Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Hizb ut Tahrir Muslim Unity Conference blasts Blair attracts 2,000 at London venue under threat government ban

Hizb ut Tahrir Muslim Unity Conference blasts Blair attracts 2,000 at London venue under threat government ban

August 10, 2005

MIM:The article about the Muslim Unity Conference refers to "Muslim leaders" and mentions the Ramadhan Foundation but not Hizb ut Tahrir who organised the event. It is possible that HT is now going under the name of the Ramadhan Foundation, (in anticipation of a ban), like Al Muhajiroun 'disbanded' and regrouped under the name Supporters of Sharia.

This Muslim Unity Conference attracted over 1,000 people.

British resolve to fight terrorism was dealt a blow this August 7th and shows that the UK has not yet cracked down on radical Islamist groups despite Blairs announcement that Hizb ut Tahrir and Al Muhajirioun would be the first to be outlawed. Not only have they held their Muslim Unity Conference, they brazenly demanded that Blair ban far right groups and threatened the government that if Blair didn't "engage in dialouge" "if he was not to alienate a generation" simply put, this is a veiled warning that if Blair does not accomodate Muslims and ban groups like HT Muslim youth will resort to violence.

Note that they threatened the government.

"Shaykh Muhammad Umar, convention chairman, said Mr Blair needed to engaged in dialogue if he was not to alienate a generation..."

Ban racist Right, Muslims tell Blair
By Paul Stokes
(Filed: 08/08/2005)

Muslim leaders urged Tony Blair yesterday to extend his proposed ban on "preachers of hate" to include members of far-Right parties.

The call came in Manchester at Britain's first convention on Muslim unity, attended by 2,000 people.

Opposition was voiced to anti-terrorist measures announced by the Prime Minister in the wake of last month's London bombings.

His plan includes deporting or debarring foreigners who encourage hatred and a ban on radical Muslim groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir and al-Muhajiroun.

But Mohammed Shafiq, of the Ramadhan Foundation, which organised yesterday's gathering, said proscription would serve only to push extremists underground.

The foundation was formed by young British Muslims who say they have lost confidence in their leaders and community representatives.

"We have a right to express ourselves in a peaceful way, but if anybody is inciting hatred then that's wrong and action needs to be taken," said Mr Shafiq.

"I suggest we make a request to Tony Blair that the BNP, National Front, those racist parties, are also banned. If that happens we can talk about it, but we are not going to get that are we?"

The convention observed a two-minute silence for victims of the July 7 bombings and other terrorist attacks.

Shaykh Muhammad Umar, convention chairman, said Mr Blair needed to engaged in dialogue if he was not to alienate a generation. "The youngsters of this country follow [Hizb ut-Tahrir] and listen to them," he said. "If we start banning them, caging them and putting them in prison and isolate them we are not going to get anywhere."

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09338973.htm

Hizb ut Tahrir says British ban widens appeal 09 Aug 2005
Source: Reuters

By Suleiman al-Khalidi

AMMAN, Aug 9 (Reuters) - The radical Islamist group Hizb ut Tahrir said on Tuesday a ban on its British branch would strengthen its appeal to young Muslims disenchanted by what it called Western intolerance towards their faith.

Abu Mamdouh Qutaishat, a leader of the party, said the British action, part of sweeping anti-terrorism measures after deadly London bombings, would make its followers more determined to advocate reviving an Islamic caliphate by non-violent means.

"What the British government is doing against us will only make Muslims more fervent in spreading our beliefs since this war is now exposed as one between the West and Islamic civilisation," Qutaishat told Reuters in an interview in Amman.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Friday Britain would ban the party's British offshoot as part of measures in response to the London bombings on July 7, when four British Muslims killed themselves and 52 others on three underground trains and a bus.

"Let no one forget this is the same Britain which worked with the infidel West for centuries to destroy the caliphate and is now demolishing its own democracy just to prevent Hizb ut Tahrir from expressing its views. This shows deep hatred of Islam and Muslims," Qutaishat added.

