O Muslims! The Stricken Democracy is Incompatible with your Islam, So Do Not Participate in its Meaningless Rituals!
(Translated)

Parliamentary elections have been called in Denmark, and this means that various political parties and some candidates will try to win the votes of some Muslims and urge them to participate in the elections.

At a time when the pressure on Muslims is intensifying, the combination of fear and misunderstanding can lead some to vote in the elections, having false hopes that their participation will improve the conditions of Muslims, or prevent the situation from deteriorating from bad to worse... Therefore, we found it necessary to clarify the following matters:

1. Democracy, as an idea and a system of government, is fundamentally incompatible with Islam. Democracy is basically based on the idea of separating religion from life, and this idea says that it is man who decides what is right and what is wrong, and not the Creator... Therefore, it is incorrect to adopt democracy and make it a model for society, nor allow it to be a reference for Muslims.

2. For the same reason, electing candidates or parties to legislatures in a secular system is fundamentally contrary to our faith. Voting for a candidate of a secular party is considered an authorization to decree laws and legislation other than what Allah Almighty has revealed, and it is an action that is forbidden in Islam. In addition, it must be emphasized that it is forbidden to support a secular party, because supporting a secular party is considered as an aid to this party to spread and implement its ideas that contradict Islam, and this applies to all political parties nominated in Denmark.

3. Democracy is actually a system of tyranny by the majority against Muslims in the Western world of all kinds, especially in Europe, and the reason behind this is that these regimes view the increasing presence of Muslims and Muslims’ attachment to their identity as a threat to the culture of their societies. Therefore, they legislate racist laws against Islam and Muslims and lead hateful smear campaigns that stir up racial extremism among their citizens and makes sure to polarize these societies. This anti-Islam policy has become a constant policy regardless of the type of the government or the parties that make up the government. The picture became clearer in this election than in others, it is like choosing between the plague or cholera, regardless of the parties that will form the government after the elections.

4. It is misleading and narrow-minded to claim that the non-participation of Muslims in the elections or the lack of interest in them is considered negative or carelessness. It is incorrect to reduce the active participation of Muslims in society to the issue of giving a voice in the elections that has no value.We are required to engage in society positively, but on the basis of Islam where Islam has shown us the foundations and how to carry out political actions. One of the most important lessons that we find in the biography of the Messenger of Allah (saw) during the period of the Meccan da’wah is the distinct form in which political actions are conducted, which challenges everything that contradicts it and presents an alternative. [قُلْ هَـذِهِ سَبِيلِي أَدْعُو إِلَى اللّهِ عَلَى بَصِيرَةٍ أَنَاْ وَمَنِ اتَّبَعَنِي وَسُبْحَانَ اللّه وَمَا أَنَاْ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ]“This is my way. I invite to Allah with insight—I and those who follow me. Glory be to Allah, and I am not one of the polytheists.”[Yusuf 12:108]

5. Whether we like it or not, participating in the elections is considered as giving confidence to the secular system, and means accepting false ideas that separate religion from politics, which is not permissible for a Muslim to accept, let alone work with or support it. It is precisely for this reason that Muslims are pressured to participate in elections as part of a policy of political inclusion. This issue is not only related to refraining from doing what is forbidden, but rather about our identity as Muslims, and any system of life and view of life to which we prove our loyalty to.

O Muslims: The boat of democracy is about to sink, one election after another has proven that the stakeholders are the winners. Many studies have shown that the confidence of the Danes in their politicians has reached its lowest levels, as well as in their confidence in the democratic system itself. The same is found in Western countries in general, as they are looking for an alternative to the oppressive capitalist system. And you Muslims have this alternative! Therefore, it is not right for you to admit by word or deed the Kufr (infidel) democratic regime, which has practiced deception on humanity for two centuries.

You, as the supporters of the call of Islam, who carry a sincere view of life and divine legislation, are required to call to Islam in thought and system, not acknowledging non-Islamic ideas and systems.

Instead of running after secular parties and their candidates, we should work together away from these parties, to preserve Muslims, and to adhere to the principles of Islam and to take care of the interests of the Muslims ourselves. Instead of trusting a secular political system, we must work to create confidence in the system of Islam, and to convey the message of Islam to the Western society that suffers greatly from the system that controls it and because of which economic, social and political crises are constantly present.

O Muslims: The great victory in this life and the Hereafter is in complete submission to Allah Almighty. Our loyalty is never determined by where we are in this world. Rather, it should be to Allah, His Messenger and our Islamic Ummah.

The path that we must take as Muslims is to protect our values and our identity, and to stand in the face of the ferocious policy of integration practiced by successive governments. We must stand together as guardians of Islamic values in the face of anti-Islamic propaganda and to call for Islam in the society around us. As Muslims, we must focus that Islam would be the flame that enlightens the path of everyone, especially those who are looking for real values and practical solutions.

We in Hizb ut Tahrir invite you all with sincerity to stay away from secular democracy that contradicts your true religion, and to work with us politically and intellectually in calling for a complete and integrated Islam, and to work to preserve our Islamic identity, and to participate in the work of restoring the ruling system in Islam through the establishment of the second Khilafah Rashidah (rightly-guided Caliphate) on the method of Prophethood.

[يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَجِيبُوا لِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ]

“O believers! Respond to Allah and His Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life.”[Al-Anfal: 8-24]