khilafah magazine march 2002

"Everything we had, our home, our pos-sessions, our money, it's all gone," said

Rehmat Bibi, sheltering along with several hundredMuslim families in an Ahmedabad mosque. This wasone description of recent days of rioting and violencein India that have seen Hindu mobs rampage throughtowns, cities and villages slaughtering Muslim men,women and children. Over six hundred people are saidto have been killed according to official sources - thereal number is unimaginable. Indian authorities aresaid to have turned a blind eye to the atrocities...

ContentsDhul Hijjah 1422 · March 2002

KhilafahCover Issue 3 Volume 15

March 2002 Khilafah Magazine 3

Editorial

News from around theworld

Reference

4 magazine

With Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, andthe big fear that an aggressive and powerful Iraqwould come to control more of the world's Oil sup-ply, the Kingdom (under the leadership of King Fahdsince 1982) invited Washington to use its territory asthe launching pad for rolling back Baghdad's occu-pation. Some 700,000 U.S. troops followed. Thiscame as an enormous shock to elements within theSaudi Kingdom. One such element being Osama BinLaden, who had initially lobbied the Royal Family toorganise a popular defence of the Kingdom and raisea force from the Afghan war veterans to fight Iraq.

The 3rd of March this year marked the 78th anniver -sary of the abolition of the Khilafah. The TurkishNational Assembly this day in 1924 finally put an endto the Islamic ruling system. This followed two daysof an intense debate calling for its end lead byMustapha Kemal. After the debate which ended at6.30 am on the 3rd of March, it was soon announcedthat the Greater National Assembly had approved theabolishment of the Khilafah and the separation of theDeen from the state.

In recent years as the tide of the Islamic resurgence inour lands increased in strength, shaking the power ofthe rulers of the Muslim countries and creating awidening gulf between the ummah and the rulers, wehave witnessed the increased use of Islam by ourrulers to justify their positions of power. For exampleon February 5th 2002, President General PervezMusharraf invoked a verse from the Qur'an to claimthat the authority for his rule is a divine authorityordained by Allah (swt).

More recently since the vile Mushrikeen tore down theBabri Masjid under the instructions of the Hindufanatics, after this followed days of riots, thousands ofMuslims who were gathered in mosques after listeningto Islamic speeches made way to their homes in neigh-bouring cities. They were arrested and put in filthyprisons for no reason. When the Muslims asked fordrinking water they were given urine in shoes to drink,and also beaten and humiliated by the police officersto say: "Ram lala ki Jai" (Praise Ram).

In the state of Gujarat in areas such as Ahmedabad,Baroda, Navsari, and most notably Surat, hundreds ofMuslims were killed in a matter of days as a directresult of mob violence.

In Vijay Nagar (Surat) many Muslim women wit-nessed their men folk brutally killed in front of them.In one colony the electricity was cut and large flashlights were turned on towards the women's homes. TheMushrikeen dishonoured your sisters and then usedthese lights to film their attrocity...

Intellectual property, arguably a recentphenomenon and perhaps novel to some, neverthelesshas characterised western economics, multi nationalco-operations and aided western economic colonisa-tion.

In today's debate it seems to have become an indis-pensable tool for the Capitalists in aiding the ideolog-ical, political, socio-economic, & intellectual hegemo-ny as will be argued later...

Those who wish the Ummah to accept submissionbefore US hegemony have sought to amend Islam sothat it does not exceed the boundaries set by Blair andBush. They carry the old call of "modernism". Theywould have us accept the Western way of life becausethe West is strong. Such a call is in fact just one partof the crusade against Islam that is being waged underthe guise of a "war against terrorism". The mod-ernisers who sit in the courts of Blair and Bush and atthe feet of the tyrant rulers in the Muslim countriessuggest that Islam can change from time to time, andfrom place to place.

The fact that Umar (ra) transformedhis personality should show us that each one has thepotential for change. The story of Umar (ra) providesthe believers with hope and instills within us the driveto seek perfection.

Abdullah ibn Masood said of him, "We are still noblesince Umar's Submission to Islam." He also said"Umar's Submission to Islam was a conquest, HisMigration was a victory, His Imamate (Khilafah) wasa blessing, I have seen when we were unable to pray at"the house" (Ka'ba) until Umar submitted, when hesubmitted to Islam he fought them (the antagonisticidolaters) until they left us alone and we prayed."

1. IMF or bust

2. Saudi enters into Middle East peacegame

3. “Please sir; can I have some more?”

4. Blair, An American Conservative inAfrica?

5. India and Russia - Invited to the feast

6. Musharraf and Bush - just good friends

7. House of al-Saud - The Bastions of Kufr

8. The Word of Truth…

Muslim villagers fleeing firebomb attackare electrocuted by murderous Hindus

The Contract ofRuling in Islam 20The 78th Anniversary

of the abolition of the Khilafah

8

5

A shift in relationsbetween America & Saudi Arabia

11Refutation ofIntellectual Property

The Life of Umar ibnal Khattab 13

A Cry of Iman fromIndia15

Imam Shafi did notchange Islam accord-ing to changing timesand places

19

magazine

22

February 2002 saw the publication of anew book called "Jihad", written bythe now well-known journalist Ahmed Rashid. As thecover says, the book explains, "The roots of funda -mentalist rage in central Asia…and suggests ways thisthreat can be neutralised." As an account of the politi-cal events in the region this is probably one of themore detailed pieces available. However it goes fur -ther, adding views on jihad, inaccurately describingthe Islamic political party Hizb ut Tahrir, and criticis-ing its aims. It complains about a lack of detailed pol-icy and highlights the danger of the Hizb changing itsways, before finally concluding that Islam is not thekey to resolving the areas problems, but rather...

The Secularists Jihad 17

Government bolstersIndian hegemony 26

6

Khilafahmagazine

EditorDr Imran Waheed

Editorial BoardJalaluddin PatelAbdul Hamid JassatTaji MustaphaDr Baber QureshiFouad Hussein

Editorial AdvisersDr Abdullah RobinWalid GubaraAmmar ZalloomAsif KhanAhmad JassatHassan Mujtaba

No Copyrights

Since Islam rejects copyrights and patents you arefree to reproduce articles contained within thispublication. It is our kind request that when doing

so you cite the author and source of the article.

Translation of the Qur’an

It should be perfectly clear that the Qur’an is onlyauthentic in its original language, Arabic. Since per-fect translation of the Qur’an is impossible, theterm ‘Translation of the Meaning of the Qur’an(TMQ) has been used, as the result is only a crudemeaning of the Arabic text.

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Khilafah Magazine March 20024

EditorialKhilafah Magazine · www.khilafah.com · [email protected]

Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatahu,

"Everything we had, our home, our possessions, ourmoney, it's all gone," said Rehmat Bibi, shelteringalong with several hundred Muslim families in anAhmedabad mosque. This was one description ofrecent days of rioting and violence in India that haveseen Hindu mobs rampage through towns, cities andvillages slaughtering Muslim men, women and chil-dren. Over six hundred people are said to have beenkilled according to official sources - the real numberis unimaginable. Indian authorities are said to haveturned a blind eye to the atrocities and Indian policeare said to have taken part in the slaughter.

This is not the first time in recent history that theMuslims of India have been butchered at the handsof the mushrikeen of India. In 1992 Hindu mobsdemolished the sixteenth century Babri Masjid, vow-ing to replace it with a mushrik temple. Some twothousand Muslims were killed in the aftermath of itsdestruction. Thousands of Muslims who were gath-ered in mosques were arrested and put in filthy pris-ons for no reason. They were beaten and humiliatedby the police officers and made to say, "Ram lala kiJai" (Praise Ram - a Hindu idol).

In Delhi, Muslims were terrorised by chants saying,"Maro, Maro in Musalmano ko, aaj koi nai bachega"(Kill, Kill the Muslims, none of them will survivetoday). During Eid al Adha last year the idol wor-shippers burnt the Qur'an in full view of the world'smedia near the United Nations Building in Delhi.Muslim families living in non-Muslim areas are ter-rorised into donating money for Hindu temples andfestivals. In August 2001 a mosque in the village ofAsind in Rajasthan state was destroyed. Then themushrikeen placed the idol of "Hanuman" or themonkey-god in the remaining ruins of the razedmosque. Following this the mushrikeen burnt fourcopies of the Qur'an.

The impotence of the Indian government in dealingwith these bloodthirsty zealots comes as no surprisegiven their historical and doctrinal animositytowards Islam and the Muslims. Similarly the impo-tence of the rulers of the Islamic lands comes as nosurprise given their history of cowardice, treacheryand capitulation. Rulers who were not moved by theslaughter of the Muslims of India before, the rape ofMuslim women and the destruction of the House ofAllah (swt).

True to the spirit of betrayal, the government ofMusharraf announced that it viewed the events inIndia as an internal matter of law and order, therebyabandoning the Muslims of India. Why does thegovernment persist in such a weak stance before allmanner of Hindu transgression when boldness is theneed of the time? Their behaviour is far beneath whatis required of leaders of Muslims. When Raja Dahirand his Indus Delta pirates fell upon Muslims in 712CE, Hajjaj bin Yusuf, the Wali of Baghdad, turned toKhalifah al-Walid bin Abdul Malik for permission.Al-Walid did not ask for restraint by dismissing it as

an internal matter. Muhammad bin Qasim was dis-patched with six thousand cavalry and six thousandarmed cavalry drivers. He faced an army severaltimes this size and defeated them.

The worshippers of idols were taken from the dark-ness of idolatry to the light of Islam and its system oflife. Islam forbade the forcible conversion of theHindus to Islam, the insulting of their beliefs and theviolation of their property and their honour.Muhammad bin Qasim told the administrators of theKhilafah, "Deal honestly between people and thestate. Fix taxes according to the ability of the peopleto pay."

So who is there who will protect the Muslims ofIndia from the savagery, oppression and tyranny ofthe mushrikeen therein? Who is there who willdefend the honour of the Muslim women? And whois there that will maintain the mosques of Allah (swt)with security?

The answer is in this simple reality - Muslims in theentire Indian subcontinent owe their existence to theboldness and courage of the statesmen of theKhilafah and their future security and prosperityrequires no less than this.

Dr. Imran Waheed


Reference

BJP failure demonstrates ethnic fragility of India

BJP's humiliating defeat in crucial mid-termpolls, inspite of weeks of anti-Pakistan sabre-rattling designed to incite Hindu fundamental-ist fervour, demonstrates the fragile nature ofIndian society and the failure of democracyand Hinduism in holding together its variousethnic and religious groupings.

BJP came to power on the back of its conflictwith Pakistan in Kargil. Its February electioncampaign involved a similar strategy withmass troop movements and humiliatingdemands from Pakistan on the matter ofextradition. In spite of Musharraf's shamelesscomplicity, the BJP was unable to muster sup-port from a disenfranchised population. Fromthe Muslims of Assam to Kashmir, from theTamils of Sri Lanka to the Sikhs of Amritsarand the Untouchables throughout India, manyare disaffected by the Indian polity. This is tes-timony to the failure of democracy andHinduism as unifying forces.

Neither democracy nor Hinduism deserveany role in the India subcontinent. Islam alonehas proven throughout the world its ability tomelt people's of different races and creeds asa productive whole. In fact, although theHindus today try to present Muslim rule inIndia as just another form of imperialism, thereality is that the best time for ethnic cohe-sion and harmony in the Indian subcontinentwas under Muslim rule.

www.khilafah.com.pk26 February 2002

This article has been quoted from the British paper The Independant

Muslim villagers fleeing fire-bomb attack are electrocutedby murderous Hindus

The cement homes in the narrow cul-de-sac on theedge of the village stand open today, ready for theirowners to return, to light a wood fire in the kitchen,turn on the small television on a shelf in the cornerand bolt the door. But after what happened here earlyon Saturday morning, no one believes the Muslimlabourers of Sadarpur will come back.

The assault began soon after 2am. I was told that10,000 people (likely to be an exaggeration), fromsurrounding Hindu-majority villages descended onSadarpur and in little more than one hour slicklyeviscerated this little community of about 140Muslims.

Tree branches and lengths of concrete sewer pipingwere dragged across access roads to stop army andpolice reaching the village. When the thugs arrivedthey flooded the dead-end lane with water, then elec-trified the water with cables hooked up to the mains.They clambered on to the low roofs of the houses,smashed holes in them and hurled in petrol bombsand Calor gas cylinders that exploded inside, drivingthe residents out into the lane. There, many wereelectrocuted. Their bodies were dragged back intothe houses to burn.

Others fled out of back windows into fields. Somegot away, others were hunted down and incinerated.Some were sheltered in homes of sympatheticHindus in the village, but the marauders trackedthem down and butchered them. At least 28 men,women and children died.

"Now it's not possible for Muslims to stay here," aHindu living near by says flatly.

Fifty kilometres (30 miles) away, in the majority-Muslim village where the survivors have found shel-ter, one of them agrees. "We decided that we mustleave that place," says MY Pathan, a teacher. "Weleft everything behind, we came with what we werewearing. And we don't want to go back, even to col-lect our belongings."

The Hindu-Muslim violence in the west Indian stateof Gujarat has claimed almost 500 lives in the pastfive days, though senior police say privately the fig-ure may exceed 1,000. The first 58 to die wereHindus, pilgrims returning from Ayodhya, incinerat-ed in their train carriages. But in wave after wave ofretribution that followed, almost all who died havebeen Muslims.The violence spread yesterday to the country's mostpopulous state, Uttar Pradesh, where Hindus andMuslims clashed. While arsonists continued to attackMuslim homes and businesses in Ahmedabad, the

state's commercial capital, yesterday, Gujarat wasstruggling to come to terms with the fact that thesenew waves of murder and destruction have been dif-ferent from anything the state has seen before.Across Gujarat, Hindu militants are seizing theopportunity to kick-start a programme of brutal com-munal cleansing.

Like many of last week's victims, the Muslim labour-ers of Sadarpur were extremely vulnerable: theirsimple homes are notably smaller and more primi-tive than those of the Hindus who surround them onthree sides. But until last week, such exposure meantnothing. As well as a temple, the village has a size-able mosque, and a higher-caste Muslim communityliving close to it.

Hindu-Muslim riots have broken out almost everyyear in Gujarat - the fountainhead of Hindu national-ism - but they have been confined to the big cities.With the killing of the Hindu pilgrims lastWednesday, a new era arrived. A Hindu hotel clerk inAhmedabad said: "Now each and every Muslim is atarget."

There was rumour of trouble in Sadarpur on Fridayevening. Mr Pathan says: "We were told some peo-ple will attack. So we called the police." An officerand five constables showed up, distributed blandassurances and went away again.

Far from being an outburst of communal frenzy, thiswas a surgical strike, carried out with military ruth-lessness and discipline. All the bodies had beenremoved when The Independent visited the site, butevidence of the massacre was all around: the hugepuddle in the lane, anomalous in this parched zone; aburnt-out jeep; bags hastily half-packed for flight;and in home after home, beds where victims haddied, burnt out, nothing left but the charred frameand a stinking black spongy mess on the floor.

Yet there was no looting here. Televisions situntouched. Shiny galvanised food dishes are stillneatly aligned on sideboards. The murder of 28 peo-ple in Sadarpur - one survivor claims the true figureis 55 - followed precise instructions.

In Sawala, where 20 survivors from Sadarpur havetaken refuge, I spoke to GM Bahelim, a teacher.about the Muslims' future. Hindus from surroundingvillages have destroyed crops in Sawala, stolen buf-falo and vandalised wells, but only two men havedied. Mr Bahelim is bleak. "India is our country, ourmotherland. But the BJP [the Hindu nationalists whorule both in Gujarat and, in a coalition, at the centre]want the Muslims of India to go to Pakistan. Theydon't want to give us any protection. They are saying,'If you want to live in India, become our serfs'."

By Peter Popham in Ahmedabad04 March 2002

From International Media

News


From Around The World

IMF or bust

In the beginning of February, PresidentMusharraf made assurances to seniorIMF officials that he and his administra-tion were in the process of making cur-rent political and economic reforms(such as trade liberalisation, tax reformsand privatisation of state-owned compa-nies) irreversible, even after the Octoberelections.

