The Islamo-Stalinist

Raziq, one of our commenter-friends, posted this informative analysis of the geo-political and religious dynamics that influenced the ideology of Taqiuddin al-Nabhani, the founder of the Hizb ut-Tahrir.

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The Islamist

Taqiuddin al-Nabhani was an independent thinker and a revivalist. Formerly a Ba’athist (a nationalist Arab Socialist Party), he maintained his Arab centric socialist agenda but presented it in Islamic language by enveloping his Arab super-nation state concept for a super “Islamic” State which must concentrate on the Arab speaking Muslims. He challenged the status quo. He attacked mainstream Islamic beliefs, such as the spiritual dimension of life, as being nothing but a mystic concept influenced by Byzantine beliefs and nothing to do with authentic Islamic teaching, which maintained the that man was purely material in his view.

Some have commented on him being Mutazilite in this regard. The ramification being not recognizing, but rather criticizing the orthodox and Sufi teachings of his heritage such as the famous Sheikh Yusuf al-Nabhani the orthodox Shafi’I and Sufi.

Nabhani was critical of the ‘irrational’ dogma of Sheikh Yusuf and considered along with orthodox Islam’s other beliefs in God ability to intervene in natural laws for the sake of righteous (karamat), and Sufism as a whole – all of which was influenced the Persian and Hellenic culture. He was not afraid to challenge orthodox doctrine, such as the faith in Islamic eschatological beliefs such as purgatory in the grave (Azab ul-Qabr) as being contradictory to Quranic teaching; therefore the masses of literature pertaining to the subject should be rejected as ‘isolated’ reports (khabar ahad).

Nabhani was not afraid to criticize all of the scholarly class, he was famous for damning them all as having abandoned God’s judgment and denied orthodox Sunni belief in infallibility of the Muslim nation and the collective weight as scholars (known as the doctrine of Ijma – or scholarly consensus). He considered this superfluous and all of the scholars of his age not only declined, but sinners who had abandoned the apparently obvious obligation to establish an expansionist Caliphate as they had all rejected this ‘religious duty’ and therefore there was no value to the scholarly class (Ulema). He was not afraid in this regard to issue bold Fatawa (legal edicts), whether it was regarding the Islamic validity of suicide bombing, hijacking Israeli planes, using military force to prevent the independence of countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh.

As a Palestinian, a revolutionary ideologue of former Communist mindset, an Arabist and graduate from al-Azhar university – it is easier to understand the influences which made up his originally Arab centric, anti-Israeli, Islamo-communist conception of an Islamist Super-state. His modernist tendencies and criticism of traditional Islamic teaching, and extremist rhetoric and ideology have given rise to many militant extremism movements, not only Palestinian Jihad (Asad Tamimi former leadership member of Hizb ut-Tahrir), Saleh Sirryah of Egyptian Jihad, the assassins of Anwar Sadat the Egyptian president and others.

According to Michel Aflaq (founder of Ba’athism) the best way to unite the Arabs was through their religion and the the best way to take power (nusrah) was through military coups. Nabhani basically mixed these Ba’athist ideas with his interpretation of Islam and created Hizb ut-Tahrir. A movement which wants to come to power through a military coup and impose its version of Islam on everyone. Then it wants to fight a violent Jihad until it has conquered the world, even if millions of Muslims have to die.

So Hizb ut-Tahrir is nothing more than a mixture of Arab Socialism and a medieval interpretation of Islam.