Many newspapers; including Akhir Lahza Newspaper, addressed on Friday, 22/11/2013, the visit of an American team to Sudan, and its organization of the YES Academy Sudan program to teach dance in Khartoum, with the participation of more than 100 youth, evaluated by six American instructors for their dance talent. This program has taken place in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Information through the Support and Care for Innovators Fund.

On November 23^rd 2013, President Obama termed the nuclear deal with Iran as historic, and it was the first time since negotiations commenced in 2003 that brakes were put on Iran's so called nuclear weapons programme. He said, "Simply put, they cut off Iran's most likely paths to a bomb." The Jewish state does not share the same view and is opposed to the deal. The Jewish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called the agreement a "historic mistake".

Other states most notably the Gulf countries are disappointed with the agreement. Sami al-Faraj, a security adviser to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), told Reuters that Gulf Arab governments felt slighted by the deal. "Iran is sitting at the high table," he said. "We are left with the leftovers." He added, "We will acquire more weapons. We are going to check if our shopping list is adequate to respond to this. We are going to rally other nations that are hurt by this action into a unified diplomatic campaign."

Meanwhile, Iran struck a celebratory tone. Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said, "God's grace and the support of the Iranian nation were the reasons behind this success," while Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, summed it up as an overwhelmingly positive deal. "This agreement benefits all regional countries and global peace," he said. So who are the real winners and losers here?

The answer lies in what has been agreed. The deal reached between Iran and the P5+1 (America, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany) is an interim deal and is the first step in a comprehensive agreement to be conclude in the future. The interim accord signed in Geneva sets out the following conditions:

• Iran will stop installing new centrifuges, and also refrain from using the thousands of centrifuges that have been installed but are not yet enriching uranium.
• Iran's nuclear fuel stockpile in six months would not be allowed to grow beyond current levels. In practice, Iran would face a choice of either halting enrichment or converting its uranium into metal fuel plates.
• Iran agreed to halt all production of so-called 20-percent-enriched uranium, a type of fuel that can be easily converted to highly enriched uranium used in nuclear bombs.
• Iran's entire stockpile of 20-percent fuel - just under 450 pounds - would have to be neutralized through conversion into metal or blending with natural uranium to reduce its purity.
• Iran would be required to halt work on building fuel rods or other components at its Arak plutonium facility.
• Iran's nuclear facilities would be subject to unprecedented monitoring, with daily visits by international inspectors who also would have access to recordings by remote video equipment.
• Iran would receive economic incentives totalling $7 billion over the six months that the interim agreement is in place.

It is evident from the agreement that a number of restrictions have been placed on Iran with the specific aim of disrupting Iran's ability to produce nuclear bombs. Furthermore, Iran has formally opened the door for further intrusive inspections that may lead to the dismantling of Iran's nuclear capacity, which Tehran has painstakingly put in place over the past decade and has spent billions of dollars. Additionally, West's success in dismantling Iraq's military capability and Syria's chemical weapons ability via UN inspections is an ominous sign of what may happen to Iran in the foreseeable future.

Yet despite this, Tehran continues to treat the Geneva agreement as a victory. For instance, Iran's Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has asserted that the agreement explicitly recognizes Iran's right to enrich uranium. He also said the agreement effectively removed the threat of an American military strike. US Secretary of State, John Kerry rejected both of those contentions. Regarding America threat of force against Tehran, Kerry was unequivocal, he said, "The fact is, the president maintains" the option to use force "as commander in chief, and he has said specifically, he has not taken that threat off the table".

So clearly, Iran is the real loser in this agreement, and the Jewish state and its patron America are true winners, as the Jewish state is not required to dismantle any of its 100 or so nuclear weapons, and America will use Iran to stabilise Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Islam forbids Muslim countries from surrendering their strategic assets to the colonialist powers. Allah says in the Quran:

((...وَلَنْ يَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ سَبِيلًا))

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

Rather than capitulating to Western powers and surrendering parts of the country's nuclear infrastructure, Tehran should be working towards creating a variety of nuclear weapons that can be used to not only to safeguard Iran but protect the whole Muslim Ummah. This is in compliance with the following verse of Allah:

وَأَعِدُّوا لَهُمْ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ مِنْ قُوَّةٍ وَمِنْ رِبَاطِ الْخَيْلِ تُرْهِبُونَ بِهِ عَدُوَّ اللَّهِ وَعَدُوَّكُمْ وَآخَرِينَ مِنْ دُونِهِمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَهُمُ اللَّهُ يَعْلَمُهُمْ وَمَا تُنْفِقُوا مِنْ شَيْءٍ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ يُوَفَّ إِلَيْكُمْ وَأَنْتُمْ لَا تُظْلَمُونَ