It has been reported that, Musharraf toldseveral officials including HenriGhesquiere, the funds senior residentrepresentative in Islamabad, that "neces-sary legal requirements" were beingcompleted to protect all of the politicaland economic decisions of the govern-ment, and that these could not bechanged or challenged in any court oflaw.

It was pointed out by Musharraf, him-self, that his government had been tak-ing bold and unpopular decisions with aview to removing distortions from theeconomy. Sources said Musharraf andhis government would like to ensure thatthe development strategy benefited thecommon man and revived economicgrowth.

Musharraf made assurances to theseofficials of the IMF as it is the IMF thatdictates the economic policy of anycountry that it loans money to.Theoretically, the money that has beenborrowed is infused into the economyand aids economic growth, the rewardsof which are then used to improve thegeneral condition of the nation, and leadto greater foreign investment as thenation's economy gains confidence.However, if one analyses the economicreality of Pakistan one sees a complete-ly different picture. The country has anexternal debt of £38 billion (2000 esti-mate), 50 percent of the annual budgetgoes towards debt repayments and of theremaining amount the majority goestowards defence, leaving a small amountto be spent internally. On top of thesefigures, Pakistan's imports outweigh herexports, so each year the country movesfurther into debt.

In light of these startling figures, onewonders how Musharraf expects toimprove the situation of the 40 percentof Pakistan's population that are livingbelow the poverty line.

For Musharraf to make assurances forthe implementation of such cripplingpolicies, which are Haram in Islam asthey are interest based, is another evi-dence of his subservience to the West.

Mohammed Ashifuddin.

Saudi enters into Middle Eastpeace game

For years the Muslims have refusedrecognition to the state of Israel, and thesincere sons and daughters fromamongst them have exalted the rejectionof any peace over the land stolen by theKuffar and given to the Jews.

Now Crown Prince Abdullah, the defacto ruler of Saudi Arabia, has enteredthe game in an overt fashion, it seemswhatever remained of Yassir Arafat'scredibility as a leader able to manufac-ture a peace deal has disappeared afterhis house arrest, so the Americans haveentered the 'prince' as their new pawn. Indoing so a new danger looms for theMuslims to be wary of, for they havepotentially granted the Israelis a boonthey have long sought, this being recog-nition as a legitimate state by the Arabstates. Bush has already praised the ini-tiative as has Javier Solana, foreign pol-icy chief of the EU. "Mr Solana wouldlike to hear from Crown Prince Abdullahthe ideas he has in mind," an EU spokes-woman said. The PLO of course contin-ue to serve by endorsing the new pro-posals also and Sharon too is eager totake this opportunity that has arisenthrough the total discrediting of Arafat atthe hands of the Israeli military. In factIsraeli President Moshe Katsav offeredto fly to Saudi but was refused as part ofthe Saudi brokered plan is for Israel tofirst remove itself from Gaza and theWest Bank, and the Saudis desire thisfirst before any permanent move ismade.The Muslims must recognise and rebuffthis new deception by the Americans toaid her Middle East wild card in herquest for recognition and peace. Thedeployment of Saudi Arabia in this roleis a sinister development as it adds bothweight and legitimacy to the peaceprocess that was lacking with the PLOand places pressure on the other Arabstates to follow suit and recognise Israel.Perhaps most twisted of all is that itbrings an apparent Islamic legitimacy tothis agenda of Kufr. Notorious foravoiding any type of political sermon,Saudi Arabia's grand mufti, SheikhAbdul Aziz al-Sheikh addressing overtwo million Hujjaj on Mount Arafat,criticized the state of Israel in an unchar-acteristic political attack allowed by theSaudi regime, labelling Israeli actions as"injustice, aggression and terrorism".Whilst this was a novel style of Khutbapermitted by the Saudis it creates greatpressure upon the Israelis to conform tothe Saudi proposals, a dangerous newstrand to push the surrender Masjid al-Aqsa and its vicinities.Dr Baber Qureshi

“Please sir; can I have some more?”

"We have to beg", said the Qatari for-eign minister, Hamad bin Jasim al-Thani. Though superficially it may haveappeared that he was making a random,enthusiastic statement about 'OliverTwist', he was, quite worryingly, tryingto propose a solution for the Arab-Israeliissue. This was during a recent commenton the lack of success that the Arabregimes have had in affecting US policyin this area. He continued, "The word'beg' disturbs me, but begging is theright word, for the Arabs don't possessthe power, and their situation doesn'tallow them to exercise any pressure infavour of the Palestinians."

In the true spirit of sell-out politicians,his statement had nothing at all to dowith Islam. Muhammad (saw) nevertook the help of the Kuffar in this way,and Allah (swt) has forbidden it for allthe believers;

"Let not the believers take the disbeliev-ers as helpers instead of the believers,and whoever does that will never behelped in any way" [TMQ Al-'Imran:28].

Rather we should turn to Allah (swt) forguidance on how to solve the Israeliissue, and follow it to the letter.

It is not befitting for the great IslamicUmmah to extend its hand to the Kuffarfor help. It wasn't because Allah (swt)didn't grant the Muslims the greatest ofpower, wealth and guidance that wehave entered into this situation; forced totake out the begging bowl. Rather it wasdue to the complete lack of political willof the Muslims' rulers; the ones that arein bed with the West, and who have soldIslam and its Ummah for a cheap, cheapprice. It is they that make this Ummahweak, and it is their fault that they areunable "… to exercise any pressure infavour of the Palestinians." This is onlyanother example of that lack of will anddetermination.

"But Allah has full knowledge of yourenemies: Allah is sufficient as a protec-tor and Allah is sufficient as a helper"[TMQ An-Nisa: 45].

Dawud Masieh

Blair, An AmericanConservative in Africa?

Blair just can't get enough of his secondterm. Domestically he was initiating thatwell known innovation, 'Private, PublicInitiatives', or just simple 'privatisation'in the words of Thatcher. Not stopping atthis lack of thought and established fail-ure, he is now trying to revive the con-cept of the 'Marshall Plan' on the foreignfront in Africa.

Nepad (New Partnerships for Africa'sDevelopment), dubbed the 'MarshallPlan for Africa', will set about trans-forming the economy and government inthe African countries. It has been hailedby some of the African premiers, as thefinal hope for Africa.

The question is, was the hailed Marshalplan, actually a success, and for whom?The Marshall plan, which involved avast transfer of resources from the US tothe bombed-out post-war economies ofEurope, ensured that the Europeaneconomies became dependant onAmerica, and gave America the exclu-sive right to interfere with them. Henceit served the purpose of further subjugat-ing Europe.

The reason for the survival of someEuropean countries lies in their corruptbut well established political and eco-nomic institutions. What will result froma 'Marshall plan' for countries that haveno developed political or economicinstitutions to safeguard them?

Allah (swt) said:

"The devil promises you destitution(poverty), and bids you to conductunseemly" [TMQ Al-Baqarah: 268].

Should Blair's plan be executed it wouldenslave these countries and theireconomies and the governments wouldfind themselves directly tied to theBritish economy and its interests.

Allah (swt) says:

"The wrongdoers followed that by whichthey were surrounded with luxury"[TMQ Hud: 116].

It appears as though the colonial mastersdid not lose their taste for the blood ofthe sons of Africa. As they look for astronger presence in the area, this couldonly spell further problems for the trou-bled people of this continent.

Adil Jan

News


From Around The World

The Word of Truth…

A Muslim schoolgirl called PrimeMinister Blair a "liar", when he defend-ed the US bombing of Afghanistan. TheMuslim News reported that Mr Blairtold 1,500 pupils at Westminster'sMethodist Central Hall that the peopleof Afghanistan regarded the British andAmerican military intervention as a "lib-eration". But a 16 year old girl, takingpart in the annual Westminster Day, tointroduce youngsters to politics, shoutedfrom the gallery: "They don't! Theydon't!" Other members of the audiencemurmured in support for her. The girlremarked: "They clapped when I toldthe Prime Minister that he was lying."

This incident is a cause for celebrationand for shame for the Muslim Ummah.It is a celebration because a 16 year oldMuslimah did not fear for anythingexcept Allah, when she spoke the wordof truth, in this most hostile of environ-ments. She fulfilled the command ofAllah (swt), and His Messenger (saw)who said a noble Hadith: "Let not thefear of people prevent one of you toutter the truth when he sees it (i.e. seesthe munkar) or hears it" [Bukhari andMuslim]. In another authenticatedHadith: "The best Jihad is the Word ofTruth in front of the tyrant ruler."

This is all a great reason for us to rejoicethat there is the like, in today's Ummah,of Summayah bint Khayyat, who spokethe words of truth to the tyrants ofMakkah.

The reason for shame is that so many ofthe rest of us remain silent. Certainly, wemay hear anger against the west, butwhere are the brave lions who shouldspeak such words to the tyrants, andagents who sit in the positions of powerin the Muslim world. Indeed, it is a fur-ther indictment of these puppet rulers inthe Muslim countries that they failed tosay what a 16 year old has said.

Unless the Ummah at large heeds thecommands of forbidding the munkarlike this young sister of ours we havemuch to fear.

Imam Ahmed, Tabarani, Al-Hakim, andAl Baihaqi narrated on the authority ofAbdullah bin Amr that Allah'sMessenger (saw) said:

"If you see my Ummah afraid oftelling the oppressor: You are anoppressor, it is farewell to theUmmah."

Dr. Abdul Wahid

Al-Saud - The Bastions of Kufr

Al-Saud's subservience to the vanguardof Kufr, America, appears to know nobounds.

Seeking the appraisal of Kuffar and thewrath of Allah (swt), it has earnestlyrelinquished any honour in being thecustodian of the two holy mosques forthe bastions of Kufr. Ironically, even inthis noble month of Dhul-Hajj, heroblivion of the rituals of Hajj ispoignantly apparent.

Prince Abdul Majid, the governor ofMecca and head of the central Hajj com-mittee, on Saturday 9th February toldthe Okaz daily newspaper, "We will notallow the manipulation of Hajj this yearbecause it is a season for worship…Saudi Arabia will not allow the Hajj tobe used to denounce the United States."

In a yet further unprecedented manoeu-vre, it was reported that eye-scanningand fingerprinting devices had beeninstalled at nearby Jeddah Airport, in adrive to tighten security amid 'terrorism'fears. Individuals selected randomly andconsidered "suspicious" among the hun-dreds of thousands of Muslims arrivingwill be taken aside to have their irisesdigitally scanned.

On the last day of Hajj, Saudi Arabia'sgrand mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, attempted to appease the Arabsby criticising Israel's killing of unarmedPalestinians. This was a gesture devoidof any credence as he chose verbal con-demnation, which is the only attack thatwill never harm the Israelis. However,he did not criticise US policies or theMuslim governments for their apathy.

It would seem that the Saudi regime isoblivious to the fact that the very ritualsof Hajj are an ostensible and vociferousdenouncement of Kufr. What else couldbe the significance of the Hujjaj stoningthe shayateen in emulation of theProphet Ibrahim (as)? As for allegationsconcerning manipulating the Hajj, al-Saud's very creation and existence todayis akin to nothing other than betrayalagainst Allah, His Messenger (saw) andthe Islamic Ummah!

Rather than al-Saud emulating ProphetIbrahim (as) and throwing stones (oraiming their missiles) at America, oremulating the Messenger Muhammad(saw), it persists in its unstinting servi-tude that characterises the entire notori-ous family of rulers reigning over theIslamic Ummah today!

Sha'ban ul-Haq

India and Russia - Invited to the feast

The American cronies in New Delhi,have signed a defence agreement withRussia, and are on the verge of buying a4,4000 tonne Kiev class aircraft carrierfrom them. This accord is in the wake ofan agreement with the British to buy £1billion worth of war equipment. Why arethe Kuffar so eager to arm the Hinduregime up to the hilt?

Jaswant Singh, the Indian foreign minis-ter, trying to calm Russian fears of USpresence in the region, exposed theIndian government's motives, sayingthat the US presence was ''part of theinternational coalition of forces, notonly in Afghanistan but in centralAsia…"

All of this shows that the Kuffar, led bythe US, are building India into theregional power, to underpin her interestsin the area. Ari Fleischer, a Whitehousespokesman said, "... and as the globalcampaign continues, the President urgesall who support that effort to assist India,as India deals with the problem ..."

The US wishes her agents in New Delhi,helped by the criminal regime inIslamabad, to spearhead phase 2 of hercrusade against Islam, against theMuslims of Kashmir. Thus we see thosenations clambering to be part of thisfeast, to attack the Muslims throughoutthe region and the world at large. Atopof arming India the Kuffar have alsosent to them their elite special forcesinto Kashmir that they may finally sub-vert any resistance, both the US DeltaForce and British SAS are operating inoccupied Kashmir.

The Prophet Muhammad (saw) warnedus of the descent of the Kuffar upon usand of their plans to subjugate us andplunder our lands. He has said, "Thenations will gather against you like thosewho are invited to feast while they arestarving." The Sahaba asked theProphet, "Is this going to occur becausewe are few in number?" The Messenger(saw) replied, "No you will numbermany but you will be like the froth thatfloats on the flood waters. Your enemieswill no longer be scared of you andWahan will be in your heart". TheSahaba then asked, "What is Wahan?"The Prophet (saw) replied, "It is the loveof this life and the hatred of death?"[Sahih - Sunan Abu Dawud]

Asif Khan

Musharraf and Bush - just good friends

Promising closer ties between theUnited States and Pakistan, PresidentBush on Wednesday 13th Februaryhailed Pakistan's president, Gen. PervezMusharraf, as a leader of "great courageand vision" and praised him for hisassistance in the US-led war on terror -ism.

To return the complement Musharrafcomforted Bush saying, "I can assureyou that my government is committed tothe continuance of our friendship. Afriendship based on principles, commongoals and vision." One should ask whatgoals and principles could be sharedwith a regime that has declared war onIslam and attempts to subjugate theweak all over the world.

Musharraf's statement is far from thepromise he gave to the Muslims ofPakistan a month ago. Where is hisempty rhetoric of "Pakistan first" and"Pakistan's national and strategic inter-ests"? He has obviously forgotten hisobjective already. His goal and visionseems to now be from the eyes ofAmerica, and he is bending over back-wards to achieve them. PerhapsMusharraf has ambitions of acquiringthe Nobel Peace Prize for the spilling ofMuslim blood in Kashmir.

Does the General still not recall thenumerous times that he has been letdown by these very people he callsfriends? Was he not public enemy num-ber one when he took position via a coupd'tat? Did America not promise toresolve Kashmir if he allowed planes toleave from air bases in Pakistan to bombAfghanistan? In return for his trust theyhave allowed India to be armed to theteeth while using him to clamp down onthe Mujahideen in Kashmir.

Musharraf conveniently forgets thewords of Allah (swt):

"O you who believe, take not the Jewsand Christians as Awliyah (friends, pro -tectors and helpers), they are butAwliyah of each other. And if anyamongst you takes them (as Awliyah),then surely, he is one of them. VerilyAllah guides not the wrongdoers" [TMQal-Maidah: 51].

Ruksana Rahman


he 3rd of March this year marked the 78thanniversary of the abolition of theKhilafah. The Turkish National Assemblythis day in 1924 finally put an end to the

Islamic ruling system. This followed two days of anintense debate calling for its end lead by MustaphaKemal. After the debate which ended at 6.30 am onthe 3rd of March, it was soon announced that theGreater National Assembly had approved the abol-ishment of the Khilafah and the separation of theDeen from the state.

By 1924 large parts of the Muslim world had beencut off from the state and even physically occupiedby Western Colonialists such as Britain, evenIstanbul was under British occupation. Britain thenwent about creating new states in the Arab and otherareas.

During that occupation Britain stipulated her condi-tions to recognise Turkey in the Laussanne confer-ence in November 1922, these were: The total abol-ishment of the Khilafah, the expulsion of theKhalifah beyond the borders, the confiscation of hisassets and declaring the state's secularisation. Thesuccess of the conference rested on the fulfilment ofthese four conditions.

On the 3rd day of March 1924 Mustafa Kemal abol-ished the Khilafah and on that night sent an order tothe governor of Istanbul stipulating that the KhalifahAbdul-Majid should leave Turkey before the dawnof the next day; so he went with a garrison from thepolice and the army to the Khalifah's palace in themiddle of the night and the Khalifah was forced toclimb aboard a car that took him through the borderstowards Switzerland, after he had been supplied witha suitcase containing some clothes and some money.

