local official in the northeastern French town of Charleville-Mezieres, near the border with Belgium, told the AFP. The news sparked an outcry on social media, with commentators remarking on the hypocrisy and bigotry lurking beneath Sarah's treatment. On Twitter, the hashtag #JePorteMaJuppeCommeJeVeux ("I wear my skirt as I like") trended. Critics of France's secularist laws in schools say they often thinly conceal a widespread bias against Muslims and immigrants in French society. Studies have revealed how Muslims face systematic discrimination on the basis of their race, creed and culture. Speaking to local newspaper L'Ardennais, Sarah said that her skirt was "nothing special, it's very simple, there's nothing conspicuous. There is no religious sign whatsoever." [Source: The Independent]

There are still may Muslims in France who see nothing wrong in the way the French Republic and its states institutions hound Muslims. Instead of openly criticizing the French government over draconian measures against Islam, many choose to seek closer ties. Allah (swt) says:

﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ لاَ تَتَّخِذُواْ بِطَانَةً مِّن دُونِكُمْ لاَ يَأْلُونَكُمْ خَبَالاً وَدُّواْ مَا عَنِتُّمْ قَدْ بَدَتِ الْبَغْضَاء مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَمَا تُخْفِي صُدُورُهُمْ أَكْبَرُ قَدْ بَيَّنَّا لَكُمُ الآيَاتِ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ﴾

"Oh you who have believed, do not take as intimates those other than yourselves, for they will not spare you [any] ruin. They wish you would have hardship. Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is greater. We have certainly made clear to you the signs, if you will use reason." [TMQ:Al-Imran:118]

Saudi Prince Sees Power Grow in Oil Restructuring

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has restructured its hydrocarbon sector by splitting the state oil company from the oil ministry in a move that consolidates the power of the king's son over the economy. King Salman formed a 10-member Supreme Council for Saudi Aramco, headed by his son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, to oversee Saudi Aramco, the state oil company. The council will include the ministers of oil, finance, economy and the central bank governor, among others. It is the latest measure to concentrate power in the hands of the young prince, who earlier this week was named as second in line to the throne. In January, his father appointed him defence minister and head of the council on economic and development affairs, which has the job of coordinating economic reforms as the kingdom grapples with lower oil prices. Saudi Aramco is the world's largest oil-producing company, pumping more than 10m barrels a day, or almost one in every nine barrels consumed globally. The governance change breaks the long-standing link between the company and the oil ministry, with some analysts describing the move as a positive boost to oversight. Others, however, see increasing royal interference in a body that has developed a reputation for efficiency. Mohammad al-Sabban, a senior adviser to the Saudi oil minister from 1996 until 2013, said the decision to separate Saudi Aramco from the oil ministry was primarily to create a transparent, more efficient commercial operation. "The separation, alongside the decision to create a supreme council solely for Aramco, will mean the company is better monitored, audited and governed. It falls in line with a bunch of decisions taken of late to foster economic reform," said Mr Sabban. Others say the new oversight body will increase royal influence over Saudi Aramco, which has operated independently from other government departments since its nationalisation in the 1980s and gained a reputation as one of the world's best-run state oil companies. Oil experts, including Mr Sabban, say the move could be the precursor to a new "super" energy ministry that will be responsible for gas, nuclear and renewables, as well as oil. [Source: Financial Times]

Usurping and concentrating power is the hallmark of Saudi Kings-so much so that they have plundered the oil wealth for themselves and even named Arabia after their family name. Can anyone expect any good from the House of Saud towards the Muslims worldwide?

Pakistanis See Double Standard in American Drone Strikes

People in Pakistan who live under the threat of US drone strikes see a double standard at work in Washington. Last week, President Barack Obama took the unusual step of acknowledging and apologizing for a highly secret US drone strike that accidentally killed an American and an Italian aid worker held captive by Al-Qaeda in Pakistan. The US government said their families would be compensated. Drone-strike survivors and family members of innocent Pakistani victims, lawyers and government officials in Pakistan asked why those victims don't also warrant an apology and compensation from the United States. They wonder why it takes the deaths of Westerners to bring the controversial drone program back to the public debate in the US. The US is generally secretive about drone strikes, but Obama last week took full responsibility for the January CIA strikes and expressed regret for the deaths of hostages Warren Weinstein, an American, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian. He cast the deaths as a tragic consequence of the special difficulties inherent to fight against terrorism. Naureen Shah, Director of Amnesty International USA's Security and Human Rights program, welcomed Obama's rare public announcement Friday, but said "apology and redress should be available for all civilians killed in US drone strikes, not just US citizens and Europeans." Asked about apologies or compensation for Pakistani civilians killed by drones, National Security Council spokesman Edward Price said that "in several years of operations, there have been very few cases of civilian casualties, each of which we deeply regret. "In a statement to Associated Press, Price said, "We believe it is incumbent on us to acknowledge" the deaths of US citizens in overseas counterterrorism operations. The statement did not address acknowledging the deaths of Pakistani civilians or compensating their families, though it said, "the death of innocent civilians, regardless of their citizenship, is something that the US government seeks to avoid if at all possible." [Source: Arab News]

America's response is predictable and unsurprising. If the rulers of Pakistan do not lift a finger to protect their citizens from the drone strikes or demand an apology from Obama followed by compensation then what hope do ordinary citizens have. The time has come for Muslims in Pakistan to redouble their efforts to establish the rightly guided Khilafah "Caliphate" state. Only under the Khilafah "Caliphate" will Muslims find solace in Islam and enjoy unrivalled security and protection.

