Press Release

Hizb ut Tahrir / Wilayah Tunisia hosted the International Women’s Conference

“The Family: Challenges & Islamic Solutions”

Successfully Organized by The Women’s Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir

On Saturday 27^th of October, by the blessing of Allah, Alhamdulilah, the Women’s Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in coordination with Hizb ut Tahrir / Wilayah Tunisia successfully held a significant and impressive International Women’s Conference in Tunis entitled, “The Family: Challenges & Islamic Solutions” to address the causes and Islamic solutions to the crisis affecting the harmony and unity of marriage and family life in communities across the world, including in Muslim lands. This important event was attended by over 250 women from across Tunisia and included lawyers, teachers, child-care workers, engineers, university students, community leaders, and youth activists. The speeches were delivered by female members of Hizb ut Tahrir from Tunisia, Turkey, the Blessed Land - Palestine, Pakistan, Lebanon, Indonesia, the Arab Gulf, the Netherlands, and Britain. The conference was also broadcast online to an international audience and was watched by thousands of viewers from different corners of the world.

Conference speeches detailed how western liberal sexual freedoms, capitalist systems which promote individualism and materialism, non-Islamic traditional attitudes and customs, and feminist ideals such as gender equality which create confusion and conflict in marital roles and duties, had all contributed to the fracturing and disharmony in marriages and family life. This included causing the high levels of divorce, extramarital relationships, and domestic violence, as well as a significant delay and reduction in marriage rates. This is alongside systematically devaluing the importance of motherhood, resulting in the neglect of the upbringing and rights of children, as well as burdening women with the financial responsibilities of men. Speakers explained how this crisis was being fueled in the Muslim world by the secular media and entertainment industry, feminist organisations, international women’s conventions such as CEDAW and the policies and laws of secular governments which were promoting these corrosive ‘anti-family’ western ideals and other harmful non-Islamic beliefs within Muslim societies. This is in addition to pursuing an intensive agenda to demonize and secularize the Islamic family and social laws - such as the attack on male guardianship in Islam, and the Islamic laws on inheritance, divorce and gender roles and rights in marriage - in order to dismantle the Islamic family structure. The talks also emphasized the need to develop a new perspective based on Islam in addressing domestic violence which has reached epidemic levels in Muslim and non-Muslim societies, proof enough of the utter failure of initiatives by secular international organisations and governments to effectively solve the problem.

The second half of the conference presented the Islamic solutions to the crisis in family life, primarily by showcasing the unique Islamic social system as detailed comprehensively and extensively in the literature of Hizb ut Tahrir. Speakers explained how the distinct view, values and laws of the Islamic social system towards regulating the relationship between men and women and organizing the roles, rights and duties of the genders in marital and family life, based upon the supreme Laws of Allah (swt) rather than flawed individualistic liberal or gender equality ideals, nurtures and protects strong and happy marriages and family units. This includes minimizing domestic violence and extramarital relationships as well as guaranteeing that which is best for all members of a family and society at large. Speeches also emphasized how as a Muslim Ummah we need to reclaim the importance of motherhood in our communities by embracing Islam’s prescription of the primary role of the woman as a wife and mother and the one who carries the vital role of raising strong future generations. The event also clarified how Islam’s definition of male guardianship in family life is a privilege for the woman and a great responsibility for the man for he is obliged to protect, support, care and provide for those he has authority over with mercy, compassion and diligence. Alongside this, speakers detailed the vital ingredients defined by Islam to create happy and fulfilled marriages based on companionship, such as having Taqwa with regards to marriage, rejecting individualism and actively seeking the value of tranquility in marital life as commanded by Islam to secure the Pleasure of Allah (swt). This is in addition to adopting fully the Islamic marital roles, responsibilities and expectations in marriage which create harmony in family life. Finally, the conference highlighted how piecemeal reform of marriage or family laws or the introduction of new women’s bills will fail to solve the crisis in family life. Rather what is required is comprehensive change of the non-Islamic foundation, values, laws and political systems within our lands, and the establishment of the Khilafah (Caliphate) based upon the method of the Prophethood which is built purely upon Islam and implements all of its laws. The Khilafah is the true fortress of the family for its institutions and systems nurture, implement, promote, enforce and protect the Islamic family values and regulations within the society. This state alone organizes society based upon the correct view of the relationship between men and women which safeguards the family unit, as well as practically supporting with its political, economic, judicial, educational, social and other systems as well as its media, the fulfilment of the Islamic marital and family roles, rights and duties to achieve harmony in marriage and family life. This includes returning the status of motherhood to the prestigious position it deserves in society. The conference ended by raising a call to the attendees and those watching online to join the noble dawah of Hizb ut Tahrir to establish the glorious Khilafah state with urgency to save the family from ruin. This was followed by a passionate and overwhelming expression of support from the audience for the urgent re-establishment of the Khilafah to end the crisis in family life.

The conference included an exhibition which enjoyed much interest from attendees, as well as moving poems and presentations made by children, calling for the family to be saved from destruction and for the role of the mother to be protected. A press conference was also held two days prior to the event. The conference and the preceding three-week global campaign on the causes and Islamic solutions to the crisis in family life organized by the Women’s Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir, made a significant contribution Alhamdulillah towards defining a clear path to heal the divisions in marriage and the family unit and create strong and harmonious family structures.

Conference speeches, videos, and pictures as well as campaign material can be accessed at:

http://www.hizb-ut-tahrir.info/en/index.php/dawah/cmo/16024.html

www.facebook.com/WomenandShariah.

﴿هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَجَعَلَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا لِيَسْكُنَ إِلَيْهَا﴾

“It is He Who has created you from a single person, and He has created from him his wife, in order that he might enjoy the pleasure of living with her.” [Al-Araf: 189]

Dr. Nazreen Nawaz

Director of the Women’s Section in The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir