Press Release

[وَلُوطاً إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِ أَتَأْتُونَ الْفَاحِشَةَ وَأَنتُمْ تُبْصِرُونَ * أَئِنَّكُمْ لَتَأْتُونَ الرِّجَالَ شَهْوَةً مِّن دُونِ النِّسَاءِ بَلْ أَنتُمْ قَوْمٌ تَجْهَلُونَ * فَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِ إِلَّا أَن قَالُوا أَخْرِجُوا آلَ لُوطٍ مِّن قَرْيَتِكُمْ إِنَّهُمْ أُنَاسٌ يَتَطَهَّرُونَ]

“And ˹remember˺ Lot, when he rebuked ˹the men of˺ his people, “Do you commit that shameful deed while you can see ˹one another˺? Do you really lust after men instead of women? In fact, you are ˹only˺ a people acting ignorantly.” But his people’s only response was to say, “Expel Lot’s followers from your land! They are a people who wish to remain chaste!” [An-Naml 27: 54-6]
(Translated)

We did not find anything better than the words of Allah Almighty with which to begin this statement, in response to what some poisoned pens have written in newspapers and some social networking sites, led by a newspaper that considers itself prestigious in media circles. An-Nahar Newspaper, which published an article that does not reflect professionalism or credibility, in the name of the writer, Hovik Habashian under the title: “In Tripoli, the capital of Arab culture, extremists chant against cinema culture”!

The voice of these parties has become louder because the people of the city of Tripoli have chosen chastity and purity over perversion and demise, and have chosen what preserves the Deen, fitra (innate nature), and the family over what destroys it! The situation of these parties with the advocates of chastity became like the situation of those of the people of Lut who practiced indecency that violated the fitra, their situation with the Prophet of Allah Lut (peace be upon him) and those who believed with him, who ordered their people to be pure, so the perpetrators of the indecency demanded that Lut and those who believed with him be expelled from their village. Why?! Because they demand purity, chastity, and the sound fitra! Is this not a strange matter in analogy?! Today is like the past, with the difference in terminology and expressions!

One of the agencies affiliated with the Prime Minister and the Azm Movement in Tripoli announced a cinema festival on 6/7/9/2024, under the name of the Cabriolet Film Festival. This festival almost passed, with the propaganda of homosexuality in its films, just as many things pass in this weak entity with the absence of authority and the state! It would have almost passed had it not been for the protectors of the Deen, fitra, chastity and purity from the people of the city, led by the Tripoli Cultural Diwan, who exposed the abnormality - summed up in terms such as LGBTQ+ and others - that is promoted in a number of these films, and the matter was exposed with documents and conclusive evidence, and the beneficiaries from these festivals and those hidden behind several cultural names were agitated

We are not surprised by the rage of those who do not represent the nature of the people of Lebanon in general, but we are surprised that the writer of An-Nahar Newspaper wrote, “This call to prevent this festival was launched from the mosques of Tripoli,” he says in amazement. If the mosques of Tripoli, which represent most of its people, announced in front of thousands of people their rejection of this festival, and the people accepted that, is this not, in your understandings, a manifestation of the true voice of the city?! Or are your alleged freedoms of expression restricted to you and people like you, forbidden to the general public, and even to the city, its origin, and its cultural and intellectual character?!!

And for the writer of Al-Nahar to promote his defense of homosexuality and demise, and practices incitement! He began to regurgitate words used to pin accusations on advocates of chastity and purity, such as extremism and thugs! Do you not know that your master America has abandoned or almost abandoned these abnormal terms, in favor of terms related to trying to save its economy!Which is it that their priority is not terrorism but China?! But it seems that you are still living in the stage in which you have strengthened Islam and its people with these terms, just as they have strengthened the authority you are inciting! This time has passed, so read carefully the events of the region and the world, you philosophizers! What does extremism have to do with what you say, except that the article is an incitement from the black rooms to give legitimacy to the fight against the people of chastity, purity and values, who have made your heads explode by canceling this promotion of perversion?!

As for the most amazing evidence of complex ignorance, it is your saying: What is happening is “a political battering ram between two political parties” and your saying: “The two political parties conflicting over the ruins of Tripoli: Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Hizb ut Tahrir...”! If you, Habashian, mean the political battering ram between Hizb ut Tahrir and the Prime Minister, at the level of your involvement in the Lebanese political conflicts over the parliaments and ministries! Have you seen Hizb ut Tahrir running in the political elections in Lebanon and having representatives from it as you do?! Or will it be distressed as many of you are?! Or is it in power and its agencies like many of you?! Or does it benefit from the state as most of you benefit?!

