Event:

On the 18^th of May, the BBC, CBC, the UK Guardian and many news outlets worldwide reported that the debate in the Afghan Parliament regarding the Law on Elimination of Violence Against Women (LEVAW) was halted by some Afghan lawmakers who argued that some parts of it violate Islamic principles. The law took effect in 2009 by a decree by President Hamid Karzai but was not ratified by Parliament. The measure has now been brought before Parliament by female Afghan MP and women's rights activist Fawzia Koofi who wants it approved by a parliamentary vote to prevent its reversal by any future president. Amongst its provisions, the law criminalizes forced and child marriage, domestic violence, and "baad" - the traditional practice of selling and buying women to settle disputes. Various women's rights activists and other Western and secular voices have described the block in the passing of the law as a blow to the protection and progress of women's rights in the country.

Comment:

Laws such as the Elimination of Violence Against Women, or international women's treaties such as CEDAW are wolves in sheep's clothing that seek to further import Western secular and liberal values into Afghanistan or other Muslim countries by deceptively wrapping these corrupt ideals with the appealing banner of ‘women's rights' or preventing violence or mistreatment of women that no decent-minded individual - Muslim or otherwise would reject. By mixing measures such as the criminalization of forced marriage, domestic violence, and ‘baad' - actions which Islam abhors and rejects, with measures that contradict Islamic social laws such as criminalizing Islam's recommendation of early marriage, under the sensationalist label of preventing ‘child marriage', advocates of the Western inspired LEVAW and CEDAW seek to conceal their intent of outlawing Islam and placing the secular liberal belief as the basis by which women's rights are defined. The aim ultimately is, as in the West, to give women and men the ‘freedom' to dress how they want and pursue any lifestyle or intimate relationship they desire, regardless of the chaos it sows upon the family unit and society. Furthermore, Western secular commentators and media manipulate the rejection of such laws to falsely accuse Islam of accepting and even endorsing oppressive non-Islamic practices such as forced marriage, violence against women, or stripping them of education or an active public life.  This is to re-enforce the time-old Western orientalist discourse and false narrative that the Shariah oppresses women which was engineered and continues to be promoted to distance Muslim women from their belief and from supporting Islamic governance in their lands - all to help maintain systems and regimes in the Muslim world that continue to cater to the interests of Western powers rather than that of Islam and the people of the region.

Such secular orientated laws and Western discourse on women's rights present Muslim women with a false choice - to either embrace the secular liberal way of life, values and system if they want to be free from violence as well as have access to educational, economic, legal, and political rights, OR to succumb to (in their words) ‘an extremist version of Islam' that will subject them to violence, seclude them from society, and deprive them of all rights. Both these 2 options are false. Firstly, women within Western secular states may enjoy access to education, healthcare, employment, and a political voice but they are also grappling with huge levels of discrimination in public life as well as an epidemic of violence. In the US, 3 women are murdered every day at the hands of their husband or partner, and nearly 20% of women have suffered rape or attempted rape. In Europe, 1 in 4 women face domestic violence, while in England and Wales, 1 in 5 women have been victims of a sexual offence. And secondly, it is a well-known fact that it was Islam that pioneered educational, economic, political, and legal rights for women 1400 years ago as well as outlawing any form of exploitation or violence against them; rights that were secured through the Divine system of Shariah laws implemented under the Khilafah "Caliphate" state that acted as a guardian and protector for its women for over 13 centuries. The lack of access to rights that women in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the rest of the Muslim world face today is not due to Islam but due to man-made Western-imposed systems and rulers in our lands that replaced the Khilafah "Caliphate" and under which women have to struggle for justice, or engage in lengthy, expensive judicial procedures to secure their rights that often end with failure due to incompetency or corruption. Therefore it is not possible for women to get their rights unless the laws given by Allah (swt) are completely and comprehensively implemented under the system of Khilafah "Caliphate".

Hence, advocates of these secular, liberal orientated laws need to sincerely question what the man-made secular, liberal system has brought to women in the West and East, and by doing so they will come to realize that embracing these values is not the path to protecting women from violence or violation of rights. However, those Afghan law-makers who blocked LEVAW on the basis that elements of it contradict Islam also need to acknowledge that it is the very Western-based parliamentary system where they legislate the laws rather than Allah (swt) which is one of the greatest violations against Islam for it gives human beings sovereignty rather than the Creator of the Universe. It is this very democratic system that gives MP's the opportunity to debate the imposition of laws that contradict the Shariah. So, if they are sincere to Islam, then it is the democratic, parliamentary system that they need to reject along with every law that contradicts the Shariah, embracing in its place the Khilafah "Caliphate" that alone will implement all the laws of Allah (swt) and ensure that the women of Afghanistan and the entire Muslim world are protected from violence and get their rights completely secured under the just system of Islam. Allah (swt) says,

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاءً ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّـهَ الَّذِي تَسَاءَلُونَ بِهِ وَالْأَرْحَامَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّـهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا

"O mankind! Be careful of (your duty to) your Lord, Who created you from a single being and from him He created his wife of the same (kind) and spread from these two, many men and women; and fear Allah through Whom you demand (your mutual rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship). Surely, Allah is Ever an All-Watcher over you." [TMQ An-Nisa: 1]

Umm Musab

Member of The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir

Hizb ut Tahrir/ Wilayah of Afghanistan: Kabul Universities Screamed "We Want Khilafah"

Approximately seven centuries ago in the year 656 AH, Hulagu Khan destroyed Baghdad after a severe siege. People were massacred in large numbers, houses and mosques were demolished, books and libraries were burned, and crops and livestock were destroyed. The Tigris River, penetrating Baghdad, was witness to this destruction as its water was diluted with human blood and the ink from books. Today stripped from any humility before Allah, His Messenger or even the believers, tyrants indulge in Muslims' blood in Qusair.

The tyrant of ash-Sham strikes Qusair with lethal explosives and competing with him is Hizb ‘Iran' (Hezbollah) with its missiles and launchers, the latter of which is indirectly but directly lead by Iran through human interference and logistic support in the form of trucks and airplanes. The attack on the area of Qusair and its orchards has been on-going for days, even weeks now, expanding to its houses and mosques; and neither people nor trees and stones are spared from the tyrant and his henchmen's bombings. This time it is the ‘Asi River which runs through Qusair, whose water is witness to the effects of the bombing, killing and destruction.

All of this is to please America and its allies and the Jewish state and its henchmen who want to keep Bashar to protect the interest of the colonialist Kuffar and the Jews. This will go on so long as it will take them to groom a new agent to replace another agent. Meanwhile the tyrant, the Iranian regime and its party assure them: I am hastening, America, so you can be pleased with me!

These brutal attacks were given the green light by America, assuming that more killing in the land of ash-Sham will cause them to accept the American initiatives. Therefore America is producing for them another agent to replace his predecessor by holding conferences and negotiations under the title of "peaceful solutions". America rebuilds the secular system after face-changes, because it understands that the direction of the people of Ash-Sham is Islam. In doing so America has instructed its front and rear battle lines to use all means of killing and destruction including all sorts of massacres to force people into subordination to their commands and plots. And these are the monstrous attacks!

It is possible for the Muslim to comprehend the malice of the tyrant of ash-Sham against the Muslims and Islam, since he proudly declares his system is a secular regime in opposition to Allah, His Messenger and the believers. But Hizb ‘Iran' and its Hizb in Lebanon speak of Islam and Islamically.  So how can they participate with secularism rather compete with him in killing Muslims, bombing their mosques and killing their women and children? If they are believers, do they not recite the words of their Lord?

((يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لِمَ تَقُولُونَ مَا لَا تَفْعَلُونَ))

"Oh you who have believed, why do you say what you do not do?" [TMQ 61:2] Or are they an example of those described by Allah as

((يَقُولُونَ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ مَا لَيْسَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا يَكْتُمُونَ))

"saying with their mouths what was not in their hearts. And Allah is most Knowing of what they conceal" [TMQ 3:167]

We have become witness to the paradoxes that are staunchly rejected by the sane mind making the blood boil in one's veins in those with vision and insight, whereas the Jewish entity that violated Palestine and the Golan Heights bomb vital facilities in Syria. However the Syrian regime responds with bombing the elderly, women and children in Syria! Meanwhile Hizb ‘Iran' proclaims to

assist the Syrian regime of ridding the Golan Heights from the filth of the Jews when it actually assists the tyrant in destroying Qusair and seizing it from the purity of Islam and its people! Iran used to threaten the Zionist entity with retaliation instead it threatens Qusair and others in ash- Sham, while calm and peaceful with the Zionist entity which violated Palestine and the Golan Heights!

Qusair is being bombed from all directions with the enemies of Allah and His Prophet gathering against it: the Sham's tyrant who is proud of the secularists and the hypocrites who speak with their tongues of which is not in their hearts. They speak of Islam, while concealing their spite towards the people of Islam. Meanwhile all of them rush to destroy Qusair including its inhabitants, plants and even rocks!

All the while, regimes' armies do not mobilize to rescue Qusair nor are they affected by Allah's saying: ((وَإِنِ اسْتَنْصَرُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ فَعَلَيْكُمُ النَّصْرُ)) "If Allah should aid you, then no one can overcome you" [TMQ: 3:160] Rather they observe the bombing and destruction while counting the martyrs and injured, are not concerned by the screams of the orphans and bereaved mothers. In fact they seem to be waiting with unparalleled patience for Qusair and others in Sham to be obliterated. Heartbreakingly these armies are stationed in their barracks obeying the ruler in his treachery, open transgression and injustice. These armies obey regimes that praise America, spilling the precious Muslim blood to satisfy America and its allies. Is there no honorable man amongst these armies, that Allah will show him the truth and guide his heart? To topple these treacherous regimes and proceed as the commander of his unit or battalion to rescue his people and brethren? Is there no such man?

Nevertheless, there are lions in Qusair resisting the continuous bombings in which tyrants utilize all types of weapons that reach them via America's frontlines: Russia and Iran. They resist with weapons which do not amount to a tenth of what the enemy is using. But with hearts of great conviction and tongues speaking the truth, they declare: Either victory or martyrdom to repel the aggression against our religion, our honour, our houses and ourselves! Lions in the face of surrounding tyrants! Lions at a time when mice have roared the lion's roar! The lions of Qusair will be victorious Inshallah in their dunya (life) and the Hereafter! Whatever befalls the believer is good and the reward is for the God-fearing.

Indeed the curse of Qusair will reach the tyrants of ash-Sham and the Iranian regime and its Hizb in Lebanon. Indeed the sacred  blood that was spilled will haunt them in their beds in the darkest of the night and throughout the day until the command of Allah is sent down, and can no longer be withstood. Even if they destroyed Qusair, they will attain but humiliation in this dunya (life) and severe torture if they knew, ((فَأَذَاقَهُمُ اللَّهُ الْخِزْيَ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَلَعَذَابُ الْآخِرَةِ أَكْبَرُ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ)) "So Allah made them taste disgrace in worldly life. But the punishment of the hereafter is greater, if they only knew." [TMQ 39:26] They will be destroyed like their adherents before them! Hulagu and his adherents were expelled after they thought they had defeated the Khilafah "Caliphate" in Baghdad and Hulagu had already deemed himself victorious until he himself was destroyed. But the Khilafah "Caliphate" returned and climaxed from anew in Cairo and Istanbul, ﴿وَتِلْكَ الْأَيَّامُ نُدَاوِلُهَا بَيْنَ النَّاسِ وَلِيَعْلَمَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَيَتَّخِذَ مِنْكُمْ شُهَدَاءَ وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الظَّالِمِينَ﴾ "and these days [of varying conditions] We alternate among the people so that Allah may make evident those who believe and [may] take to Himself from among you martyrs - and Allah does not like the wrongdoers" [TMQ 3:140]