News:

French soldiers working as peacekeepers for the UN in the Central African Republic have been accused of raping and abusing desperately poor young children in exchange for food.

According to an alleged internal report seen by The Guardian entitled "Sexual Abuse on Children by International Armed Forces", children told human rights investigators they were sexually exploited, including rape and sodomy, in the capital Bangui in early 2014.

One nine-year-old boy reportedly described how French soldiers at a camp for internally displaced people forced him and his friend to perform a sex act when they went to look for food.

The leaking of the alleged report via the advocacy group Aids Free World comes as the UN Security Council approved maintaining the international force in the Central African Republic for another year. In March it approved measures to provide an additional 1,000 personnel to the 12,000-strong peacekeeping force, which has been tasked with protecting the most vulnerable since it was set up in late 2013 following an unprecedented surge in violence between Christians and Muslims.

But besides the potential implications in the country for the report on abused children, it also threatens to cause a diplomatic row in Europe after a senior UN aid worker was suspended for allegedly passing it on to the French authorities.

Anders Kompass, a Swedish international, has been told, "It was his duty to know and comply" with UN protocols that meant the report should have remained confidential, the Guardian reported.

An investigation by the French into allegations "of a very serious nature" is reportedly under way in the Central African Republic, while a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights confirmed to The Guardian that a probe into "the leaking of confidential information by a staff member" was ongoing.

Comment:

The very notion of UN troops as ‘peacekeepers' is an oxymoron. It's similar to saying a ‘bad angel' or ‘Islamic Democracy'.  The UN has been a tool of western interference since its inception, where, under the guise of codifying rules of warfare and replacing oppression with security. It has entered almost every nation on earth and established the presence of its member states, instigating an unconditional drive for secularism, capitalism and liberal democracy, whilst simultaneously launching unabated attacks upon any remnants of the Islamic political Aqeedah.

Incidents as that of the French troops in the CAR are not unusual at all. In fact sexual misconduct by UN personnel has proven to be endemic, and is an accepted problem in every mission around the world. Internal investigations by refugee support agencies have documented cases of rape, pedophilia and prostitution by UN troops in over thirty countries, including, Burundi, Liberia, Congo, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia and Cambodia.

Such behavior is accepted as normal for those of low morality, and is conveniently upheld by the inferior value of secular liberalism; assigning the freedom to indulge in any form of sensual gratification one chooses, despite its consequences.

It's also worth noting the suspension of the Swiss aid worker for leaking the confidential information. The UN would rather waste valuable time and resources filing an investigation into Anders Kompass, than address and finally end these major crimes against innocent civilians, already suffering from injustices, poverty, little or no access to healthcare and all manner of hardship. The UN true to its usual stance enjoins batil (falsehood) in a subversive manner, whilst seeking to overlook its own evils, and continues to police the world with its greedy and corrupt agenda.

This is yet another proof if any was even needed, of the inability of western nations to produce any form of cohesion and security in our lands. They lack the ideological will to actually improve the nations they occupy, let alone establish justice; and seek to serve their own interests of establishing a military presence, and securing oil, gas and mineral wealth contracts, under the pretexts of returns for their assistance.

So O Muslims, there is no future for us without the Islamic Khilafah "Caliphate", it is the only system of justice based on Allah's (swt) Sovereign Word. Under the Khilafah "Caliphate", nations were not robbed by leaders who left them impoverished; the State divided funds amongst the people as equal owners and heirs to the natural wealth. Nor did people fear oppression from Muslims as the state spanned the African and Asian continents; rather they willingly accepted the political and spiritual Aqeeda of Islam as a superior way of life.

((وَلَنْ يَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ سَبِيلًا))

"Allah will never allow the non-believers to have a way (sabil) over the believers" [An-Nisaa: 141]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tarrir by

Maleeha Hasan

News:

It started during the morning of April 22 at bazaars in the eastern Uzbek cities of Kokand and Margilan. Members of Uzbekistan's National Security Service (SNB) in civilian clothes made their way through the crowds and forced women wearing head scarves to remove them.
The SNB were back on April 23 just to ensure everyone understood this new "hudjum" was policy, not a one-day event.

One woman said she removed her head scarf when the SNB confronted her, then put it back on after they left, only to be spotted and again asked to take it off. She finally left the Ipak Chilar Bazaar and put her head scarf back on after she was a safe distance away.

One person told Ozodlik (news agency) that the SNB had taken the head scarf from a woman who appeared to be 50 or 60 years old.