"And prepare against them what force you can and horses tied at the frontier, to frighten thereby the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them, whom you do not know (but) Allah knows them; and whatever thing you will spend in Allah's way, it will be paid back to you fully and you shall not be dealt with unjustly." [Anfal: 60]

But the truth of the matter is that the protection of the Muslim Ummah is far from the minds of Iranian leadership. Their strong support for the despotic Assad, cash payments to Karzai, assistance to Maliki's regime to spread terror in Iraq, and now the surrender of the nuclear programme to the West, clearly illustrates that their allegiance lies with the enemies of the Ummah and confirms the words of Allah:

أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ يَزْعُمُونَ أَنَّهُمْ آمَنُوا بِمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ يُرِيدُونَ أَنْ يَتَحَاكَمُوا إِلَى الطَّاغُوتِ وَقَدْ أُمِرُوا أَنْ يَكْفُرُوا بِهِ وَيُرِيدُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَنْ يُضِلَّهُمْ ضَلَالًا بَعِيدًا

"Have you seen those who claim to believe in the revelation revealed to you and the revelation revealed earlier? They seek the ruling of taghoot (non-Islam) although they have been ordered to disbelieve in it." [An-Nisa: 60]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Abu Hashim

Question

Assalamu alaikum, I would like to know whether the Hizb has an Ijtihad for fasting and the month of Ramadhan in Norway; where the Fajr prayer is at 2AM, Maghreb prayer is at 11 PM and Ishaa' Prayer is at 12 AM, so obviously there is no sunset; i.e. it is morning all the time. There are various Ijtihadat, opinions, and views that speak about the validity of fasting and breaking the fast with Saudi Arabia or the nearest Muslim country, and others with the opinion of invalidity. Because there is a sunset that takes place for one hour or half an hour. So we do not know what is correct, and the Islamic Association's Fatawa are similar to Qaradhawi's.

So does the Hizb have an Ijtihad on this matter? Perhaps our brother and the Ameer of Hizb ut Tahrir can benefit us on this matter.

Barak Allahu Feekum

Your brother,
Moath Samamra - Kingdom of Norway

Answer

Wa Alaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatuh

1. The question is unclear, as though it has a contradiction, because you said:

"there is a sunset that takes place for one hour or half an hour.", what is understood by this is that night time lasts for one hour or half an hour.
But you said before this: "so obviously there is no sunset; i.e. it is morning all the time.", Which means that there is no night...

Then you also said: "where the Fajr prayer is at 2 AM, Maghreb prayer is at 11 PM and Ishaa' Prayer is at 12 AM", this means that there is a night time from 11 PM till 2AM, i.e. night time lasts for 3 hours...

Hence there is a clear contradiction, in the first quote "night time is around one hour or half an hour", and in the second "there is no night time", and in the third one "night time lasts 3 hours", so clarify the question to be able to answer by the will of Allah.

2. Nevertheless, another brother sent me a question around 2 years ago which I had answered, the question is from Finland, which is near your country Norway, so I will present to you below the question I received and my answer to it, lest it benefits you in this matter. The question is:

(Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatuh)

I am from Finland with a question regarding timings for Iftar in our region where even if the sun goes down, it is not ‘dark as night' rather it remains like the twilight which appears shortly after the sunset. Please note that I live in a remote area of northern Finland which is about 800 km away from its capital Helsinki and there is hardly any group of Muslim.

So the question is: how can we ascertain the time of fasting at dawn? Since the time of what appears to be sunset is about 11.00 PM, while the time of Fajr is difficult to ascertain due to the absence of what is generally considered to be ‘night'. So is it correct for us to delay our Ramadan fasts to a later date?? Also does the absence of a determined time of fasting (Imsak) affect the correctness of fasting, since the fasting begins (when you can distinguish the white thread from the black thread at dawn), or it is proper for me to rely on the timings determined in the capital Helsinki??

Answer

The timings are the reasons for prayer and fasting, the command becomes effective when the reason exists and ceases when the reason is absent. That is why the reason is primarily called: "Al Sabab (the cause) while in terminology it is every principled visible attribute which is considered proper evidence for the command to be effective and not for legislating the command." i.e. the reasons have been set by the legislator so that the addressee of the command (Almukallaf) can understand the command of the legislator. Thus when the reason is present, the command will be effective; and when it is absent, the command also will be non-existent.