Two days later, Mustafa Kemal gathered all thethrone's princes and princesses and deported themoutside the country. All the religious functions werecancelled and the "Awqaf" (endowments) of theMuslims became the property of the state, and thereligious schools were turned into civil schoolsunder the auspices of the education ministry.

Therefore, Mustafa Kemal fulfilled the four condi-tions which Lord Curzon, the British ForeignSecretary had demanded in 1922. On the 8th March1924, Ismat Pasha, Turkey's foreign minister andhead of the delegation, sent a letter to the conferencerequesting the resumption of negotiations, and theAllies agreed. On 23rd April 1924, the conferencewas reconvened and the conferees agreed on thepeace terms. The Lausanne Treaty was signed on24th July 1924, the states recognised Turkey's inde-pendence, and Britain evacuated Istanbul and thestraits.

Back in London, when a British MP protestedagainst Curzon in the House of Commons for recog-nising Turkey's independence Curzon answered himby saying: "The point at issue is that Turkey has beendestroyed and shall never rise again, because wehave destroyed her spiritual power: the Khilafah andIslam."

This was in brief how the Khilafah was destroyed; itwas the last part of a campaign that began centuriesearlier with the missionary invasions in the Muslimlands and a campaign that took advantage of theUmmah's decline. It was as a result of this declinethat the Muslims had forgotten their priorities or vitalissues from Islam and despite their huge numbers didnot even defend the Khilafah.

This intellectual weakness began in the fifth centuryHijri when some scholars called for the phasing outof ijtihad. This signalled the downfall of the State.Although there were still some mujtahideen left,intellectual weakness had already taken root and thisaffected the State enormously. Disintegration begancreeping in and the State waned. By the time the cru-saders came the State was in no position to repel thedanger.

The State became engaged in continuous battles withthe crusaders, which were to last for two centuries.The crusaders emerged victorious at first and man-aged to occupy parts of the Islamic State, then theState managed to recapture the occupied land andvanquish the crusaders. Rule and authority weretaken over by the Mamluks who neglected theArabic language and the intellectual and legislativeside of ruling. The door was slammed in the face ofijtihad and the understanding of Islamic conceptsweakened considerably, as a result. Scholars wereforced to content themselves with taqleed (imitation)and the ailment worsened. This, however, onlyaffected the State from within, since the Stateremained strong and its international standingremained intact. The Islamic State remained a super-power feared by all other nations, occupying thelargest and strongest part of the inhabited world atthe time.

The 'Uthmani State took over control of most of theIslamic world. In the 9th century Hijri (15th centuryCE) it united the Arab lands under its rule and itsdominion stretched over wide areas of land. The'Uthmani State concentrated on its military mightand the expansion of its authority as well as theglamour of its rule and power. It also concentrated itsefforts on the conquests and neglected the Arabiclanguage despite the fact that it is essential in orderto fully understand Islam and one of the conditionsnecessary in order to effect ijtihad.

The 'Uthmani State never paid attention to Islamfrom the intellectual and legislative point of view,consequently its level of intellect and legislativeability dropped dramatically. Its strength was super-ficial due to this intellectual and legislative ailment.At the time, this weakness was not noticed by theIslamic State because it was at the prime of its gloryand at the height of its power and military might. Itused to measure its ideology, legislation and culturewith that of Europe and at this time it found itselfsuperior in every respect. This comparison reassuredthe State and served to make its weakness seem bothbearable and negligible. At that time Europe was stillplunged in total darkness, chaos and unrest. Europeattempted to launch a renaissance but it failed eachtime. The 'Uthmani State was in a much better situa-tion compared with Europe and as a result it vieweditself as being superior in culture and in its system ofruling, which led the 'Uthmani State to ignore theinternal malaise that it was suffering from. Thus, itunfortunately failed to notice its intellectual stagna-tion, legislative misadministration and the fragmen-tation of the Ummah.

What turned the 'Uthmani State's attention from

The 78th Anniversaryof the abolition of

the Khilafah

T


internal problems was its sweeping victory overEurope - its seizure of the Balkans and theSoutheastern part of Europe. This victory sent ashock to the rest of Europe and everyone becameresigned to the fact that the Islamic army could neverbe defeated and that nobody could ever successfullyface the Muslims. This was when the orientalist ideabegan. Its meaning then, was to abort the danger ofthe 'Uthmani invasion headed by Mohammed al-Fatih, this was in the 9th century Hijri (15th centu-ry). The invasion continued until the end of the 11thcentury Hijri under the leadership of Sulayman al-Qanuny. The conquests were concentrated up untilthe middle of the 12th century Hijri (18th century)during which time the continuity of the struggleremained a major source of strength to the IslamicState. The strength of the 'aqeedah of the Muslimsand the specific concepts that they carried - althoughthose concepts were not clear in their minds - hadgiven the State a great moral boost and this helped tomaintain that military might. Additionally, the pres-ence of the Islamic ruling system, despite its misad-ministration contributed to the continuity and superi-ority of the Islamic State.

At that time the Islamic State could have attemptedto understand Islam properly and could have devot-ed much more effort to the teaching of the Arabiclanguage and the encouragement of ijtihad. The Statecould have devoted more effort to the intellectualand legislative side so that it established a strongfoundation with which to launch its conquests whilemarching on a strong footing with sound concepts.This would have enabled the State to conquer the restof the world in the name of Islam. The State wouldhave been in a position to strengthen its structure andflood the world with the Islamic culture and in theprocess save the world from corruption and mischief.However, none of this actually happened.Encouragement of the Arabic language was limitedto giving the Arabs a few teaching posts and otherminor positions of jurisprudence, which had littleeffect on improving the knowledge of the Arabic lan-guage and had no effect in awakening the intellect.

In order to revive the Arabic language the Stateshould have made it the official language, as itshould always have been in the Islamic State, but thiswas not carried out. Again, because nothing wasdone on the intellectual and jurisprudent (fiqhih)fronts the feeble and misguided efforts of the Stateresulted in the status quo continuing and the Stateremaining on the same wrong track. As soon as thesecond half of the 12th century Hijri (18th century)came the trend was reversed and the internal weak-ness became apparent because the State was foundedon the remains of the Islamic system which wasadministered in the incorrect fashion and on con-fused concepts, some of them Islamic and othersalien to Islam. The rule as a whole was more withinthe Islamic system's milieu rather than being anIslamic system itself. This was due to the lack ofunderstanding of the Islamic concepts and also to themisadministration of the Islamic ruling systembecause of the lack of ijtihad and mujtahideen. In the13th century Hijri (19th century) the scales of histo-ry swung between the Islamic State and the non-

Islamic countries. The awakening of Europe had justbegun and its results became evident, meanwhile theconsequences of the intellectual stagnation coupledwith the misadministration of the Islamic systemfinally caught up with the Muslims.

The possibility of once again taking up the intellec-tual leadership in the world was still there. The'Uthmani State was an Islamic State, Islam was the'aqeedah of the State and its system, the concepts ofIslam were its concepts and the Islamic viewpointabout life was its viewpoint. It should have in factlooked into the new concepts that were emergingfrom Europe and measured them against its own ide-ological criterion. Then it should have studied thenew problems from an Islamic perspective and givenits verdict on those concepts and problems with thehelp of adequate ijtihad according to the Islamicviewpoint. Finally, the validity of such conceptswould have to be judged.

But the State did none of this simply because theIslamic concepts were not clear to it, it did not haveany specific concepts because it did not take theIslamic 'aqeedah as an intellectual foundation onwhich all the concepts were based, it was only a tra-ditional 'aqeedah for it. The basis on which the Statewas founded, which was the 'aqeedah and concepts,was not clear to the 'Uthmani State and the systemwas also idle due to the absence of ijtihad. The cul-ture, which can be considered as the host of conceptsconcerning life, was not crystallised and was notlinked to the State's actions. This led to the intellec-tual decline and put a halt to progress. As a result ofall this they were taken aback by the intellectual, cul-tural and industrial revolution they witnessed inEurope, however, they did not react for they couldnot come to a decision about whether to take whatEurope had achieved or not. They could not differ-entiate between what is allowed to be taken of scien-tific inventions, discoveries and industry and what isforbidden to be taken from a particular philosophy,since a philosophy determines the viewpoint aboutlife, and culture, which represents a group of con-cepts concerning life. Therefore they froze and theydid not react and it was this, which led to the stagna-tion of progress while the European progressiongathered momentum. All this was in turn caused bythe lack of a proper understanding of Islam by fail-ing to realise the contradiction between the Islamicconcepts and the European ones. Another cause wastheir failure to distinguish between science, industryand inventions, which Islam encourages Muslims toacquire, regardless of the source, and the philosophy,culture and ideology, which can only be adoptedfrom Islam.

The 'Uthmanis did not properly understand Islam, itwas not at all clear in their minds. Such short sight-edness led the Ummah and the State to the adoptionof a casual life to which little attention was sparedtowards the system. Meanwhile its enemies heldonto a specific system and carried it out. Europebecame the holder of an ideology, regardless of itscreed whereas the Islamic Ummah who held theright ideology lived in the shadow of that ideology.That ideology, however, seemed distant and a thing

of the past because the Ummah lived in a State wherethe ideology was not flourishing. Despite the factthat the Messenger of Allah (saw) said, "I have leftwith you two things if you held to you would nevergo astray, the Book of Allah and my Sunnah" anddespite the fact that the State was Islamic and theUmmah was Muslim, and despite the fact that theintellectual and fiqhih wealth was available andaccessible to everyone, the State did not grasp themeaning of that hadith and did not take the necessarysteps to go back to the roots of Islam the 'aqeedahand the system. The State did not make use of thiswealth, a wealth that no other nation possessed orpossesses.

This wealth from Islam was much ignored, evenafter the abolition of the Khilafah, the Kuffar hadcreated new secular nations for the Islamic Ummah,and the many Muslims simply got on with the task ofbuilding them, not realising the danger in doing so.However this scenario was not to last long, within ashort period some Muslims had realised the error andbegan to reverse the state of affairs. But by now theKhilafah had been destroyed, new societies had beencreated in its wake and many Muslims had beentaken in with the new direction of the states based onnationalism, patriotism and separation of religionfrom politics even though Khilafah had been theirstate and the state without which they would neverhave become Muslim in the first place.

The Muslim Ummah was caught unaware of the dan-gers of such culture, earlier on they began resistingand fighting the physical occupation of their landswhilst embracing the Western culture, which was thereal reason behind the occupation taking root in theirlands. The sad irony is that Muslims, while alleged-ly turning their backs on the foreigner and fightingthe occupation, welcomed the West with open armsand drank from its poison until they collapsed, wearyand lifeless; one would think them casualties of war,alas they were in fact victims of ignorance and mis-guidance.

What did they actually seek? A state based on otherthan Islam? Or several states on Muslim land? TheWest, since becoming the effective ruler, had alreadygiven them several states; completing therefore itsscheme of keeping Islam out of government, divid-ing the Muslim land and giving the Muslims a trivialand facade rule. From time to time, the West createdfor Muslims a new state, and it was more than will-ing to give them even more as long as they held onto Western principles and concepts.

The point at issue is not establishing several states,but one single state over the whole of the Muslimworld. And not establishing any state, nor a state thatcalls itself Islamic but rules by other than what Allah(swt) has decreed; nor a state calling itself Islamicand implementing Islamic Laws without carryingIslam as an intellectual leadership. The crucial pointat issue is not the establishment of such pseudo-Islamic states, but of a single state which wouldresume the Islamic way of life based upon theIslamic 'aqeedah, implement Islam within societyafter this was deeply rooted in the peoples' hearts and


minds, and would carry the Message of Islam to thewhole world.

The Islamic State is not a dream, nor is it a figmentof the imagination, for it had dominated and influ-enced history for more than thirteen hundred years.So, it is a reality, it has always been and always willbe. The vital elements of its existence are far greaterthan can be ignored or fought against by anything oranyone; the enlightened people have adopted it andit is the wish of the Ummah, which is eager for theglory of Islam. The Islamic State is not a desire thatone aims to satisfy, but an obligation that Allah (swt)has decreed on Muslims and commanded them toexecute. He (swt) warned of the punishment await-ing those who neglect this duty.

The evidence that the appointment of a Khaleefah isobligatory upon all Muslims is in the Sunnah and theIjma'a (consensus) of the Sahabah. As for theSunnah, Nafi'a reported saying: " 'Umar said to methat he heard the Prophet (saw) saying: 'Whosoevertakes off his hand from allegiance to Allah (swt) willmeet Him (swt) on the Day of Resurrection withouthaving any proof for him, and whoso dies whilstthere was no bay'ah (allegiance or a pledge) on hisneck (to a Khaleefah), he dies a death of jahilliyah.'" So the Prophet (saw) made it compulsory uponevery Muslim to have a bay'ah on his neck, anddescribed whoever dies without a bay'ah on his neckthat he dies a death of jahilliyah. The bay'ah cannotbe for anyone except the Khaleefah, and the Prophet(saw) made it obligatory upon every Muslim to haveon his neck a bay'ah to a Khaleefah. Yet he did notmake it an obligation upon every Muslim to givebay'ah to a Khaleefah. The duty is the existence of abay'ah on the neck of every eligible Muslim, i.e. theexistence of a Khaleefah who accordingly deserves abay'ah upon the neck of every Muslim. So it is thepresence of the Khaleefah, which places a bay'ah onthe neck of every Muslim, whether the Muslim gavea bay'ah to him in person or not.

Not only is the Islamic state or Khilafah obligatoryfor the Muslims to have, it is vital for the safeguard-ing of the Muslims and Islam. Since the removal ofthe Khilafah the Colonialists established leaders inthe Muslim world who agree to their every demand.We then saw the creation of Israel, India and the sell-ing of many lands from the Muslim world. Last yearsaw the entrance of America in Central Asia, The1990's saw the complete American take over of theMiddle-east, and also the horrific ethnic cleansing ofMuslims in Bosnia, followed by more atrocities inAlbania and Kosovo. These though were not uniqueexamples of horrors for they have been happeningeverywhere in the Muslim world ever since theKhilafah was abolished.

He (saw) said:

"The Imam is a shield behind whom the Muslimsfight and by whom they protect themselves".

If the Muslim Ummah, had in the past, lived in acountry which did not stretch beyond the ArabianPeninsula, and which at that time numbered only a

few millions, and despite that when she embracedIslam and carried its Message she represented aworld superpower in the face of the two major campsat the time, whereupon she struck them both simul-taneously, conquered their lands and spread Islamover almost the whole of the inhabited parts of theworld at that time, then what are we to say about theUmmah today - numbering more than one billion,spread over countries that are geographically linkedtogether - if she were a single country, stretchingfrom Marrakesh to India right up to Indonesia, occu-pying the best part of the world in terms of resourcesand strategic points, and carrying a single ideologywhich is the only correct ideology in the world? Shewould undoubtedly form a front, which would bestronger than any camp, in every domain.

It is therefore the duty of every Muslim to work fromthis moment on in order to establish the greaterIslamic State, which would convey the Message ofIslam to the world. Ones work should start by carry-ing the Islamic da'wah with the aim of resuming theIslamic way of life in all the Muslim countries; con-centrating ones practical scope in one country orsome selected ones in order to achieve the point ofsupport so that this serious task can be resumed.Such a cause with its high objective, which theMuslim should aim to achieve by treading this prac-tical and clear path and which he must follow, shouldbe worth enduring all types of hardship and shouldbe worth sparing no effort for. One should rely onAllah's help, seeking no reward for it except to gainthe pleasure of Allah (swt).

He (swt) said:

"And Allah has full power and control over HisAffairs, but most men know not." [TMQ Yusef: 21].

Al-Hamdu lillahi Rabbil a'alameen.

