On Friday the 12th of September 2014 Sveriges Radio published an article on their internet site with the title: "Muslims are encouraged not to vote."

The article mentions that Hizb ut Tahrir has distributed leaflets, which encourage Muslims in Sweden to boycott the elections. In the same article, it is mentioned that we have not responded when they tried to contact us. The Islamic position regarding participation in secular democratic elections is well known, but we do not mind repeating it and also stress the following:

It is correct that Islam recognizes representation in ruling. Islam even prescribe that the people gives its representatives powers through elections, and this was also the case in the golden age of Khilafah "Caliphate". Reality under secular systems is different though. In Islam the right to lawmaking is solely for Allah, so when people elect the Khalifah, it is on the condition that he rules with Islam, whereas in the secular systems, one chooses other people to make laws on ones behalf. It cannot and must not be left to people, who are bound by their conditions and interests, to judge what is right and wrong, but this is solely for Allah (swt).

The claim that this will lead to isolation and lack of influence is manipulation and distortion, which is meant to force Muslims to participate in elections. The fact is that you cannot reduce the task of the Muslims in society to participation in elections, because Islam encourages Muslims to engage political in society, but on the terms of Islam.

We appreciate and understand that the mosques play an important role for the Muslim community, but we mean that the encouragement to participate in the elections are built on a wrong understanding of the political reality, the Islamic texts and principles and also the interests of the Muslims. Principles like "The lesser of two evils" or that "interests" could legitimize actions that are otherwise forbidden in Islam, are taken out of context and misinterpreted in an attempt to legitimize this action. The paradox in the use of the principle of "the lesser of two evils" is exactly that the proponents for this also consider democracy as an evil.

We state to Sveriges Radio, that we always vouch for our positions, since they solely stem from Islam and nothing else. Therefore we are, at any time, willing to present and discuss these positions. We further state that democracy and participation in elections under secular ruling systems are forbidden according to Islam, and we encourage Muslims to engage actively in society solely on the basis of Islam. No benefit or interest is greater for the Muslim, than the benefit and the interest of abiding to the commands of Allah (swt).

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Scandinavia