Thus prayer or fasting are not permitted on the timings of a region other than your region, be it the Fajr prayer or the Dhuhr etc...similarly the timings of fasting (Imsak) or of breaking the fast are not permitted on the timings of the Helsinki Masjid in the capital while you are residing the north of Finland 800 km away.

Dear Brother, it appears that your problem is the timing of sunset and Fajr (dawn) for the purpose of fasting and breaking of fast; this issue is as follows:

Since the timing of sunset is known, the fasting person shall break his fast on sunset even if the horizon is like that of twilight; this is because the Azaan of Maghreb is at the time of sunset. In a narration by Muslim, a person who came to ask the Prophet (saw) about the timing of salah, the Prophet (saw) said: «...ثمَّ أَمَرَهُ فَأَقَامَ بِالْمَغْرِبِ حِينَ وَقَعَتِ الشَّمْسُ» He then commanded him for the evening prayer, when the sun had set.  ثُمَّ أَمَرَهُ بِالْمَغْرِبِ حِينَ وَجَبَتِ الشَّمْسُ... He then commanded him for the evening prayer, when the sun had set.

i.e. when the sun had set, and this is the time of breaking of fast and not when the twilight disappears which is the time for Isha prayer as mentioned in the above hadith: « ثُمَّ أَمَرَهُ فَأَقَامَ الْعِشَاءَ حِين غَابَ الشَّفَقُ...» He then commanded him and the night prayer was pronounced when the twilight had disappeared. « ثُمَّ أَمَرَهُ بِالْعِشَاءِ حِينَ وَقَعَ الشَّفَقُ...» He then commanded him and the night prayer was pronounced when the twilight had disappeared.

i.e. when the twilight glow has disappeared. Thus the presence of twilight glow does not affect the breaking of fast. For some scholars, the twilight is the red glow after the sunset; while for some other scholars, it is the whiteness that follows the red glow after sunset. Thus the disappearance of the twilight glow, which is the time of Isha prayer, is the disappearance of the red glow, or the disappearance of the white glow after the red one. Ibn al Atheer says: "The two extremes of twilight lie upon the red glow visible in the West after the sunset, or upon the remaining white glow on the Western horizon after the stated red glow. The first is position atken by Imam Shaf'ee, while Imam Abu Haneefa has taken the latter position."

As for Fajr when the fasting has to begin, it is the Azaan and prayer of al Fajr. In the referred hadith by Muslim, the Prophet (saw) said: «فَأَقَامَ الْفَجْرَ حِينَ انْشَقَّ الْفَجْرُ...» and he observed the dawn prayer when there was clear daylight. «فَأَمَرَ بِلَالًا فَأَذَّنَ بِغَلَسٍ، فَصَلَّى الصُّبْحَ حِينَ طَلَعَ الْفَجْرُ...» He commanded Bilal, and he uttered the call to prayer in the darkness of night preceding daybreak and he said the morning prayer till dawn had appeared...

While in the hadith narrated in Tirmidhi, when Jibreel led the Prophet (saw) in Fajr, it is narrated: «ثُمَّ صَلَّى الفَجْرَ حِينَ بَرَقَ الفَجْرُ، وَحَرُمَ الطَّعَامُ عَلَى الصَّائِمِ...» He then performed Fajr salah when dawn broke and the fasting person was prohibited from eating...

Ibn Atheer says: ‘Ghalas' is the darkness of night when mixed with the morning light.

The Fajr here is the Fajr Sadiq when the darkness of night changes towards whiteness even if there is partial darkness as is the case in your region. When this darkness changes towards whiteness and visibly spreads over the horizon, you must begin the fast and pray fajr. This is different from the Fajr Kathib which is when the darkness changes to white but appears rising up towards the sky but does not spread across. At this time, fajr is not to be performed because it is still part of night and one may eat and drink...i.e. this is not when one has to necessarily begin his fast.

The whiteness that is mixed with the darkness of night at the time of Fajr Sadiq does not mean that one can see everything, rather if one observes the eastern horizon he finds that the ‘partial' darkness has begun to disperse, i.e. the darkness has begun to spread across right and left on the horizon as different from a little earlier.

Ibn Hajar in Fatah al Bari, explaining the hadith narrated by Muslim on the authority of Abdullah ibn Masood (Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (saw) said:

"The Adhan of Bilal should not restrain anyone among you from eating Sahur (last meal before daybreak during the month of Ramadan) for he announces Adhan (or he calls) at (the fag end of) the night to return those who stand for prayer among you, and to awaken those who are sleeping among you. And he said: The dawn is not like it, as one says (and he lifted his hand) till he (dispersed his fingers) and said: It is like this. And Zuhair (r.a) said: With his index fingers over one another and extended it towards his right and his left."