Asim Khan

Excerpt from www.khilafah.com

Black Hawk down the biggest Lie

The latest US propaganda film, Black HawkDown, is the biggest screening of an illusionsince the infamous Osama Video. Thesedeceptions are designed to keep theAmerican Public blind to the real motivesbehind US Foreign Policy. The US Publicbought the notion that the War inAfghanistan is a war against terrorism. Theybought the notion that the Gulf War was torestore the legitimate government of Kuwait.They are now being resold the notion thatoperation restore hope, in Somalia, was mere-ly a humanitarian mission. The film was pro-duced with the assistance of the pentagon.Understandably it overtly aids the furtheringof American foreign policy objectives. BlackHawk down is not about artistic expression,historical analysis or even about entertain-ment and it is definitely not about the truth. InJanuary 1993 a report appeared in the LosAngeles Times, under the heading "The oilfactor in Somalia; four American petroleumgiants had agreements with the Africannation before its civil war began. They couldreap big rewards if peace is restored". Thissuggested that the US was not interested inHumanitarian efforts (for which she was act-ing far too late in any event). Rather she wasinterested in the vast reserve of oil, whichConoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips(American oil giants) had discovered there atthe time of the rule of pro-U.S. PresidentMohamed Siad Barre. This was before he wasoverthrown in Jan 1991 and the countrythrown into civil war. In fact Conoco went asfar as providing the housing for the USembassy and the headquarters for the USmarines…

The rest of the article detailing the savageacts committed by America against the civil-ian population and the manipulative rewritingof history for propaganda purposes can beread at "www.khilafah.com."

Abu Musab 24 February, 2002 www.khilafah.com


fter more than two continuous months ofan unjust and destructive war waged byAmerica against the Muslims ofAfghanistan, she has succeeded in restor-

ing her influence and control over Afghanistan, andhas overthrown its rulers and uprooted the Islamicorientation from it. Pentagon sources indicate mili-tary bases springing up in as many as 13 locations innine countries neighbouring Afghanistan, substan-tially extending the network of bases in the region.Altogether, from Bulgaria and Uzbekistan to Turkey,Kuwait and beyond, more than 60,000 U.S. militarypersonnel now live and work at these bases. Whilethese bases make it easier for the United States toproject its power, they also increase prospects forrenewed attacks on Americans. One such area wherethe U.S. presence has motivated hostility amongstthe local population is the Desert Arab Kingdom ofSaudi Arabia. This article looks at the debate that'staking place in Congress and amongst Saudi officialsabout the United States-Saudi relationship, and thepresence of U.S. bases in the region.

Historical Background & the GrowingOpposition to the Saudi Regime

With Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, andthe big fear that an aggressive and powerful Iraqwould come to control more of the world's Oil sup-ply, the Kingdom (under the leadership of King Fahdsince 1982) invited Washington to use its territory as

the launching pad for rolling back Baghdad's occu-pation. Some 700,000 U.S. troops followed. Thiscame as an enormous shock to elements within theSaudi Kingdom. One such element being Osama BinLaden, who had initially lobbied the Royal Family toorganise a popular defence of the Kingdom and raisea force from the Afghan war veterans to fight Iraq.As the U.S. troops began to arrive, Bin Laden open-ly criticized the Royal Family, lobbying the SaudiUlema to issue fatwas, against Kuffar being based inthe country.

After the war, Riyadh agreed to maintain some20,000 U.S. troops on its soil. It also permittedscores of U.S. warplanes and pilots to be based at thePrince Sultan Air Base, where Washington hasinstalled a state-of-the-art command centre that cov-ers virtually the entire Middle East, Gulf and CentralAsia regions. Bin Laden's criticism escalated afterseeing the U.S. troops remaining, and eventually thecontinued criticism of the Saudi Royal familyannoyed them so much that they revoked his citizen-ship in 1994. However, the growing criticism andopposition to the Saudi regime (at the time) did notdie away. The Saudi regime rounded up and arrestedhundreds of suspected government opponents fromSunni Islamist opposition groups and subjected themand others to torture and ill treatment (according toreports published by Amnesty International in 1994).

In August 1996, Osama Bin Laden had issued hisfirst declaration of Jihad against the Americans

whom he said were occupying Saudi Arabia. "TheWalls of oppression and humiliation cannot bedemolished except in a rain of bullets", the declara-tion read. In the February of 1998, at a meeting inAfghanistan, Al'Qaeda issued a manifesto underaegis of "The International Islamic Front for Jihadagainst Jews and Crusaders". The manifesto stated;"For more than seven years the US has been occupy-ing the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, theArabian peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating toits rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing itsneighbours, and turning its bases in the peninsulainto a spearhead through which to fight the neigh-bouring Muslim peoples." The meeting issued afatwa targeting Americans.

On August 7th 1998, two explosions took place thatrocked the U.S. one of which was at the Americanembassy in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya and theother at the American embassy in Dar-es-Salaam, thecapital of Tanzania. Inside the Persian Gulf areaitself, attacks on the Khobar Towers Complex (inSaudi Arabia) and the destroyer U.S.S. Cole inYemen all added to the increasing pressure on theSaudi regime, and its U.S. masters.

More recently, in a series of rulings in Septemberand October 2001, Shaykh Hammoud bin Uqla al-Shu'aybi declared, "Whoever supports and backs theinfidels against Muslims is considered an infidel."The Shaykh is from Buraydah, a town north ofRiyadh that has been a hot bed of religious opposi-tion to the Royal family for over a decade now.Similar fatawa issued by Shaykh's Al-Wan and AliKhudayr rule that those supporting the US waragainst Afghanistan, "by hand, by tongue, or bymoney", are automatically excommunicated fromIslam (i.e. become apostates). Other fatawa referspecifically to the country's rulers as "infidels".These rulings demonstrate a growing rift betweenthe House of Saud and elements of the Wahhabi sectestablishment. They indicate that cracks are emerg-ing in the 256-year illegal (Kufr) pact between theHouse of Saud and the followers of Muhammad bin'Abd al-Wahhab (1703 -1793

A Need for Prudence in the Persian Gulf

In the debate about the U.S. / Saudi relationship,there are growing indications in Congress andreportedly among Saudi officials that a reduction ofAmerican military forces in Saudi Arabia is politi-cally inevitable. A force reduction, rather than com-plete withdrawal, is likely as America assess herinterests. It is in this light that we must understandthe recent comments issued by Riyadh. "It is the mil-itary presence the Saudi's see as inimical to theirinterests", said a Riyadh-based diplomat, who spokeon the condition that he is not identified. The conflictappeared to have heated up in the days after the ini-tial comment by the Riyadh-based diplomat, SenatorCarl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed ServicesCommittee, when he suggested that the United Statespull its troops out of Saudi Arabia. On the heels ofLevin's remarks, an anonymous Saudi official told

A shift in relations between

America & Saudi Arabia

A


the Washington Post that the U.S. would be asked toleave because it has "overstayed its welcome."Judging by the media coverage, much of the U.S.and international political establishment was takenaback to learn that Saudi Arabia is considering ask-ing Washington to withdraw its military presencefrom the Kingdom. To people who are politicallyaware and understand the international situation andhave political experience, the story comes as littlesurprise. In 1997, a group affiliated with the Councilon Foreign Relations, and with General Joseph P.Hoar, former Commander in Chief of the UnitedStates Central Command, as co-chairman, recom-mended reassessment of the configuration ofAmerican forces in Saudi Arabia and cautionedagainst maintaining a visible, permanent presence,since that presence can be readily exploited by ene-mies of the U.S. to inflame Arab sentiments againstthe Saudi government and the United States. AsCharles W Freeman, a former U.S. ambassador andfrequent visitor to Riyadh, told the Washington Postrecently, "For the first time since 1973, we actuallyhave a situation in which the United States is sounpopular among the (Saudi) public that the Royalfamily now thinks its security is best served by pub-licly distancing itself from the United States." Hencewe can see clearly, under the circumstances, the co-operation with the United States, once considered tobe a military guarantee for the Saudi regime, is now,being seen as a source of political weakness byRiyadh. Riyadh certainly does not want to be "used"in a potential operation (and extension of the war onterror) against Iraq for fear of a mass uprising with-in the country, which is already simmering with dis-content.

It is clear to see for any observer, that while theSaudi's benefit from American military protection,their own interests, and nothing else drive the UnitedStates presence in the region ultimately. The U.S. isa Capitalist nation, and hence bases all its actions onthe basis of expediency (i.e. interest and benefit).America's military strategy and interest in thePersian Gulf has always been as much about denyingcontrol of oil to enemies (e.g Soviet Union duringthe Cold War era) as assuring the flow of oil to theWest. As well, its occupation of Saudi Arabia afterthe Gulf War in 1991, provided the U.S. with strate-gic "depth" in its ability to use Saudi territories andairspace at will to launch attacks against what it nowdubs are an "axis of evil" states. From the reality,there is no other country in the region where the U.S.forces can be deployed at such an extent. BothRiyadh and Washington view the alliance as neces-sary to preserve regional stability. Also, Washingtonhas always had a close military and intelligence rela-tionship with Riyadh, which has bought more than$50 billion in U.S. arms and construction contractsover the past 20 years with the hundreds of billionsof dollars it has earned as the world's biggest Oilexporter. Hence it should be understood that the U.S.and the Saudi monarchy need each other and thatthere aren't any alternatives to each other at the pres-ent time. Any harm to Saudi rule would be harmfulto American interests. The U.S. is simply protectingits strategic and economic interests by entertainingthe thought of altering policy in the Gulf.

Wider Political Implications of theapparent U.S. -Saudi rift

After the attacks on Afghanistan, the U.S. senses thatits ally (the Saudi monarchy) is weakened politicallyat home, and is suffering from a waning of populari-ty. The fact that the Saudi's are seen to have proposeda withdrawal of U.S. troops will add to the credibili-ty of interim leader Crown Prince Abdullah (who isthe heir apparent after the death of King Fahd, whichmay happen any time soon since he suffered from aspate of paralysing strokes a few years back).Abdullah is supported within Saudi Arabia by theyoung, educated Saudi's because he has not beentainted by scandals. The Islamists also find Abdullahrelatively more acceptable for the same reasons aswell as for his moderate attitude towards them. So, aU.S. withdrawal, albeit limited, will strengthen theSaudi monarchy somewhat at home, as the opposi-tions primary demand was that the Americans shouldleave the "Holy Lands".

Regarding what is needed

America deals with the Islamic lands as if they areher own farms. She deals with the rulers of theMuslims as her servants, even as her slaves.

The destruction of the Islamic orientated regime inAfghanistan is not the first aggression of Americaagainst the Islamic Ummah. Yesterday she hit Iraqand she has laid siege to it since then. She also hitLibya and laid siege to it. She helped the Jews tosteal Palestine and to expel its people and she con-tinues to hep them. She occupies Saudi Arabia andimposes upon the Gulf her hegemony so that sheplunders the Oil and the wealth from their treasures.

America is the true enemy to the Islamic Ummah.Her allies who share with her in the aggressionagainst the Islamic Ummah or who support her inthis aggression like the English and the French andothers, are true enemies to the Islamic Ummah.

It is incorrect to treat the enemy as a friend. It is onlythe fool who treats the enemy as a friend. And theresult of doing so will be evil.

Allah (swt) advised us by saying:

"Shaytan is an enemy to you, so you have to take himas an enemy" [TMQ Fatir: 6].

Our rulers should treat America and those who sup-ported her as an arrogant enemy. The Muslim rulersmust abolish any military or political treaties andexpel all military forces and close down all their mil-itary bases. They must also close down their waters,lands and spaces to entry or passage from any of theenemy states so that it makes it harder for the enemyto launch strikes against Muslim lands. They havealso to break off any influence and remove any agentor spy for these states in the Islamic lands such asthose existent in Al-Azhar and the American

University of Beirut. This position is required fromevery ruler in the Islamic lands, not only from theruler of the country that is the target of aggression.This is because Muslims are one single Ummah. TheProphet (saw) said: "The Muslims are like thebody, if one of its members complained, the othermembers will respond in sleeplessness and fever".So aggression against any Islamic land is consideredan aggression against all Muslims.

It may be said that the Muslim rulers will not imple-ment any of these actions. It is therefore a duty uponall Muslims to undertake the work to replace theserulers with the system of Khilafah. It is error andcomplacency in the obligation to leave in powerthese puppet, vicious rulers who govern with Kufrand implement the policies of America or other Kufrcountries. Such a ruler, who has in his control thearmy, the police, and all the forces and institutionsand in whose hand lies the implementation of thelaws, the funds of the country, who is occupying theseat of power. It is haram to leave in power such aruler who is spreading corruption in the land, andprotecting the influence of the Americans and theirallies, and to distract oneself from that by challeng-ing a little of the Kuffar's influence.

Can the Islamic peoples change their rulers? Yes,definitely. America and its allies will never be able toprotect the despicable puppet ruler from his people,particularly when such a ruler is a coward who pro-tects his own interests and the interests of a foreigndisbelieving country.

"And We wished to do a favour to those who wereweak (and oppressed) in the land, and to make themrulers and to make them the inheritors and give thempower and hold on earth" [TMQ Al-Qasas: 5-6].

Hayder Ali Khan


The Life ofUmar ibn al

Khattabbu Huraira said, The Messenger of Allah(saw) said: "People are like mines ofsilver and gold; the best of them in thedays of Ignorance (jahilliyah) are the

best of them in Islam when they attain knowl-edge" [Muslim, Mishkat].

When looking at this hadith many people will ask,'How is it possible for the best in jahilliyah tobecome the best in Islam?' The hadith is describingthe reality of people and their radical transformationafter committing themselves to Islam. Many exam-ples of this can be seen when looking at peoplearound us who were involved in acts of jahilliyahsuch as organized crime, drugs, alcohol, etc. Thesesame people radically changed their behaviour andbecame Islamic personalities and active DawaCarriers.

There are some from amongst the Ummah, who findit difficult to see beyond their own defects and can-not see the potential for change within themselves.The example of Umar ibn al Khattab (ra) shoulddemonstrate to us all no matter what our errors are orsituation we are in, we all have the potential forchange.

Ibn Umar (ra) narrated that the Prophet (saw) said:"Oh Allah strengthen Islam with whoever is morebeloved to you, Umar ibn al Khattab or Abu Jahlibn Hisham."

The fact that the Prophet (saw) made dua for thesetwo staunch enemies of Islam demonstrates to us thathe could see the potential within these two forchange. At this time Umar ibn al Khattab was one ofthe most venomous opponents of the Prophet (saw)and the Muslims. He was from amongst the nobilityof Quraish and an ambassador for Jahilliyah. Hispersonality was one filled with arrogance and pride.He had buried his two daughters alive. Worst of allwas the fact that he was a Mushrik. His shallowthought made him one who would make Gods out ofdates, later on in life Umar reminisced "We used tomake Gods from dates, and used to eat them at nightwhen we were hungry". It was once said about him,that, "His Donkey will embrace Islam before he

would." Compare ourselves to him before his accept-ance of Islam; do we hate Islam? Would we everconsider burying our daughters alive? Do we associ-ate partners with Allah (swt)? Would we think ofkilling the Prophet (saw)?

No! However Umar ibn al Khattab did all of theseyet after his acceptance of Islam he became one ofthe best of the people. Ibn Abbass (ra) said that theProphet (saw) said: "There is no Angel in the heav-en that does not respect Umar and there is noshaytan on the earth but that he is afraid ofUmar."

Uqbah ibn Amir (ra) narrated that the Prophet (saw)said: "If there were to be a Prophet after me itwould be Umar" [narrated by Abu Sa'id al Khudri,Ismah ibn Malik and Ibn Umar].

Abu Sa'id al Khudri narrated that the Prophet (saw)said: "Whoever is angry with Umar is angry withme, whoever loves Umar loves me. Allah (swt) glo-ries in the people on the evening of Arafah gener-ally and glories in Umar particularly. Allah hasnot sent a Prophet except that he put among hisUmmah an inspired man and if there is one suchin my Ummah then it is Umar.” They said,"Prophet of Allah, How inspired?" He said, "Theangels speak by his tongue."

In Sahih Al-Bukhari, the Prophet (saw) said: "WhileI was sleeping I saw myself in paradise. Thenthere was a woman making wudhu by the side ofa palace. I said: 'Whose is this palace?' They said:'It is Umar's.' I remembered the jealousy of Umarand I turned to leave. Then, Umar cried and said:'Could I be jealous over you, Messenger ofAllah?'"