Ozodlik reports that men wearing the traditional "doppi," the black skull cap have also fallen out of favor with the authorities. No one has commented on why this is the case, although it is possibly because the black-and-white color scheme of the doppi is somewhat reminiscent of the flag of the Islamic State militant group. Fines for those caught wearing the classic doppi go as high as 200,000 som (about $75).
(28/4/15 RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, known locally as Ozodlik)

Comment

The aversion to the headscarf is not a new phenomena experienced by Muslims living in the regions of the ex-Soviet Union. The first "hudjum" dates back to 1927, when the Soviet government often violently forced women to stop wearing scarves, veils, or burqas. The argument of removal of the headscarf as a liberation of women has been employed since the first encounters of the West and Islam. Islamic clothing has long been seen as a sign of backwardness and the communists at the time also viewed this clothing to be against their image of going forward. After this time in 1987 there was another campaign to enforce "hadjum".

This latest campaign by the Uzbek authorities is a further sign of the deep seeded hatred for Islam. Not only are women being targeted but even men, young and old, as any visible symbol of Islam is seen as a threat. There is a growing belief by governments in Central Asia that Islamic clothing leads to Islamic radicalization. And as such must be stopped.

In Uzbekistan a country with over 95% Muslim population, authorities are fearful indeed as the Muslims have stood the test of time and held onto their Deen despite extreme repression from the Soviets and throughout the authoritarian regime of Karimov, the enemy of Islam. In May 2005, during the Andijan Massacre, Karimov had no hesitation in ordering the killing of thousands of peaceful protestors on the streets of the city of Andijan. The jails of Uzbekistan hold the sincere dawah carriers of Hizb ut Tahrir, as documented by Human Rights Watch since the late 1990's; here there is widespread torture, killing, rape and extension of sentences at the moment of initial sentences being served. Political opponents and journalists can just ‘disappear'. Families of the convicted are not even spared and treated with no regard or human compassion.

Despite all of this, the regime is failing to curb the love of Islam in the masses and the desire for the return of Islamic practices, be they the Islamic dress code or the desire for the implementation of the Islamic Khilafah "Caliphate" state which will put an end to the tyrannical rule of the despotic Karimov. It is indeed a testing time at every level of society and indeed the believers will stand firm, as they have stood through far testing times and persevered.

Allah (swt) says:

((إِنَّا لَنَنصُرُ رُسُلَنَا وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيَوْمَ يَقُومُ الْأَشْهَادُ))

"Indeed, We will support Our messengers and those who believe during the life of this world and on the Day when the witnesses will stand" [Ghafir: 51]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Nazia Rehman - Pakistan

From Azerbaijan to Uzbekistan
Precious blood surpassing the weight of gold
Bloodshed filling rivers
Crimson flow
So cheap in the eyes of the enemy.

The enemy whose hollow cavity filled with detest
Baring fangs only to sink into the flesh of the bare Ummah
Using the chance to tear at the limbs of the Muslims
Before their Mutassim declares Jihad
Before Allah the Greatest of Tormentors descends His Wrath for all oppression committed against humanity.

Not to fret dear Noble Ummah, on the Day of No Return
The traitors who betrayed you
who committed the unthinkable
turning you into pawns
for their pharaoh like reign will too meet the fate of Pharaoh.

Your tears of sorrow and pang will fill your heart with glee on the Day when your temporal duaa were unanswered
For your Lord has gathered a few of His beloved to be in His Shade
Your duaa which He kept hidden as buried treasure will be unearthed to sparkle more than the jewels of the world.

You shall no longer weep tears of anguish
but your eyes which witnessed the horrors too terrible to speak of
but your eyes which witnessed devastation too criminal to speak of
but your eyes which witnessed deviation that beasts would not dare commit
Will attest to your Faith on the Day of Reckoning.

Tears met one by one as reward for your patience, rigidity, solidness.

In this Dunya you shall find solace that these rulers will be accounted by the One Who Created them
and on that Day your streams will be your witness.
If you felt the waves of dread fill your chest that would suffocate the weak of Faith
If you witnessed the deepest of blackness leaving the faint of heart paralyzed

Rejoice dear Ummah!
You are a Glorious Ummah who has yet to witness the Dawning of the second Khilafah "Caliphate"
You have remained steadfast for this long - others would have surrendered long ago
Rest assure, it will be near
Hold out for the Promise of the Aziz, the tidings of the Best of Mankind
For it is only a matter of time
a time which you will be greatly rewarded the Pleasures of the Paradise.

Gather your strength
Gather your might
Be strong for it is only a matter of time
"Verily, with every hardship comes ease".

Oppressed - you and every oppressed -
Maimed, captured, tortured, raped
Are in the duaa of every Muslim
Our hearts ache for you
Our eyes weep for you
Our bodies toil for you to bring you sorely needed Nusrah.

We vow not to rest until the Promise of Allah Almighty is achieved

and that is only with His Generous Permission.

Witness

Written by: Manal Bader