Ibn Hajar, explaning this hadith said:

"Morning follows the sleep, so it is appropriate to turn those people who are awake to prepare themselves and understand the virtue and preference of early period, and Allah knows the best...". By saying that "he raised his fingers", it is meant that he indicated...His saying: "he lifted his fingers and dispersed them", ...it means that he gathered his fingers and then dispersed them to indicate the Fajr Sadeq because it rises visibly and spreads over the horizon horizontally towards right and left as distinct from Fajr Katheb which the Arabs refer to as the tail of the wolf which appears high in the sky and then dilutes or reduces, this is what is indicated by saying he raised his hands up and brought it down.." which is visible across the width horizontally.

In Conclusion: Since there is no reliably determined timings for fasting in your region, you act as follows:

• Break your fast when the sun sets...

• And when whiteness which appears horizontally and is more than the ‘partial' darkness, which you know is the condition in your region during the nights, i.e. when you can see a visible change towards whiteness horizontally across right and left in the eastern side, this is the Fajer Sadeq. So you start the fast and pray Fajr...

• So you spend all possible efforts in this matter and take the help of your brothers who live near you, seek their advice, and start your fast and break your fast accordingly. Take precautions for starting and breaking the fast, and Allah (swt) is oft forgiving and merciful, He (swt) said:

((وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجٍ)) (الحج: 78)

"and has not laid upon you in religion any hardship," [TMQ al-Hajj: 78]
It is narrated in Bayhaqee in his Sunan al Kubra: «إِنَّ هَذَا الدِّينَ مَتِينٌ، فَأَوْغِلْ فِيهِ بِرِفْقٍ» "Definitely this religion is strong, so go deeply into it with softness/kindness."

May Allah (swt) accept the Salah and fasting from you and us and all Muslims, Allah be with you.

10th Ramadan, 1432 A.H
10th August, 2011 C.E) My answer to the brother from Finland ends.

Needless to say, if you send the details about your region in a clear manner then I will reply by the will of Allah.

Your brother,
Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah

The link to the answer from the Ameer's Facebook page:

Danish political parties, which are always competing in their attack on Islam and Islamic provisions, are now trying to entice Muslims to participate in the municipal elections. While calling for Muslims to separate religion and politics, we now see them asking Imams and those responsible in the mosques to urge Muslims to vote!

At a time when the community is being attacked by some Danish politicians, those invitations to participate in the elections and urging people to do so, unfortunately received response in the Islamic centers. They have invited Muslims to participate in Haram with the justification that participation benefits the interest of Muslims. Even if we assumed that there is a debatable interest for the community, the interest based on which they invite people to participate in the elections is an interest not considered by the Shariah for its conflict with Islamic dogmas and necessities of our Deen. For those who call for action upon interest, then this is only possible within the permissible (Mubah) acts. Whereas an interest that permits the Haram or prohibits the Halal is void and holds no Shar'i consideration according to all Fuqaha. How can we say that signing usury contracts, licenses for alcohol trade and for prostitution, as well as conducting forbidden marriages such as same-sex marriages - these are all actions carried out by the municipality - are in the interest of the Muslims? In addition to other work carried out by the municipality within the area of legislation and governance that is absolutely forbidden in Islam.

The provisions of Islam recognize and urge people to choose and appoint their representatives in the government, which may be done by way of voting. Nevertheless the reality in secular systems is completely different, because politicians and the representatives of the people are authorized to carry out acts contrary to the provisions of Islam.

Election is a form of authorization. Therefore the ruling on the issue of electoral participation is connected to the question of what is being elected. If an election relates to a Haram action - which is the case here - then the election itself is Haram for choosing people to perform a Haram action. Hence, participation in the municipal elections is Haram, because it authorizes people to indulge in Haram.

Furthermore, the choice of the voter is limited to secular parties which do not hesitate to attack Islam and its provisions whenever they find the opportunity to do so. Sometimes they attack the Khimar (Islamic head covering) and claim it as a symbol of oppression of women, sometimes they challenge the Islamic perspective on the relationship between men and women and how to raise children and their upbringing, and at other times they attack the legitimacy of the Hudud (fixed punishments), such as the punishments for adultery and sodomy. A simple example of this is former Minister of Integration, Karen Haekkerups of the Socialist Party (Socialdemokratiet), who incited young girls and Muslims to revolt against their families if they prevented them from enjoying a free, Western lifestyle.