Umar's Acceptance of Islam

The story of Umar's conversion to Islam is one,which provides us with an example of how theIslamic Aqeeda can transform an individual instanta-neously. Anas (ra) narrates that Umar went out wear-ing his sword, and a man from Bani Zuhrah met himand said 'Where do you intend going? He said 'I want

A

Behind the deception

Power bestowed by God, says Musharraf

MUZAFFARABAD, Feb 5: President GenPervez Musharraf invoked a verse from theholy Quran on Tuesday to claim divine author -ity for his rule. His remarks appeared aimed atcountering criticism of a crackdown onextremist groups launched last month.

"I tell these people, who have become thecustodians of Islam or who think that theyunderstand Islam better, that it is AlmightyGod who gives honour or authority to any -body," Gen Musharraf said in an address tothe AJK Legislative Assembly.

This is our faith that God almighty gives hon-our to whoever He wants and snatches hon-our from whoever He wants. If this is our faiththen God Almighty has brought me to thisposition.

"This position, this authority has beenbestowed by God and as long as I hold thisauthority, and whatever work I am doing withfull responsibility, all Pakistanis should haveconfidence in that because this is our faith,"

General Musharraf - Reuters

his mother, orphan his children and widow his wifethen let him meet me behind the valley. Not one ofthem followed him."

Conclusion

Umar fought in many battles alongside the Prophet(saw), he was one of the delegated assistants (mu'aw-in tafweed) of the Prophet (saw) and a pillar of soci-ety. After the death of Muhammed (saw), and AbuBakr as Siddique (ra) he became one of the greatestof the Khulafah ever to have ruled this Ummah.

The fact that Umar (ra) transformed his personalityshould show us that each one has the potential forchange. The story of Umar (ra) provides the believ-ers with hope and instills within us the drive to seekperfection.

Abdullah ibn Masood said of him, "We are still noblesince Umar's Submission to Islam." He also said"Umar's Submission to Islam was a conquest, HisMigration was a victory, His Imamate (Khilafah)was a blessing, I have seen when we were unable topray at "the house" (Ka'ba) until Umar submitted,when he submitted to Islam he fought them (theantagonistic idolaters) until they left us alone and weprayed."

Ubayy ibn Ka'ab narrated that the Prophet (saw)said, "Gibreel said to me, Let Islam weep over thedeath of Umar."

May Allah enable us to achieve what Umar (ra)achieved. Ameen.

Forid Miah and Abid Khan

He cried at the top of his voice 'ibn al Khattab hasconverted!' They ran upto me; I was hitting themthey were hitting me; people gathered around me…Icontinued to hit and be hit until Allah strengthenedIslam."

Abu Dharr narrated that the Prophet (saw) said:"Truly Allah (swt) has placed the truth upon thetongue of Umar, it speaks by him."

Al Farouque - The Distinguisherbetween Truth and Falsehood

Mujahid, on the authority of Ibn Al-Abbas relatedthat he had asked Umar bin Al-Khattab why he hadbeen given the name of Al-Farouque, which meanswho he who distinguishes truth from falsehood, hereplied: "After I had embraced Islam, I asked theProphet (saw): 'Aren't we on the right path here andHereafter?' The Prophet (saw) answered: 'Of courseyou are! I swear by Alla h in Whose Hand my soulis, that you are right in this world and in the here-after.' I, therefore, asked the Prophet (saw): 'Why wethen had to conduct our activity in a clandestine wayi.e. not in a open provocative manner'. The Prophet(saw) replied: 'I swear by Allah Who has sent youwith the Truth, that we will leave our concealmentand proclaim our noble cause publicly.' We thenwent out in two groups, Hamzah leading one and Ithe other. We headed for the Mosque in broad day-light when the Mushriks of Quraish saw us, theirfaces went pale and got incredibly depressed andresentful. On that very occasion, the Prophet (saw)attached to me the name of Al-Farouque."

Ibn Abbas, May Allah (swt) be pleased with him andHis father, said, 'When Umar accepted Islam theMushrikeen (idol worshippers) said, "The peoplehave been split in half from us today', and Allah(swt) revealed:

'O Prophet, Allah is enough for you, and whoeverfollows you from the believers' " [TMQ Al-Anfal: 64]

Suhaib (ra) said "When Umar (ra), accepted Islam hewas open about it, he invited people to it openly; wesat around the house in Halaqaat (circles), we madeTawaf around the House."

Umar's (ra) strong personality from his days ofjahiliyyah was now utilized for the carrying of theDawa and for the strengthening of Islam.

His Emigration (Hijra)

Ali (ra) said, "I don't know of anyone who didn'temigrate in secret except for Umar ibn al Khattab;because when he wanted to emigrate, he strapped onhis sword, put his bow over his shoulder, carried hisarrows in his hand and came to the Ka'aba where thenobles of Quraish were in the courtyard, he per-formed seven Tawaf (circuits) and then prayed twoRakah at the Makaam (station) of Ibrahim (as), thenhe approached their circle, one step at a time andsaid, 'What ugly faces! Whoever wishes to bereave


to kill Muhammed' He said 'How will you be safefrom Bani Hashim and Bani Zuhrah if you havekilled Muhammed?' He said 'I can only believe thatyou have converted.' He said 'Shall I show yousomething astonishing? Your brother in law and sis-ter have converted and abandoned your deen.' Umarwalked on and came to the two of them whileKhabbab was with them. When he heard the soundof Umar he hid in the house, and then he (Umar)entered and said 'What is this murmur of loweredvoices?' They had been reciting Surah Taha. Theysaid, 'Nothing but simple conversation which wewere holding', he said 'Perhaps you two have con-verted?' His brother in law said to him 'What if thetruth were outside of your deen? So Umar leapt uponhim and struck him severely, his sister came to pushhim away from her husband and he struck her a blowwith his hands so that blood flowed from her face.Then she said and she was angry 'And if the truthwere outside of your deen? She paused and then said'I witness there is No God but Allah and thatMuhammed is the messenger of Allah! Umar said'Give me the writing which you have and I will readit, his sister said to him 'You are dirty and no onereads it but the purified (so stand and bathe yourself)He stood and performed wudhu and read Surah Tahauntil he came to

"Verily, I am Allah there is no God except me so wor-ship me and establish the prayer for myRemembrance" [TMQ Taha: 14].

Umar then said "Show me the way to Muhammed(saw)…"

After Umar (ra) embraced Islam, he was immediate-ly transformed into a dawa carrier characterized byfrankness, courage, strength and thought.

It has been narrated that after Umar (ra) embracedIslam the Muslims said 'Allahhu Akbar' so loudlythat it was heard in the valleys of Makkah. Umar (ra)said once speaking about his past, "I did not wish tosee a man striking and being struck that I experienceit myself and none of that touched me. I went to myuncle Abu Jahl ibn Hisham, who was of the nobility,and knocked on his door. He said 'Who is it?' I said,'Ibn al Khattab and I have converted.' He said, 'Don'tdo it,' and slammed the door on me. I said, 'This isn'tanything,' and went to one of the great ones ofQuraish, called out to him and he came out to me. Isaid to him the same as I had to my uncle he said tome the same as my uncle had said to me, andslammed the door on me. I said, 'This isn't anything,the Muslims are being struck and I am not beingstruck.' A man said to me, 'would you like youracceptance of Islam to be known?' I said, 'Yes'. Hesaid, 'When people were sitting in the Hijr, go to soand so, a man who cannot possibly keep a secret, andsay to him, just between yourself and him, I haveconverted, for it is very rarely he has ever concealeda secret. I went and people had already gathered inthe Hijr. I said, just between me and him, 'I have con-verted.' He said, 'Did you really do that?' I said, 'Yes.'


A Cry ofIman fromIndia

ear participants of this unique confer-ence. Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatul-lahi wa barakatuhu! We send you thewarmest greatings from India, and pray

your gathering is a source of success and will takeus, your brothers, away from our suffering.

The Prophet (saw) said: "The Muslims are like onebody in their mutual mercy and compassion toone another, if a one part suffered, the rest of thebody reacts with sleeplessness and fever".

Today this body of the Ummah is sufferring! Wewrite to you from just one part of this body, India,knowing full well that there are peoples like us inmany parts of the world who have an equal right to acall for protection, and indeed there are some whoare in a far worse situation than we are.

We are a people who have not lived a day of happi-ness for many years. Living under the tyranical ruleof the Sharrul Barriya, and living under the torturesof the as-hab al ukhdud.

Dear Conference Participants! Most of India isMuslim Land, it was conquered by Mohammad binQassim in 711 CE and within 3 years the whole ofSind and lower Punjab were brought under theIslamic rule. The might of the Muslims was tremen-dous, their authority was resolute, yet they treatedthe people with justice, Mohammad bin Qassim said,"Deal honestly between people and the State. Fixtaxes according to the ability of the people to pay."

After this Islam spread across the Indian subconti-nent, in 724 to 743 the Khilafah conqured the regionsof Kashmir. And during 754-75 under the 'AbbasidKhalifah Abu Ja'far Al-Mansur, Kandahar was

opened and efforts were made to consolidate andspread the frontiers of the Khilafah state in the IndianSub Continent.

It was between 786 and 809 CE, during the Khilafahof Harun ar-Rashid that the Islamic Army extendedthe frontiers of Sind westwards into Gujarat (nowpresently in India). It was during this time thatMuslim soldiers settled down and new cities startedto flourish. From this time onwards, large numbersof the Indians were lifted from their baseless socialcaste structures of disbelief and brought under theshade of global brotherhood. They were guided fromthe darkness of Ignorance and Kufr to the Nur ofIslam, worshipping Allah 'azza wa jall and discard-ing their false idol gods. Islam ruled over most ofIndia for over a thousand years.

This is just a brief account of our history and themanner in which Islam spread. Its justice was unpar-relled, its strength was immense and its deen becamethe authority in this land.

Dear brothers and sisters, dear conference partici-pants! This history is your history it is the history ofthe Arabs and the Turks, our history is intertwineddue to our common aqueeda. Yet this is what theKaafir have worked relentlessly to take away, untilour suffering is unheard, and the suffering of theMuslims of Bosnia is unheard and the screams with-in the Chechen prison camps are unheard and thecries of your mothers in Palestine is unheard.

As for our present day, I will just illustrate to you afew accounts of our life left under the authority ofthe Mushrikeen. Every year Muslims are slaughteredby mobs of Mushrikeen, some of the worst attrocitieswere seen in 1969 where in Ahmedabad hundreds of

Muslims were slaughtered by the disbelieving mobsand aided by the police force. Multiple atrocitieswhere several poor labourers were either burnt aliveor murdered. In some places they were thrown intofires. Scythes, axes, knives and spears were used forkilling people. Muslim Women were dishonoured,children were beaten to death and there limbs weretorn from their bodies.

More recently since the vile Mushrikeen tore downthe Babri Masjid under the instructions of the Hindufanatics, after this followed days of riots, thousandsof Muslims who were gathered in mosques after lis-tening to Islamic speeches made way to their homesin neighbouring cities. They were arrested and put infilthy prisons for no reason. When the Muslimsasked for drinking water they were given urine inshoes to drink, and also beaten and humiliated by thepolice officers to say: "Ram lala ki Jai" (Praise Ram).

In the state of Gujarat in areas such as Ahmedabad,Baroda, Navsari, and most notably Surat, hundredsof Muslims were killed in a matter of days as a directresult of mob violence.

In Vijay Nagar (Surat) many Muslim women wit-nessed their men folk brutally killed in front of them.In one colony the electricity was cut and large flashlights were turned on towards the women's homes.The Mushrikeen dishonoured your sisters and thenused these lights to film their attrocity. May Allah(swt) curse them. These sisters, your sisters werethen killed, in this incident alone there were morethan 150 bodies burnt alive beyond recognition. Andthis happened in many of the Muslim districts.

In 1997 in Tamil Nadu state, Coimbatore majorclashes occurred between the Muslims and fanaticalHindu mobs, their large businesses and Muslimowned supermarkets were looted and billions ofrupees of property were destroyed. The rioters didnot spare the residential areas. At MohammadGanirowthar Street, right behind the B1 police sta-tion, most houses were burnt down. One Muslimbrother stated: "My wife and three children, aged six,three and six months, were in the house when themob set fire to it," said a plastics wholesale mer-chant, whose depot too was burnt with all his stocks."Smoke was coming out from all directions. I madefrantic calls to the police station but there was noresponse. Finally, I took my family to the terrace,scaled the wall and jumped into the next terrace. Bythen, my six-month-old baby was vomiting and otherchildren were already suffocated."

The Muslims, who were victims of these atrociousacts by the Kaafireen, were admitted to the city'shospitals for treatment. However, they were nottreated, rather the doctors with the help ofMushrikeen mobs sliced the bodies with medicaltools and knives many Muslims were cut and killedin hospitals

Just at the beginning of this month (August 2001) amosque in the village of Asind in Rajasthan state wasdestroyed. Then the Mushrikeen placed the idol of"Hanuman" or the Monkey-god in the remaining

D

The following is a letter delivered to 7,000 Muslims inBritain during the conference,

"Pakistan - The Quest for Khilafah". - August 2001


American Values

Abraham Lincoln, in his debate with SenatorDouglas at Quincy, IL. on Oct. 13,1858 andquoted in Abraham Lincoln- Complete Workspublished by the Century Company, 1894,Vol. 1 page 273 stated:

"I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever havebeen, in favour of bringing about in any waythe social and political equality of the Whiteand the Black races-that I am not, nor haveever been, in favour of making voters or jurorsof Negroes - nor of qualifying them to holdoffice, nor to intermarry with White people;and I will say in addition to this that there is aphysical difference between the White andthe black races which will ever forbid theraces living together on the terms of politicalequality, and is as much as they cannot solive, while they do remain together, there mustbe a position of superior and inferior, and I, asmuch as any other man, am in favour of hav-ing the superior position assigned to theWhite race.

ruins of the razed Mosque. Following this theMushrikeen burnt four copies of the Quran.

It was during 'Eid al Adha, this year that the IdolWorshippers burnt the Quran in full view of theworld media near the United Nations Building inNew Delhi.

In Varanasi the mobs chopped the hands off ofwomen, and they were left to bleed to death. In onehouse hold, this horror was witnessed by an 8 yearold son. Imagine his life, having winessed the suffer-ing of his mother. So what about our lives when wehear about such suffering?

My Dear brothers it pains us and embarrases us tonarrate these accounts. But it pains us more when wesee the leader of Pakistan calling for normalisationwith these people. Has Musharraf not received thesereports? Has his intelligence services overlooked thecries for protection from the Muslim women ofIndia? When one Muslim woman was ridiculed bythe Romans in the past she only had to scream "YaMutasima! Ya Khalifah" and the armies came to pro-tect her honour. Where is the great army ofMusharraf, the ones behind Kargil? We fear thatMusharraf only comes to the beconning call ofAmerica, not the Muslims. Indeed it pains us to seethe Muslims of Kashmir will soon be left weak anddefencless in this trecherous peace plan.

It seems our Muslim leaders have forgotten us, butour enemies have not forgotten the possible strengthof the Muslims. Bal Thakarey the leader of ShivSena said "Pakistan need not cross the border andattack India. 25 crore (250 million) Muslims in Indiaare loyal to the Muslims in Pakistan and they willstage an uprising."

He speaks the truth, this border between us meansnothing, it is merely the design of the colonialist. Allthe borders that exist in our lands have been implant-ed there to divide us and defuse our strength.

Dear conference Participants! Dear Muslims! All ofthis is due to the absense of a leader, the Khalifah,who has been ordered to protect the Muslims, TheMessenger (saw) said, "The Imam is a shield. Theyfight behind him they (the Muslims) fight and pro-tect themselves."

It was from you, the Muslims of Britain, that weheard about the call for Khilafah, and today this callis gathering momentum. After study and thought,and after seeing what we have seen, we have realisedthis is the only solution for us and all of the Muslims.

O Muslims!

It was your forefathers that protected the honour ofthe Muslims and carried the Rayat ul 'Uqaab. Theywere the ones who sacrificed all to bring the light ofIslam into your lands, they were lead and motivatedby seeking the pleasure of Allah 'azza wa jall. Does it not move you to hear the genocide thatoccurs to your brothers and sisters not only in India,but the whole world where Muslims live. Can you

bare that President Musharaf openly shakes theblood stained hands of the butchers of Babri Masjid?