[كَبُرَتْ كَلِمَةً تَخْرُجُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ إِن يَقُولُونَ إِلَّا كَذِباً]

“What a terrible claim that comes out of their mouths! They say nothing but lies.” [Al-Kahf 18:5]

Our position on the political authority in Lebanon, represented by the current Prime Minister or those who preceded him, or those who will succeed him in the same regime, but rather the political authority represented by the highest pyramid of power and its agencies, is a clear position. It is the political struggle of this authority, and exposing its connection with the West that leads to its conspiracy against the country and its people, or its failure to take care of people’s affairs, or its hostility to the values ​​of the people of the country, especially the Muslims among them, of whom we represent a large group. This is our political struggle with the authorities in Lebanon, and even at the level of Muslim countries, and this political struggle is clear, and we will continue it until we establish in Muslim countries, including Lebanon, Habishan, a state of justice and righteousness, the Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate) on the method of the Prophethood, in which Muslims and non-Muslims live as they have lived for thousands of years, preserving their Islamic Aqeedah (doctrine), and protecting the laws of other Muslims who live under their rule, in which we work to establish the correct values ​​that agree with the fitra and are convincing to the mind, and not the bestiality and homosexuality that your films were supposed to promote in the city of Tripoli, Ash-Sham and Islam.

Until this matter is accomplished, we will not allow any project that destroys values ​​to pass, and we will stand against it blatantly and united, and we will not hesitate to do so, even if you write these articles and blogs. I wish you had written, and emptied the ink of your pens, to remove deprivation, destitution and poverty from the people of Tripoli, and incited the state and the authority to carry out its duty, and did your real job in defending the oppressed, instead of defending and propaganda for clowns and homosexuals!

As for these festivals taking place in other regions, perhaps there are those who did not notice the abnormalities promoted by these films! Perhaps writers like you, who cover up these festivals with sparkling words, blind people's eyes and enchant their eyes with terms that appear to be music, cinema, painting, literature, and poetry, while their essence is poison, as we have proven with irrefutable documents. Here we take the opportunity to warn our people in all Lebanese regions to beware of such festivals, including their promotion of perversion, even if they have permits from here and there. Do you not see that your streets have become filled with displays of nudity in advertisements with the advent of summer, and they are authorized advertisements?! Do these represent your values ​​and the values ​​of this country in general?! So beware, our people in all regions, for the condition of the newspapers, writers, and websites promoting these festivals is like the condition of the magicians of Pharaoh with Moses before they converted to Islam.

[سَحَرُوا أَعْيُنَ النَّاسِ وَاسْتَرْهَبُوهُمْ وَجَاءُوا بِسِحْرٍعَظِيمٍ]

“they deceived the eyes of the people, stunned them, and made a great display of magic.” [Al-A’raf 7:116]. And, Allah willing, we will be with them, like Moses with the actions of the magicians

[وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى مُوسَى أَنْ أَلْقِ عَصَاكَ فَإِذَا هِيَ تَلْقَفُ مَا يَأْفِكُونَ * فَوَقَعَ الْحَقُّ وَبَطَلَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ]

“Then We inspired Moses, ‘Throw down your staff,’ and—behold!—it devoured the objects of their illusion! So the truth prevailed and their illusions failed.” [Al-A’raf 117-8]. We will throw at them, with our thought and struggle, something that will stop what they think, until the truth is established and what they do is invalidated.

In conclusion, what Hizb ut Tahrir and its structures are doing, with its means and methods, and its political struggle against the corrupt authority, and with it people of common sense and the preservation of the family, from all laws, is a religion, and it is a matter of pride, what you are doing in spreading poisons and defending abnormalities, under the names of “cultural” and “artistic” and festivals, has no law or religion, except Western secularism that is alien to this country and its people, all its people, Muslims and non-Muslims. Imported, expired, canned secularism that poisoned your minds and pushed you to the point of falling to defend even perversion!

[مَا لَكُمْ كَيْفَ تَحْكُمُونَ * أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ * أَمْ لَكُمْ سُلْطَانٌ مُّبِينٌ * فَأْتُوا بِكِتَابِكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ]

“What is the matter with you? How do you judge? Will you not then be mindful? Or do you have ˹any˺ compelling proof? Then bring ˹us˺ your scripture, if what you say is true!” [As-Saffat 37:154-7]

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Lebanon