Our uppermost interest as a Muslim community is to maintain our identity and our values. What some desire from interests to come through electoral promises are only a mirage that the thirsty imagines to be water. Had those calling for participation realized the damage awaiting the Muslims from those parties of integration and their policies in case of their electoral victory, never would they have dared to make such a call and would have quickly retracted.

The preservation of the independence and integrity of our mosques and those working in them is also a vital interest of the Muslims. By contrast, linking the interests of the Muslims to the political system is a gamble and negligence of the independence of those mosques and the integrity of those who administer them. It is expected that politicians will ask Muslims, associations and mosques to refrain from statements or certain Islamic activities in exchange for achieving that imaginary interest.

In regard to the important question about our ability to build mosques, open new centers and schools, provide halal food and the like without participating in the elections: We have to realize that most of these needs are our rights as citizens, there is no need not consider them a charity given to us in good will. Political participation is not one of the conditions for the people to receive their rights.

In fact, most people in Western countries do not vote and take negative stances towards the entire political system. However, they do not lose their basic rights as citizens. Thus what we really need is to demand our rights vigorously, in word and deed. With regard to demands that are not from the fundamental rights, it is possible to achieve them as special projects funded by the community. Our records in this area speak for themselves: The community has built several mosques, schools and centers and set up projects to provide halal food, depending on the contributions of people of the community and their unfading efforts, without assistance from the government and municipalities.

As for the claim that the lack of participation will lead to isolation and create a parallel society to the Danish society is false. Engaging in the community is not restricted to participation in the political system, although we must be politically active, but on the basis of Islam. Islam defines in detail a unique and clear structure of activity, where the principles are not compromised, the goals are not surrendered, and the methods are not evasive. Therefore we must engage in the community at all levels, but on our terms and with the targets exclusively defined by Islam. We must work to strengthen the existence of a unified, independent and strong community, able to engage positively in order to be privileged to be a role model in the community.

Also the claim that the non-participation of Muslims in the elections is a service to the current right-wing is misleading, intended to intimidate Muslims. Is not the left-wing, which is currently ruling, applying integration policies, which do not differ in substance from the previous government's policies in the era of Anders Fogh Rasmussen? The only difference between the two policies is the level of filth in speech when challenging Muslims. Even this difference virtually disappears now, such that both governments have reached the same level of filth in speech.
It is a mistake that some think that the interest of the community will be realized by the left-wing. This wing, which does not hesitate to fail its leftist electors, pronounces its hate against Islam, its Prophet, its values and its carriers. Not to mention their participation in the monitoring of Muslims internally, and the shedding of blood and the occupation of their countries abroad.

وَلاَ تَرْكَنُواْ إِلَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ فَتَمَسَّكُمُ النَّارُ وَمَا لَكُم مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ مِنْ أَوْلِيَاء ثُمَّ لاَ تُنصَرُونَ

"And do not incline toward those who do wrong, lest you be touched by the Fire, and you would not have other than Allah any protectors; then you would not be helped." [Hud: 113]

Oh Muslims: The presence of a strong and independent community is formed by what the community owns from men, women and young people, who have dedication, perseverance and commitment to the principles. Then we will be able to move forward to deal with all of our issues and the creation of independent institutions that spread Islam, working to build strong Islamic personalities, addressing propaganda that is hostile to Islam, and taking up the Islamic call (dawah) to the whole society. A glance around us reveals a society that suffers from many problems, that is dominated by discontent over social conditions on a large scale. Therefore Muslims should be the ones on the bright side of the community, and a guiding beam which attracts the sincere and open minded ones from the non-Muslims, who are eager to live a satisfied life and find real solutions to their problems. This will only materialize when we become a leading example, and carry the Islamic Dawah in word and deed to all.

Oh Muslims: You are the best nation raised for mankind. The satisfaction with the reality and resignation to it are not worthy of you, as well as to work for the interests of what they fancy. It is imperative that you mobilize to achieve our goals based on Islam alone. Whenever we falter before the system and the current reality, we will find ourselves drifting downwards. We will be immersing inadvertently in an interpretation of Islam that is in accord with the bad reality - which brings Allah's wrath over us - instead of transforming the reality to conform to Islam. Then we will gain the satisfaction of Allah Almighty, who ordered us with His saying:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَجِيبُوا لِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ 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]