Be motivated by the words of the Messenger ofAllah (saw) where he said:"'Isaabataan min ummati ahraza-huma-Allahu minan-naar, 'isaabatun taghzu al-hinda, wa 'isaabatuntakunu ma' 'Eesa ibnu Maryam (as)""Two groups of my Ummah Allah has protectedfrom the hellfire: a group that will conquer Indiaand a group that will be with Isa ibnu Maryam(as)."

We, The Muslims of India call you to protect us andthe whole Ummah, to work with the sincere sons tore-establish the Khilafah.

O attendees of this blessed conference, O Carriersof Islam and the Muslims of Pakistan andMuslims of the world!

Do not bow your heads down to the arrogant, tyrantrulers. But be patient and persevere with your Islamand your Da'wa. For you are on the clear truth andknow that the re-establishment of the Khilafah is amatter of life and death. And you, O fathers, moth-ers, brothers and sisters, have patience and fortitudewhen there are times of hardship no matter how bigor small, and assist support and work with those whocall to Islam. For it is a patience in the path of Allah(swt), a patience which will be followed by a closerelief from the trials, tribulations and afflictions,insha'Allah and followed by a great reward fromAllah (swt). Hold on to the Book of Allah 'azza wajall and the Sunnah of His Messenger (saw) andwork tirelessly for the resumption of Islam with thesincere sons of the Ummah. Indeed Islam started asa stranger and will return as a stranger. We are wait-ing for the calls of the Khilafah to be established. Weare waiting for the announcement to be echoed inevery part of the Muslim world. And we are waitingfor the Rayah, to enter India and annex this land, lib-erate us from the fiends of Shaytan and grant us theMight and 'izza that this Ummah has.

Wassalam Alaikum

Your brothers awaiting your assistance, India, August 2001


TheSecularistsJihad

ebruary 2002 saw the publication of anew book called "Jihad", written by thenow well-known journalist AhmedRashid. As the cover says, the book

explains, "The roots of fundamentalist rage incentral Asia…and suggests ways this threat canbe neutralised." As an account of the politicalevents in the region this is probably one of themore detailed pieces available. However it goesfurther, adding views on jihad, inaccuratelydescribing the Islamic political party Hizb utTahrir, and criticising its aims. It complains abouta lack of detailed policy and highlights the dangerof the Hizb changing its ways, before finally con-cluding that Islam is not the key to resolving theareas problems, but rather it is better policiesfrom America and the local governments, andresponsible behaviour on the part of the foreignoil companies active in the region.

Rather than give an ordinary book review - sincethat is already available in many of the Nationalnewspapers like the Daily Telegraph - it would bemore appropriate to address some of the pointsmentioned in the book. Addressing these pointswould be of value because these concepts andcontradictions are not unique to the book, but arewidely expressed in the press and the Governmentdeclarations from the Muslim and Western world,hence their study would not be limited toresponding to the book.

Early on, the book begins with the explanation ofthe greater Jihad, an inner struggle to become abetter human being. The writer justifies thisstance quoting what is said to be a narration of theProphet (saw).

This understanding is common in secular circleswhere they use what they claim is a hadith, or

saying of Muhammad (saw), "We have returnedfrom the lesser Jihad to the greater Jihad, that isthe struggle against the evil of oneself." This is infact a fabrication and is known as Mawdu' (spuri-ous). Hafidh al Iraqi and Ibn Hajar al Asqalani,who were hadith masters and muhaditheen, whomemorised one hundred thousand hadith by Isnadand were qualified to scrutinise hadith and theirauthenticity, stated that this was not a saying ofthe Messenger of Allah (saw) but was in fact astatement that was made by someone in the latergeneration named Ibrahim ibn Abi Yabla. Hence,this is not considered evidence in the IslamicShari'ah.

To elaborate further, it is in contradiction with thesubject matter of Jihad that has been elaborated inover a hundred ayat of the Qur'an that have comewith the meaning of Jihad being Qitaal, whichmeans to slay or to kill or to fight. This was howthe Prophet (saw) and the Sahabah (ra) under-stood it. To give an example from the Seerah,which was narrated by Ibn Majah with a source inBukhari; woman came to the Prophet (saw) andasked "O Messenger of Allah! Is Jihad obligedupon the women?" To which he responded, "Yes,a Jihad without Qitaal (fighting), it is the Hajj andthe Umrah!"

This clearly demonstrates that Jihad is Qitaal, i.e.Jihad is undertaking the physical fighting and thisis how it was understood by the woman and theProphet (saw), as explained in the Prophet's (saw)answer, i.e. Jihad in Islam means fighting. TheMessenger of Allah (saw) did not respond by say-ing that there was the greater Jihad for everyone,i.e. Jihad against oneself. Rather he informed herthat Allah (swt) had prescribed the Hajj and theUmrah for her and that she would get the rewardof the Mujahid for undertaking this action, as

F

explained by Imam Sanani in his book Sub-us-Salam.

A definition of the subject of Jihad can be extract-ed from the Islamic evidences rather than a merelinguistic understanding - so for example the term'Salah' in the Arabic language means seekingmaghfirah (forgiveness) or blessing or Du'a (sup-plication); however we know that in the IslamicShari'ah it is referent to the five obligatoryprayers. Similarly the term 'Zakah' literally meanspurification, but in the Islamic Shari'ah, Zakah isreferent to a specific amount of charity that istaken from specific types of wealth and distrib-uted to particular categories of people. So whenwe scrutinise the Islamic daleel we can extract aclear definition or definitions. When the Prophet(saw) was asked who is in the way of Allah i.e.who is a Mujahid, he explained, "Whosoeverfights to make Allah's word the highest, thenhe is in the way of Allah" [Bukhari and Muslim].

Later on when discussing the political party,Hizb-ut Tahrir, the author specifically states thatthe aims are "anachronistic", meaning out of date,and esoteric, that is obscure. This is an astonish-ing claim for the party's aims are quite thereverse. Anyone who is aware of the Hizb is alsoaware of its aims to resume the Islamic way ofLife and carrying the dawah to the world; thisbeing achieved by re-establishing the Khilafah. Infact the aims are so well known that people auto-matically link the terms Hizb-ut Tahrir andKhilafah the world over. Furthermore the accusa-tion of the aim being anachronistic is also false,rather it is the brutal aims of the leaders of theMuslim world to suppress their people, and theexploitative aims of the world powers likeAmerica and Russia who struggle to control thesenations that are anachronistic. People say that theKhilafah was an old system or Islam is an old sys-tem being over 1400 years since it emerged, butthese same people refer to ideals like democracywhich emerged in ancient Greece at least 2000years back making it much older than Islam andthey see no difficulty with that. Also how does asystem revealed by Allah (swt) to mankind untilthe Day of Judgment become out of date?

Amongst other points is the assertion that theHizb has implanted an alien ideology in CentralAsia. How can this be the case when Hizb ut-Tahrir's ideology is Islam? It works to resume theIslamic way of life through the establishment ofthe righteous Khilafah.

Muslim reported on the authority of Abu Hazim,who said: "I accompanied Abu Hurairah for fiveyears and heard him talking of the Prophet's say-ing: 'The Prophets ruled over the children ofIsrael, whenever a Prophet died anotherProphet succeeded him, but there will be noProphet after me. There will be Khulafa'a andthey will number many.' They asked: What thendo you order us? He said: 'Fulfil the bay'ah tothem one after the other and give them theirdue. Surely Allah will ask them about what He


The book goes on to highlight the danger of theHizb turning into a militant outfit. Once again abrief examination of the Hizb, its culture and itsbody shows that this is very unlikely. The Hizb isan ideological group, whose actions are restrictedto the intellectual and political aspect and basedon the actions of the Messenger (saw). Many ana-lysts have highlighted this apparent danger, butthis writer does so whilst simultaneously quotingsome of the books of the Hizb that outline themethod for change. They clearly show the adop-tion from the method of the Messenger of Allah(saw). In Makkah Allah's Messenger (saw) didnot use any material actions, rather he restrictedthe Da'wah to the intellectual and political strug-gle. Hizb ut-Tahrir adheres to this method anddoes not undertake any material, or terroristactions.

For decades now in many Islamic lands the bodyof the Hizb has been exposed to intense pursuanceand torture, even leading to martyrdom. Despitethis, the Hizb does not undertake any act ofvengeance. This is at a time when the membersare able to do these things, for they fear no oneexcept Allah (swt). In the path of Allah, their livesand property become small in their eyes. Ratherthe only thing that prevents them from this is theiradherence to the Method of the Messenger ofAllah (saw) in Makkah, where he used to carrythe Da'wah via intellectual and political struggle.

The most outrageous part is saved for the endwhere the dangers of the Hizb taking over arehighlighted, and the need for the regimes ofCentral Asia, America and the Oil firms to savethe day is re-affirmed. Like the writer many peo-ple today still have this conception that those run-ning the current status quo can easily and sincere-ly mend matters. However, even the briefest studyof this subject reveals that such a view is only adream. The track record of the leaders of CentralAsia shows only their contempt for their own peo-ple, and that their greatest concern is maintainingtheir power and finding ways to increase it.Furthermore it is unthinkable that America wouldnot exploit this region when she has done precise-ly that to every other part of the world where shehas had the capability to do so. Even as recentlyas December 2001 the US assistant secretary ofstate Elizabeth Jones promised that, "When theAfghan conflict is over we [America] will notleave central Asia. We have long-term plans andinterests in this region." Why would America,who has just finished obliterating Afghanistan, orRussia who has only recently wiped out the peo-ple of Chechnya, suddenly change and show con-cern for humanity. Why would the oil companiesall of a sudden show concern for the people of thelands in which they drill when in their short his-tory they have only showed concern for theiryields and only recently public relations? Whathave the oil giants done for the actual people ofthe Arabian Gulf States, the people who are notrelated to the royal families? These Gulf Stateshave worked with western oil firms to exploittheir resources for decades but are still either

defenceless or in debt. Or just look at what Shelland the Nigerian regime did to the Ogoni peopleof Nigeria.

Despite the disastrous events we witness in theworld today it is mind boggling that we continueto see many shortsighted people running after thevery perpetrators of such events. America is stillseen as a beacon of light to many even after theyhave become aware of its menacing activities.Only recently she rained uninterrupted death inAfghanistan for two consecutive months. Shekilled tens of thousands of innocent civiliansdeliberately and wilfully. She waged her waragainst the Muslims under the pretext of fightingterrorism even though she has been the numberone terrorist state throughout her history. Shekilled the original people of America, theAmerican Indians and seized their properties. Shebrought the people of Africa and enslaved themand still continues to racially discriminate againstthem. She attacked Japan with two nuclear bombsand attacked Iraq, Sudan and Afghanistan withmissiles. She was also behind most of the civilwars that took place in the last century in LatinAmerica, Africa, East Asia and the Islamic world.

However, despite the shortsightedness of somepeople, what is gratifying to learn is that theMuslim Ummah today on the whole is rejectingthe spread of secularism and taking on board thegenuine Islamic views and opinions. It is clearthat the Ummah has taken heed of the saying ofthe Messenger (saw), where he (saw) said, "AMuslim does not get stung from the same holetwice" [Bukhari]. Hence Islamic groups have alarge following globally and a group such as Hizbut Tahrir has tens of thousands of members incountries like Uzbekistan.

He (swt) said:

"Allah is with you, and will never decrease thereward of your good deeds" [TMQ Muhammad: 35].

Asim Khan

entrusted them with.'"

We see that Allah (swt) obliged the Muslims torule by what Allah has revealed. He (swt) said:

"So judge between them by that which Allah hasrevealed" [TMQ Al-Maidah: 48].

He (swt) said:

"Judge between them by that which Allahrevealed" [TMQ Al-Maidah: 49].

He (swt) said:

"Whosoever does not judge by what Allah hasrevealed, such are the disbelievers" [TMQ Al-Maidah: 44].

These ayat oblige ruling by what Allah (swt) hasrevealed. This cannot be done except through theestablishment of the righteous Khilafah. TheShari'ah principle states: "That which is necessaryto establish a wajib is itself wajib". Establishingthe Khilafah is Fard. This cannot be done exceptby a collective political activity, i.e. a blockwhich is structured around Islam, which works toestablish a righteous Khilafah in order to rule bythat which Allah has revealed. This means that itis an obligation to establish a political party,whose ideology will be Islam, which will work toresume the Islamic way of life, via the establish-ment of the righteous Khilafah. As we have statedbefore, this is the meaning of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

These decisive evidences show that the establish-ment of Hizb ut-Tahrir is in compliance with anobligation which Allah (swt) has obligated on theMuslims, and not just on the members of Hizb ut-Tahrir. So this Ideology is Islam, and it is what allthe Muslims believe in, so there is no contradic-tion for any Muslim, from anywhere in the world,in accepting it.

Furthermore, if this ideology were an alien ideol-ogy then very few would accept to work for andsupport this Hizb. However, the reality as thebook itself describes, is that many people havejoined this cause, including professionals andeven the elites of these countries and this is seenin other parts of the world too. As for the writer'sfrustration in not seeing a detailed plan or pro-gram for the central Asian states, this is notbeyond the Hizb, for it has produced many detailsof the workings of the ruling and economic sys-tems for a state in its books and literature andthere are many Wilaya publications availabledetailing particular economic and political mat-ters in other countries including Egypt, Jordan,Pakistan and Turkey.


Imam Shafi Did NotChange IslamAccording To

Changing Times and Places

great mujtahid imams and jurisprudent par excel-lence, was born in Gaza in 150AH, the year of ImamAbu Hanifa's death. He moved to Mecca at the ageof two, following his father's death, where he grewup. He took to learning Arabic language and poetryuntil he gave himself to fiqh, beginning with hadith.He studied under two great scholars, Muslim BinKhalid al Zingi, the Mufti of Mecca and Sufiyan BinUyaynah, may Allah be pleased with them. Hememorised the Qur'an at the age of seven, then ImamMalik's Muwatta' at the age of ten, at which time histeacher would deputise him to teach in his absence.

At aged thirteen, he moved to Madinah, where hewent to see Imam Malik, who was impressed by hismemory and intelligence. While there he wasexposed to Imam Malik's (who belonged to theschool of hadith) methodology of extraction. ImamShafi then moved to Baghdad where he met scholarsfrom the Hanafi school of Thought such as the greatImam Mohammad Bin al-Hasan al-Shaybani. Herehe was exposed to the Hanafi school of Fiqh, whichwas known for being part of the Ra'ee tradition.

There he refined his legal thinking in constantdebates with the Hanafi jurists where he took Malik'sposition in defence of tradition. This experience hada tremendous impact in moulding his own legalthinking since it brought to light the weaknesses inthe Maliki school of thought. After moving back toMecca for a short time he then returned to Baghdad.While in Baghdad, he wrote the old edition thetremendous al-Risala, a book containing the method-ology of Usul al fiqh. This old edition is not avail-able to us, but it is quoted by some of the Scholars,like al-Fakhr al-Razi. But he finally decided to leavefor Egypt where he could finally settle down to domore work in Fiqh and its methodology.

While there, he was exposed to the methodology ofImam Laith ibn Saad. Imam Laith was an exception-ally knowledgeable Mujtahid. Shafi is quoted as say-

hose who wish the Ummah to accept sub-mission before US hegemony have soughtto amend Islam so that it does not exceedthe boundaries set by Blair and Bush.

They carry the old call of "modernism". They wouldhave us accept the Western way of life because theWest is strong. Such a call is in fact just one part ofthe crusade against Islam that is being waged underthe guise of a "war against terrorism". The mod-ernisers who sit in the courts of Blair and Bush andat the feet of the tyrant rulers in the Muslim countriessuggest that Islam can change from time to time, andfrom place to place.

The consequence of this concept is that certain rulesof Islam, would not apply, due to the new environ-ment they live in, and that we live in a new time andage. So rules regarding riba, marriage, social interac-tion, international law, ruling systems, would need tobe updated, according to the said principle. The pro-ponents of this understanding use the example ofImam Shafi to legitimise their viewpoint.