Hizb ut Tahrir reiterates the words of truth (Haqq) that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said to Ka'ab bin ‘Ujra many centuries ago in a Hadith Sahih extracted by al-Hakim in al Mustadrak Ala Assaheain:

«أَعَاذَكَ اللَّهُ يَا كَعْبَ بْنَ عُجْرَةَ مِنْ إِمَارَةِ السُّفَهَاءِ» قَالَ: وَمَا إِمَارَةُ السُّفَهَاءِ؟ قَالَ:  «أُمَرَاءُ يَكُونُونَ مِنْ بَعْدِي لَا يَهْتَدُونَ بِهَدْيِي وَلَا يَسْتَنُّونَ بِسُنَّتِي، فَمَنْ صَدَّقَهُمْ بِكَذِبِهِمْ وَأَعَانَهُمْ عَلَى ظُلْمِهِمْ، فَأُولَئِكَ لَيْسُوا مِنِّي وَلَسْتُ مِنْهُمْ وَلَا يَرِدُونَ عَلَيَّ حَوْضِي، وَمَنْ لَمْ يُصَدِّقْهُمْ بِكَذِبِهِمْ وَلَمْ يُعِنْهُمْ عَلَى ظُلْمِهِمْ فَأُولَئِكَ مِنِّي وَأَنَا مِنْهُمْ وَسَيَرِدُونَ عَلَيَّ حَوْضِي»

"O Ka'ab Bin ‘Ujrah, may Allah give us refuge from the ruling of Al-Sufaha." They said: "Oh Messenger of Allah: What is the ruling of 'Al-Sufaha'?" He said: "Rulers who will be after me. They do not follow my guidance, and they do not implement my Sunnah. The one who follows their lies, and helps them in their oppression, he is not from me, and I am not from him, and he will not be permitted into my Hawd (basin). And the one who did not believe their lies, and did not help them in their oppression, he is from me, and I am from him, and he will be permitted into my Hawd (basin)." This Hadith has been extracted by many Sahabah.

Whoever supports an unjust ruler and authenticates his lies, regardless of the Islamic legal school he follows, be he Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali, Zaydi, Ja'fari or Ibadi, the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) applies to him: فَأُولَئِكَ لَيْسُوا مِنِّي وَلَسْتُ مِنْهُمْ وَلَا يَرِدُونَ عَلَيَّ حَوْضِي "He is not from me, and I am not from him, and he will not be permitted into my Hawd (basin)," as a clarification of the graveness of this sin. Therefore Hizb ut Tahrir believes in the ayah of Allah ((هُوَ سَمَّاكُمُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ)) "Allah named you ‘Muslims'" [TMQ 22:78], speaks the truth, does not fear none other than Allah with the help of the Almighty. Hizb ut Tahrir addresses those who aided and still aid the tyrant of ash-Sham to restore their goodness and repent their wrongful deeds. We ask them to show remorse before the time comes when remorse will no longer be accepted, nor will their repentance be accepted. Will they then be deterred?

((إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَذِكْرَى لِمَنْ كَانَ لَهُ قَلْبٌ أَوْ أَلْقَى السَّمْعَ وَهُوَ شَهِيدٌ))

"Indeed in that is a reminder for whoever has a heart or who listens while he is present [in mind]" [TMQ 50:37]

Hizb ut Tahrir / Wilayah Pakistan has issued a Publicized Policy Position (PPP) regarding the subject of nuclear weapons, their proliferation and global disarmament.

Weapons technology has reached the stage where there are weapons of such power that do not merely subdue the army of a nation, but are capable of destroying the nation itself.