Press Release
Indeed the British legacy of the Capitalist system, its judiciary and democracy, all are Kufr
Democracy is kufr because the right to legislate belongs to man instead of the Creator

There is absolutely no doubt that democracy, the British legacy of the Capitalist system and its judiciary is based on kufr while calling towards it and ruling by it is absolutely haram. The basis of democracy is neither election nor consultation rather it is the delegation of sovereignty and the right to legislate to humans. Thus, it is not surprising that in spite of having clear commands in Shari'ah, Riba is still lawful in Pakistan, not covering in public is not a crime and supporting America in killing Muslims is perfectly legitimate. All this were made possible because the 342 gods sitting in the parliament didn't ordain these acts as "haram". According to the constitution of Pakistan, in order to implement the shari'ah in the current democratic setup, first of all the commands of Allah (SWT) and His messenger (saaw) are sent to the parliament in the shape of an application for which various terminologies of the like of "Shari'ah Bill" are coined. As a follow up, 342 lawgivers debate and scrutinize as to what benefit or harm these laws of Allah may bring to the people. And in the end they even go to the extent of contempt of voting upon the laws of Allah (SWT). If one is luck enough, this "bill" is "graced" to become the law of the land by the sovereign permission of these gods. Hadood Ordinance Bill went through the same procedure and when its purpose expired it was changed according to their wishes by using the same democratic method. Is this the status of Shari'ah? Were the Islamic laws in the era of the Khulafah ar-Rashideen also hostage to the majority opinion? Definitely not!! Qur'an explicitly condemns those who give their personal opinions in matters in which Allah and His messenger have already judged; let alone to debate over them or to conduct vote for its acceptance or rejection. Allah (SWT) says in the Qur'an:

وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلاَ مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَى اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمْرًا أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُمْ الْخِيَرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ وَمَنْ يَعْصِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلاَلاً مُبِينًا (الأحزاب: 36)

"It is not fitting for a believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option about their decision: if any one disobeys Allah and His Messenger, He is indeed on a clearly wrong path." [TMQ 31:36]

 In order to make democracy acceptable in the Muslim lands, the imperialist presented it in the garb of Shura (consultation) and elections so that the Muslims may accept it thinking it to be in accordance with Islam. Whilst the reality is that democracy is not just electing a ruler or having Shura (consultation) rather it is installing man as the legislator instead of Allah (SWT). This is why an elected ruler who even takes shura (consultation) but doesn't act upon the majority opinion is never considered a democratic ruler. Hence it is proven that the real basis of democracy is lawmaking based on the majority opinion and this very aspect being contradictory to Islam makes democracy kufr. Islam gives us the system of Khilafah "Caliphate" wherein the Khaleefah implements Islamic laws without the need of any permission or authorization from the Ahl ash-Shura (Majlis al-Ummah); similarly he himself does not have the right to legislate. In the Khilafah "Caliphate" the Khaleefah is also elected by the people and he consults the representatives of the Ummah in order to run the day-to-day affairs of the country however there is absolutely no voting with regards to decision making for the implementation of Shari'ah. As long as we continue to make the majority approval a binding condition for the implementation of Shari'ah, the goal for the implementation of Islam will continue to be a mirage. The need of the hour is that we uproot this hurdle of democracy so that implementation of Islam is made possible.

As for the current capitalist system, which is the legacy of the British Raj, it is absolutely kufr. What could be a stronger evidence than this that today un-Islamic taxes such as the GST and the Income Tax are sucking people's blood; obscenity and vulgarity are being spread under the guise of ‘freedom of expression'; foreign companies are plundering the resources of Pakistan under the name of privatization of public assets; judicial system under the Government of India Act 1935 is committing gross injustice upon the people and above all, man has enthroned himself in place of the Creator as the lawgiver.

Hizb ut-Tahrir has been struggling for the last 55 years against dictatorship as well as democracy and for the establishment of the Khilafah "Caliphate". We demand from the people of power present in the Ummah to pay heed to the Ummah's desire to live under Islam and practically take part in establishing the Khilafah "Caliphate" by providing support and Nusrah to Hizb ut-Tahrir. We also demand that the Ullema and the Islamic parties should openly declare democracy as being kufr without any fear of blame so that the confusion present in the Ummah regarding this very issue may be redressed.

Naveed Butt
The Official Spokesman of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Pakistan