Salam Al-Maryati, a Muslim academic from Iraq,addressing the US State Department on "Moderationin Islam" stated at the end of January 2002, "In fact,Shafi had two schools of thought, one when heresided in Iraq and one when he moved to Egypt, andwhen asked why there were two, he said becausethey were for two different peoples. If place is a vari-able in Islamic thinking, then time can also be a fac-tor. "

In order to address this point, we need to look to thelife of the great Imam, and see what he was exposedto, in terms of ideas, and the different methodolo-gies.

Muhammad ibn Idris ibn al-Àbbas, al-Imam al-Shafiì, Abu Àbd Allah al-Shafiì al-Hijazi al-Qurashi al-Hashimi al-Muttalibi (d. 204AH), fromthe House of the Prophet, the unequalled one of the

T

ing "Laith was a greater faqih than Malik but his stu-dents wasted him (through not preserving his teach-ings)." (Siyar i`lam al-nubala', 8/156)

In Egypt, he wrote his new edition of Risala after thisnew experience. So, this tells us he became morematured in his understanding, in Usul al Fiqh.

Why did Imam Shafi Change his Methodology?

Imam Shafi' did not change his methodologybecause of geographically moving from one place toanother. This can be clearly seen. The change in themethodology has nothing to do with the change ofenvironment. Changing the methodology is relatedto the change in the way of thinking, which charac-terises Imam Shafi's change.

Imam Shafi had defined his Usul and wrote it in hisold Risala that was written in Iraq before he arrivedand settled in Egypt. Shafi began writing his Usulbefore the end of the second century. Reports tell usalso that he started writing his Usul at early age andhe kept reviewing his writings, changing some ofwhat he wrote, making some modifications until hewas able to re-write the new Risala in Egypt.

As it is clear from his life, prior to Egypt, ImamShafi' was exposed to two schools of Fiqh. He wrotehis first edition of Al Risalah and later, matured inhis thinking and settled on the second edition of AlRisalah.

Dr. Muhammad Baltaaji in his book Manahij ulTashri al Islaami fil Qarn al Thani al Hijri (TheMethodologies of Islamic Legislation During theSecond Century Hijri), states " Shafi was criticisedbecause of this continuous change. But, he respond-ed to that criticism. Ibn Abi Hatim reported thatShafi once asked Amr Bin Sawad al-Serhi: 'why doyou not copy my books?" the man remained quiet.Then a third person said to Shafi: "he claims that youwrote, then, you changed, then you wrote and afterthat you changed" The man means that this continu-ous change is the reason why al-Sehri was not copy-ing Shafi's books. Then Shafi answered: "now, it ismatured" (Vol. 1 p.65).

Also, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal was once asked byMohammad Bin Muslim ar-Razi to tell him whichbooks of Shafi he should choose. Ahmad answered:"Choose books which were written in Egypt. Thebooks he wrote in Iraq were not well done. Then hewent to Egypt where he wrote his books in more pro-found way." (The Methodologies of IslamicLegislation During the Second Century Hijri Vol.1p.31)

In Egypt, Imam Shafi' was exposed to the Fiqh ofImam Laith Bin Sad. Imam Laith died in 175 A.H.He was in Egypt but he travelled to Baghdad inwhich he met Abu Hanifa himself and had a chanceto meet Ibn Shihab al Zuhri, Nafi' and others. Imamibn Hajr says that: "The knowledge of the Tabi'eenended with Laith".

Imam Laith also had the chance to meet Imam

Malik. In fact, Laith was the Shaykh of Imam Malikhimself. Thus, in Egypt, Imam Shafi had a chance tobe exposed to the Fiqh of Laith. Shafi' came to Egyptfourteen years after the death of Imam Laith. Thismeans that the influence of Imam Laith was stillstrong in Egypt. Thus, one can say that this exposurematured Imam Shafi' and thus, his entire methodunderwent change.

So asserting that the environment changed ImamShafi' is very vague and baseless. What is meant bethe environment? Is it the soil of Egypt? Is it its Nile?Is it the way of life? The physical environment hasnothing to do with all of this. The way of life both inEgypt, Baghdad, Medina, Mecca were the same. Allwere living the Islamic way of life in the same era.The differences in some customs practiced in onearea, do not make the environment different. A newcustom in a new area, may oblige a Mujtahid tostudy and arrive at a new rule for a certain custom,since he never faced that custom before. However, arule for an issue, which is facing the people inBaghdad and the Hukm applied for the people inBaghdad should be exactly the same for the peoplein Egypt or the Hijaz, or in the UK, or US. Riba isharam in both Egypt and Baghdad, and the UK, orLahore. The change in the environment does notmake Riba allowed in Egypt while it was prohibitedin Baghdad.

In order to create impact in the minds of the people,those who propose that a change of place changes themethodology say that Shafi moved from One State toanother. The fact of the matter is that both Baghdadand Egypt, were part of ONE State, they were nottwo states. There was no visible difference betweenBaghdad and Egypt at that time. The only differenceis the existence of Imam Laith in Egypt who was byhimself affected by many schools of Fiqh. ImamShafi before arriving in Egypt was exposed to theSchool of Madinah and the School of Kufah (InIraq). But in Egypt he had a chance to get exposed toanother school of Laith. This affected the maturity ofImam Shafi'.

An issue such as a British woman accepting Islamwhile her husband remains a non-Muslim is not anew issue. This problem occurred at the time of theProphet (SAW) when his (SAW) daughter Zaynab(RA) accepted Islam while her husband remained anon-Muslim. Therefore, in order to solve this prob-lem today, we need to go back to the legal texts andstudy them in order to acquire the Islamic ruling.This applies to all other issues as well.

This is a misunderstanding in the nature, of Islam,and the dynamism of the Islamic Jurisprudence. Sowith regards With regards to issues involving adop-tion, wills, inheritance, and burial, these have rulesthat are discussed extensively in Islam and cannot bechanged. As for the new problems, this requires aMujtahid to extract rulings whether the problem hap-pens in the East or the West. So the need to changeIslam from place to place and time to time, usingImam Shafi, as an example is mistaken.

Asif Khan


TheContractof Ruling

in Islamn recent years as the tide of the Islamic resur -gence in our lands increased in strength, shak-ing the power of the rulers of the Muslim coun-tries and creating a widening gulf between the

ummah and the rulers, we have witnessed theincreased use of Islam by our rulers to justify theirpositions of power. For example on February 5th2002, President General Pervez Musharraf invoked averse from the Qur'an to claim that the authority forhis rule is a divine authority ordained by Allah (swt).

"This position, this authority has been bestowed byGod and as long as I hold this authority, and whateverwork I am doing with full responsibility, all Pakistanisshould have confidence in that because this is ourfaith," Gen Musharraf said.

This statement is simply one of many others such asthat of Prime Minister Mahatir Mohammad ofMalaysia who said in an address at the WorldEconomic Forum in that:

"…It (Islam) is a way of life which does not neglectspiritual values and can bring greatness to the follow-ers of Islam, as it once did. Malaysia is an Islamiccountry. The state religion is Islam".

Since these statements are an attempt at legitimizingthe existence of the current status quo, let us examinethe Shar'iah rules regarding the appointment of a rulerto conclude whether any of the current rulers of theMuslim countries have any legitimacy to govern ouraffairs.

It is important to realize that the objective in dis -cussing and refuting the position of our rulers is notmerely to refute or expose the rulers, but it is a wordof truth against the tyrrany of the ruler and also anexplanation of some of the deep rules of the Islamicruling system. How else could the Muslims recognizethe sincere leader if they were not aware of the rulesof Islam regarding the ruling system and the condi-tions of appointing a ruler to rule by Islam?

There are three aspects to be discussed in this article.Initially, it is the contract of baiyah (pledge of alle-giance) which brings about the Khalifah and giveshim the mandatory powers to rule over the Muslimsworldwide. However, in order for the baiyah to take

place, the candidates for the post of Khilafah must sat-isfy all the contractual conditions that Islam hasplaced for this post, and furthermore the land (state)which they intend to rule upon must fulfill all the con-ditions that Islam has placed on it so that it can belabelled an Islamic State. Hence all three issues (thebai'yah contract, the contractual conditions for thekhilafah post, and the conditions on any land to belabeled an Islamic state) need to be discussed.

1. The Baiyah Contract

Two distinct points can be established; (i) that the rul-ing and the authority belong to the Muslim ummah,and (ii) that the subject of the contract is the ruling byIslam. If one were to violate either of these two points,then the contract from its basis would be invalid sincethey are fundamental pre-requisites for ruling byIslam.

(i) Authority Belongs to the Ummah

The first point is established because the authority torule is a right upon the Ummah. However, the mannerof this ruling and the execution of this authority isconducted by the pledging of the baiyah (pledge ofallegiance) by the ummah to one man (the khaleefah)to rule by Islam. Thus the ruler must be one whom theummah has authorized to rule over them by Islam.

The great scholars Ibn 'Ishaq and Ibn Hisham bothattest that even the Prophet (saw) took a baiyah fromthe people to rule over them by Islam when he (saw)emigrated to Medina. This baiyah was not one forProphethood, since the sahabah who had already testi-fied their belief in his Prophethood when theyembraced Islam such as Abu Bakr (ra) and Umar binAl-Khattab (ra) gave baiyah to the Prophet (saw) forruling in Medina. Imam Bukhari narrates that UbadahIbnus Samit said: 'We pledged ourselves in completeobedience to the Messenger of Allah, in weal and woe,and that we would not dispute the matter (authority)with its people, that we would speak or stand up forthe truth at all times wherever we were and that inAllah's service we would fear the censure of no one.'

Hence the contract to rule in Islam is essentially theissuing of the bai'yah from the contractor (the ummah)to the contractee (the khaleefah). The essence of thispoint is that it is the ummah who gives the pledge ofallegiance (baiyah) by free choice and consent. It isnot allowed for anyone to usurp the power and simplytake the authority ignoring the views and the wishes ofthe ummah. The majority of the classical scolars holdsthis understanding, amongst them, Imam Al Shawkaniwho said in his book (Irshad al Fuhul pp 81, 82, 89)"the baiyah is the only legitimate way for appointingthe khalifah".

Additionally Nisa'i reported that Umar bin Al-Khattab(ra) said: "Anyone who calls the imarah for himself orany other person without consulting the Muslims, it isallowed to kill him".

(ii) The Subject Matter of the Contract

The subject matter of the contract is the rule accordingto the Qur'an and the Sunnah. This means that if thesubject matter of the rule were anything other than the

I


ruling by Islam, such as the ruling by communismthen this contract would be null and void. This isbecause the ayath of Qur'an stipulates a ruling by whatAllah revealed, not simply a ruling on its own.

" ..and rule between them by what Allah has revealedand do not follow their vain desires which lead awayfrom the truth that has come to you" [TMQ Al-Maidah:48]

Taking these two points into consideration, when weanalyze the way in which the current rulers of theMuslim ummah came into power we can see a funda -mental contradiction with the baiyah contract. Forexample Gen. Pervez Musharraf not only usurped thepower of the ummah disregarding her views, but alsothe subject matter of his rule was not a return to Islambut rather the continuation of the democratic republi-can system of ruling. His catchphrase at the time wasthat Pakistan required real democracy, not "shamdemocracy".

This means that President Pervez Musharraf has fun-damentally violated two pillars of the Bai'yah con-tract; the ruling and authority belong to the ummah,and the subject matter of the contract. This means thathe has no basis to represent the Muslims, or to governtheir affairs. This is not restricted to Musharraf, butmust also be applied to all the other rulers in theMuslim countries.

2. The Conditions for the Khalifah

Further to the above points, we should note the con-tractual conditions that must be satisfied by any can-didate wishing to receive the baiyah and become thekhalifah. There are seven contractual conditions thatrequire the khalifah to be Muslim, male, sane, mature,just, free and able to rule. We will now simply focuson three; Muslim, male and just.

(i) The Khalifah Must Be Muslim

Allah (swt) says:

"..and Allah will never allow the kafir to have any way(sabeel) over the believers." [TMQ An-Nisa:141]

This verse is a definite command, which tells theMuslim that Allah does not allow the Kafir to haveany authority over the believers in any way shape orform. Hence the first contractual condition is that theKhalifah must have Islam to rule over the Muslims.There is a consensus by all the classical scholars fromall the schools of thought on this condition.

If one were to look at many of the rulers of theMuslims such as Muammar Ghaddafi of Libya whodenies the Sunnah of the Prophet (saw), Bashar alAssad of Syria who belongs to the Alawi sect or IslamKarimov of Uzbekistan who is a Jew then it is veryapparent that they are unfit to rule over the Muslimssince they have failed the first contractual condition,thereby making them illegitimate rulers over the

Muslim ummah.

(ii) The Khalifah Must be Male

This is taken from the hadith related by Abi Bakra:

"Any nation which appoints a woman as a rulerwill be unsuccessful"

We take from this hadith a definite command torestrict the appointment of the Khalifah to a man, anda clear rebuke to any nation which appoints a womanas a ruler since the "success" refers mainly to the suc-cess in the hereafter.

The authenticity of this hadith is beyond questionsince it has been confirmed as Sahih by all the greatMuhadditheen such as Bukhari and Muslim.

How is it then that when Megawati Sukarnoputri wassworn in to power in Indonesia she said "In the nameof God, I swear to fulfill my duties as the President ofthe Republic of Indonesia as well and as justly as pos-sible?”

The irony is that she swore this oath as a copy of theQur'an was held above her head. Surely, if she wishesto rule in the name of Allah, she should abide by His(swt) rules?

(iii) The Khalifah Must be Just ('Adl)

Justice ('Adala) in Islam means that the Khalifahshould not be a fasiq (open sinner). This is becauseAllah (SWT) has stipulated that the witness (in a courtcase) must be just.

"And seek the witness of two just men from amongstyou" [65:2]

Since the witness must be just, then by the shariahprinciple of Baab Uula (greater reasoning) the judgemust be just also, and since the Khalifah presides overthe judge then he too must be just. This is the opinionof most of the scholars including Imam Sha'fi.

Looking at the application of this condition we can seethat rather than being just the current rulers placedover the ummah are unjust and have a deep hatred forIslam. Take the example of Yasser Arafat who opensfire on the Muslims of Palestine for supporting theMuslims in Afghanistan, yet remains quiet as theIsraeli's kill and maim the ummah in Al Quds. Otherexamples include the regular purging of the variousMuslim armies of any officer linked to any Islamicgroup as well as the number of peace treaties signedwith Israel by many of the rulers. We have even seenrecently the undisguised aid given to the American intheir war against Islam. These examples very clearlyemphasize the injustice of the rulers in the Muslimlands.

3. The Conditions Placed Upon the Land

The final aspect focuses on the conditions necessaryfor any land to be recognized as the homeland of

Islam (Dar al Islam). If this aspect were unfulfilledthen the bai'yah contract would be meaningless asthere would not be a legitimate Islamic homeland torule over.

The viewpoint of the scholars regarding Dar al Islam(Islamic homeland) generally consist of two elements:

(i) The authority in that country must depend onthe Muslims, not a non-Islamic country or influ-ence

(ii) The Security in that country must be guaran-teed by the Muslims rather than by the kuffar

If these points were applied to the current Islamiclands we can explicitly see that there is no Islamicstate in the world today.

Today, the rulers have chosen to grant the authorityover the Muslim lands to foreign powers like Americaor Britain. For example, It is clearly apparent thatHamid Karzai has given the US forces a carte blanchein Afghanistan regarding the so called hunt for Usamabin Laden. What is clear from this is that the authori-ty in these lands is de-facto held by the US, and insome cases Britain, rather than the Muslims ummah.

The Security in the Muslim lands is often in the handsof the kuffar. In a very interesting article, TheGuardian Newspaper last September published anarticle explaining how the British forces secured thepower for Sultan Qaboos of Oman and still maintainsthat security today. This example is by no means iso-lated - one can even look recently at the appointmentof Hamid Karzai whose leadership is secured by theUS forces in Afghanistan.

Today, it is painfully obvious that all the Muslimrulers are illegitimate from the contractual basis with-out exception. Hence the Muslim ummah shouldexpend all its efforts to replace these illegitimatestates by one ruler over all the Muslim countries asordered by Allah (swt) and exemplified by the Prophet(saw).