A caliph is a successor to the Prophet Mohammad. After Islam's early years, the caliphate was based in Damascus, then Baghdad, Cairo and finally Istanbul after Ottoman sultans took the title. Secular Turkey abolished the caliphate in 1924.

Blair said he wants new powers to expel foreign nationals who incite terrorism, shut mosques breeding "fanaticism" and blacklist clerics, Web sites and bookshops deemed extremist.

The British-based Hizb ut Tahrir is an offshoot of the party set up in 1953 by Sheikh Takieddin al-Nabahani, a Palestinian cleric, whose leadership is believed by experts to be in Jordan.

The party mainly distributes literature calling for Islamic revival as a prelude to a restored caliphate. Its leaders say no truly Muslim state now exists, and reject Western democracy.

Hizb ut Tahrir's followers, disciplined by long years of underground existence, will not be silenced, Qutaishat said.

"The party will not be deterred and will find ways to express its views by any means and continue to engage in the ideological conflict with the West and with even greater zeal to restore the caliphate state," Qutaishat said.

Qutaishat said Britain's behaviour was no better than that of repressive Arab states that outlaw the party, which is active in Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

"The ban goes against capitalist and democratic values in Britain that allows every person to hold his own beliefs. The voice of Hizb ut Tahrir is frightening them," Qutaishat added.

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1716444,00.html

Blair is a liar, say Muslim leaders
By Sophie Kirkham

A RADICAL Islamic group urged more than 1,000 Muslims attending a conference 100 yards from the site of the July 7 bus bomb to join a global campaign to spread the word of Islam.

Speakers for the Hizb ut-Tahrir Party, which says that it is non-violent but is banned in several European countries, said that the crackdown on extremist activity would anger Muslims in Britain.

The group has condemned the suicide bombings in London and urged Muslims to be "decent citizens" under Islamic law and to co-operate with police investigations.

However, Tony Blair was accused of "lies, lies and damned lies" by Muslim leaders who claimed that he was silencing legitimate political expression while befriending Muslim dictators who oppress their people.

The conference, at the Royal National Hotel, in Bloomsbury, was told that Muslims in Britain were living in fear of harassment, arrest and execution after the shooting of an innocent Brazilian man on the Tube. It was said there were fears that Islamic blood had become legal to spill on the streets of London.

A senior member of the party, Abdul Waheed, told the delegates to speak out against British and American foreign policy. "Foreign policy anger is there. There is an attempt here to silence Muslims," he said.

"Go back to your communities and go to your mosques and ask the leaders do they not think there is going to be more frustration in the Muslim community, young and old alike, if the mosques cannot be used to discuss these issues in a calm and rational way.

"If we are not allowed to discuss the actions in Iraq and Afghanistan . . . I fear the frustration builds up more, not less."

Dr Waheed urged Muslims to be "steadfast and brave" and said: "After your hardship there follows ease." Muslims were told to reject calls for them to "defeat the extremists" and were told to stand united on the path to establishing a true state of Islam.

Imran Waheed, the spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain, said the Muslim community had been blamed for the July 7 bombings and that police activity had left the community feeling stigmatised. "If a non-Muslim, innocent electrician can be killed on a mere hunch . . . what fate awaits Muslims if a man with a beard runs on to a Tube with a rucksack?" he asked.

The party campaigns for a government based on Islamic Sharia across the Muslim world but says that this would not be an oppressive regime such as the Taleban.

In Lincolnshire this weekend a Muslim festival attracted more than 4,000 people to hear speakers and pray. Organised by the Islamic Society of Britain, the annual gathering promises a family day out and peaceful lectures but there are reports of a radical tendency among the youth of the society.

Young Muslims have been found to promote jihad on its website calling it "to be a soldier for Allah, devoting your very soul and everything you own to Him".

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