Finally, it is imperative that the Muslim ummahbecome familiarized with these rules so that they canspend their utmost efforts working for the sincereIslamic, and not be tricked by the treachery of theMuslim rulers who coat their lies with the noble ayatof the Qur'an or the ahadith of the Prophet (saw).

Jilani Ghulam


Refutation ofIntellectual Property

ntellectual property, arguably a recent phe-nomenon and perhaps novel to some, never-theless has characterised western economics,multi national co-operations and aided west-

ern economic colonisation.

In today's debate it seems to have become an indis-pensable tool for the Capitalists in aiding the ideo-logical, political, socio-economic, & intellectualhegemony as will be argued later.

What is the reality of intellectual property, itsusage, its refutation and the Islamic viewpoint?

Ideological Origins of IntellectualProperty:

A study of intellectual property illustrates that itsroots and source of motivation are respectivelyintrinsically linked with the fundamentals ofCapitalism.

The capitalist economic system is based upon thecapitalist perception of reality, which influencedthem to advocate that man's material needs wereexposed to an inherent shortage of commodities.

The value of any commodity, they argued, wasintrinsically linked to its benefit to man. Henceanything, which was perceived as beneficial, couldalso be subject to ownership.

The criterion therefore for satisfying man's needs,determining ownership, or judging the distributionof these apparent scarce commodities was "price",the cornerstone of the capitalist economy.

Why Intellectual Property?

The Industrial revolution from the 18th century

onwards was a significant landmark for the eleva-tion of the western ideological nations. Advances intechnology, engineering, medicine, and scienceinfluenced all aspects of life, symbolizing the tran-sition of an artisan society towards one of mass pro-duction and the transformation of industry.

Although these developments have been for the useof the West alone and of little use to the vast major-ity of the world, it was within this environment thatessentially a dilemma arose.

In the words of the WIPO itself, "the need for inter-national protection of intellectual property becameevident when foreign exhibitors refused to attendthe International Exhibition of Inventions in Viennain 1873 because they were afraid their ideas wouldbe stolen and exploited commercially in othercountries."

In other words, the very history of Intellectualproperty emanated from an attempt to curtail theknowledge and science of innovation for the west-ern intellectuals and their sponsors namely theCapitalists.

Essentially the question that arose was related tothe apparent plagiarism of someone's idea. In otherwords, does an idea belong to anyone? Can some-one benefit from someone else's idea? Is there anyinherent value in an idea? Can any individual con-trol the use, or non-use of an idea or invention?

The notion of this argument epitomizes absurdityper se as the reality for any thought to occur is thatit requires a previous thought! In other words pre-vious information is an integral component to anynew thought. Without previous information seldomhas man progressed.

I

A dissection of the arguments advocated can essen-tially be attributed to two fundamental sources.

Firstly, the right to freedom of ownership. TheCapitalists consider any commodity that has a ben-efit for man as wealth, i.e. having a particular value.Its value is determined by supply and demand andbought by the exchange of a price. Therefore theyconsidered the individual's knowledge as wealththat is subject to ownership for a specific price.Therefore the one who comes to know or learnsomeone's knowledge cannot use it except by pay-ing a price.

Secondly, the socio-economic and political impli-cations. Altruistic attitudes towards intellectualproperty contradict the very principles ofCapitalism and its method of carrying its ideologynamely Colonialism.

What is Intellectual Property?It is paramount to define Intellectual Property andunderstand its reality in order to entertain its pro-found implications in the wider world, namely thesocio-economic, political, intellectual spheres oflife.

Intellectual property, very broadly, means the legalrights, which result from intellectual activity in theindustrial, scientific, literary and artistic fields.

The laws of protecting intellectual property give theindividual the right to protect his invention, granthim the power to dispose of it and prevent othersfrom using this invention without his permission.

In layman's terminology, this means that one mancannot come along and take the science forwardfrom where it is. He has to re-design and re-inventfrom scratch, rather than building on what's there.

We can see the obstacle this places today, for exam-ple, Microsoft alone can develop the operating sys-tem of the majority of the world's personal comput-ers, no-one else can collaborate and build on thetechnology already there.

Or, if a person buys a book or a disk which is copy-right protected, or if a life saving drug for cancer orHIV is discovered, all rights belong to the patentholder and he has the right to impose restrictions onthe sale, consumption, or utilization of the productas he wills.

Types of Intellectual Property:

Intellectual property is divided into two categories:

a. Industrial property: which includes inventions(patents), trademarks, industrial designs, etc.

b. Copyright: which includes literary and artisticworks such as novels, poems and plays, films,musical works, etc.


1. Inventions (patents)

A patent is a monopoly given by a government thatconfers exclusive rights upon the creator of aninvention the sole right to make, use, and sell thatinvention for a set period of time.

It is intended to prevent mechanical inventions orchemical processes from being copied. A patentallows the holder to exclude anyone else from mak-ing, using or selling the 'invention' for up to 20years, although this can be extended by clevermanoeuvring for up to 30 years or even longer

A patent provides protection for the invention to theowner of the patent. Patent protection means thatthe invention cannot be commercially made, used,distributed or sold without the patent owner's con-sent. These patent rights are usually enforced in acourt, which, in most systems, holds the authorityto stop patent infringement.

A patent owner has the right to decide who may - ormay not - use the patented invention for the periodin which the invention is protected. The patentowner may give permission to, or license, otherparties to use the invention on mutually agreedterms.

2. Trademarks

A trademark is a distinctive sign, which identifiescertain goods or services as those produced or pro-vided by a specific person or enterprise.

The system helps consumers identify and purchasea product or service because its nature and quality,indicated by its unique trademark, meets theirneeds.

A trademark provides protection to the owner of themark by ensuring the exclusive right to use it toidentify goods or services, or to authorize anotherto use it in return for payment. Trademark protec-tion is enforced by the courts, which in most sys-tems have the authority to block trademarkinfringement.

3. Copyright and Related Rights

Copyright is a legal term describing rights given tocreators for their literary and artistic works. It dealswith printed publications, sound and televisionbroadcasting and even computerized systems forthe storage and retrieval of information.

The original creators of works protected by copy-right, and their heirs, have certain basic rights.They hold the exclusive right to use or authorizeothers to use the work on agreed terms.

The Implications of IntellectualProperty:

WIPO argues, "Intellectual property plays animportant role in an increasingly broad range of

areas, ranging from the Internet to health care tonearly all aspects of science, technology, literatureand the arts."

There are two sides for every argument, so theproverb goes. However the reality is irrevocablyone. Inevitably there must be a correct and an incor-rect viewpoint towards it.

The discussion on the origins and reality of intel-lectual property has already brought this statementinto disrepute, however let us place the key areas ofdevelopment post intellectual property under themicroscope and see their ramifications.

Science and Medicine

Discoveries surrounding science and medicine dur-ing the last century have been numerous. Penicillin,the double-helix structure of DNA, cloning, trans-genic technology, plant and human genomicsequencing, vaccines and others just to name a few.

Medicine has been defined as, "The science of diag-nosing, treating, or preventing disease and otherdamage to the body or mind."

However, the adherents of Jeremy Bantham, AdamSmith and other forefathers of Capitalism likeRichard Sykes (gsk), David Brennan (Astra), orRobert Shapiro (Monsanto), sitting on the board ofdirectors of such industries have very little concernfor such values.

As Dr. Sue Meyer of the research group,Genewatch UK concurs, "Science is driven by pri-vate interest, aiming at maximising their sharehold-er values, rather than addressing public healthissues."

Even the WTO Director-General Mike Moore,admits that medical research for some types of dis-eases is not even financially worthwhile.

To quote, "There are no effective treatments forsome ills that affect people in poor countries only,because developing them is not commerciallyviable." He is right; the companies are too busydeveloping money-spinners like Viagra and obesitydrugs.

Aids

A report projected that the number of aids victimsis greater than all the combatants killed in WorldWar I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam combined.

However, according to WHO none of the countrieswith high infection rates (ninety-five percent ofpeople with HIV in the world live in developingcountries) can afford the per-patient $10-15,000price tag of non-generic HIV drugs. What thismeans is that the African countries face a social,economic and political devastation of apocalypticproportions because of intellectual propertyenforcement.

Yet the WTO aims to restrict the right of develop-ing countries to produce cheaper drugs for theirown people, forcing them instead to accept privateownership of brand-named medicines through longpatents. In 1998 the WTO ruled that the Indian gov-ernment must amend its national legislation in linewith the TRIPs agreement to give greater rights topharmaceutical companies' patents.

The value of Human Life

Perverse officials from the population and humanresources department at the World Bank in a June1992 report have concluded there may be a silverlining in the plague.

Quote, "If the only effect of the AIDS epidemicwere to reduce the population growth rate, it wouldincrease the growth rate of per capita income in anyplausible economic model," argued one, In otherwords, like the 14th-century bubonic plague inEurope, AIDS in Africa might propel an economicrebirth!

Aid Relief?

The Clinton administration pledged $1 billion tofight AIDS in Africa, rather similar to Blair and hiscurrent mission to save Africa.

However, Clinton's money turned out to be in theform of Export-Import Bank loans, at commercialinterest rates, to buy American drugs at marketprice. This initiative was hailed by American phar-maceutical companies, which looked forward tomore profits for their $1 billion-a-year industry. Butthere were no takers.

Patenting Life

Patenting genes is set to be one of the most signifi-cant issues of this century. Research commissionedby the Guardian reveals the awesome scale of thegene rush.

Alongside human genes, patents are being soughtby organisations, overwhelmingly from rich coun-tries, on hundreds of thousands of animal and plantgenes, including those in staple crops such as riceand wheat.

The Guardian's research found that patents arepending on genes controlling processes in thehuman heart, teeth, tongue, colon, skin, brain, bone,ear, lung, liver, kidney, sperm, blood and immunesystem 9,364 patents relating to the human bodyhave been filed for so far. The applications madecover 126,672 genes or partial gene sequences. 21patents covering HIV genes. 152 patents have beenapplied for on rice, these patents cover 584 genes.

The implications of these multi nationals holdingthe patents are inconceivable. Granting patents ongenes gives an exclusive monopoly of the humanbody over new treatments, medicines, research, andtechnologies to the capitalists.


To quote Thomas Schweiger, of GermanGreenpeace, which is campaigning against genepatenting "It's like someone buying a street and tak-ing a toll from everybody passing through."

Biological Advancements

Biological information can now be claimed as intel-lectual property. US courts have ruled that geneticsequences can be patented, even when thesequences are found "in nature".

This has led companies to race to take out patentson numerous genetic codes. In some cases, patentshave been granted covering all transgenic forms ofan entire species, such as soybeans or cotton, caus-ing enormous controversy.

The consequence is that international corporationsare patenting genetic materials found in ThirdWorld plants and animals, so that some Third Worldpeoples actually have to pay to use seeds and othergenetic materials that have been freely available tothem for centuries.

Technology & Engineering

This past century was witness to extraordinarystrides in technology that has radically changedwestern lives through the discoveries of computers,Internet, etc.

From its beginning in 1875, the US CompanyAT&T collected patents in order to ensure itsmonopoly on telephones. According to analysts, itstrategically slowed down the introduction of radiofor some 20 years.

In a similar fashion, General Electric (GE Capital)used control of patents to retard the introduction offluorescent lights, which were a threat to its sales ofincandescent lights.

All aspects of technology from Business-to-Business Software, Graphical Software, GUIS,Audio Software and File Formats, Internet SearchEngines, Web Standards etc are all patented.

Today, experts estimate that Microsoft controlsabout 90% of the market for the operating systemsoftware (OS), which is used to run personal com-puters. Moreover, Microsoft controls nearly thesame 90% market share for popular applicationssuch as Word Processors, spreadsheets, presenta-tion graphic programs and relational databases

Copyright and intellectual property enforcementhas resulted in staggering multi billion monopoliesusurped by the likes of Bill Gates, Jack Welch (GE)and other CEOs.

Intellectual Stagnation

WIPO states quote, "Intellectual property promotesas a deliberate act of government policy, creativityand the dissemination and application of itsresults."

However, the advocates of Intellectual property &the capitalist philosophy have not only monopo-lised the very concept of thoughts & ideas, but cre-ated a vacuum and intellectually colonised thedeveloping world by creating a severe inhibition onresearch by non-patent holders.

The use of intellectual property has been a tool thathas been used to curtail development for the eco-nomic interests of the patent holder. The scientificadvancement has been despite of, rather thanbecause of, the way the West has applied itselfsince the industrial revolution, as research byGeneWatch UK concurs.

In effect thus relegating the third world nations asthe consumer markets for their products and sothese nations are subject to their influence, stealingtheir wealth and resources in the name of intellec-tual property & patents.

Furthermore, the capitalist view on the value ofactions has also hindered research. Cooperatesexpect tangible "benefit" from any research beforelicensing it. As a researcher, if you take the researchmoney but cannot deliver tangible results, thenyour research programme is terminated.

Thereby the capitalist nations have ensured that thedeveloping world remains declined and dependentupon her. Hence introducing intellectual property atthe juncture of her own intellectual elevation at theexpense of the man.

Problems for the West

Enforcing intellectual property in the internationalworld markets has brought its problems for thewest, not least epitomized by the recent fiascoinvolving the South African government.

In the face of the worst plague to face humanitysince the Middle Ages the HIV/AIDS epidemic inAfrica has brought Africa into the limelight.

Earlier this year 39 pharmaceutical companies triedto sue the South African government (with the helpof the US) in order to prevent them importingaffordably cheap medicines for South Africa's HIV-positive population.

Brazil four years ago began to produce its owngeneric versions of the AIDS triple therapy drugsand importing others at low cost. Since then Brazilhas halved its AIDS death rate and reduced hospi-talisation for the disease.

The Indian pharmaceutical company Cipla is mak-ing triple therapy available at $600 per year. It isproviding HIV drugs for use in Africa. The patent-ed cocktail costs between $10,000 and $15,000 fora year's treatment. Cipla has offered its substitute atcost: $350 a year.

Enforcing Intellectual Property

The pharmaceutical lobby in the last 2 years has

spent $246 million lobbying the congress, and givesmillions in campaign donations to the US politicalestablishment, to constantly push the U.S. tradeoffice to file cases against developing countries atthe World Trade Organisation e.g. South Africa,Brazil.

The US has been acting as the industry's policeman,threatening trade sanctions against countries suchas Thailand, the Dominican Republic, and morethan 15 other developing countries unless theyabandon manufacturing, exporting, or purchasinggeneric copies of drugs that American firms havepatented.

Under its "Special 301" trade law provision, theUnited States can unilaterally impose trades sanc-tions on countries that differ with her wishes andrefuse to endorse patented drugs. In November1999, the US used this arm-twisting tactic to forceThailand to stop using generic drugs.

The foundation of WIPO was initialised as early asMarch 20 1883 at the Paris Convention for theProtection of Industrial Property, the first majorinternational treaty designed to help the people ofone country obtain protection in other countries fortheir intellectual creations.

WIPO today is a specialized agency of the UnitedNations system of organizations, with a mandate toadminister intellectual property matters recognizedby the member States of the UN.

In 1995 the World Trade Organization adopted theidea of protecting intellectual property and soWIPO became part of the WTO. On January 1,1996, an agreement between the World IntellectualProperty Organization and the World TradeOrganization entered into force.

The Agreement on Trade?Related Aspects ofIntellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which formspart of the overall Agreement establishing theWorld Trade Organization (WTO), requires themembers of the WTO to ensure that effectiveenforcement procedures are available.

Until the creation of the WTO in 1995, few poorcountries had intellectual property laws and coun-tries like Egypt, Thailand and India developedthriving generic drugs industries.

However, under the new WTO rules, strict US intel-lectual property rights rules, which the US pharma-ceuticals industry was extremely influential indrawing up extend patent rights for 20 years, havebecome standard.

All 140 WTO member countries, even the poorestmember states in Africa, must change their laws toconform until 2006.

Under this agreement, the WTO aims to restrict theright of developing countries to produce cheaperdrugs for their own people, forcing them instead toaccept private ownership of brand-named medi-


cines through long patents.

Islamic Perspective: Needs & Instincts

So what is the Islamic perspective towardsIntellectual property?

Islam recognises that man has needs & instinctswhich need satisfying. Hence within our context, itis man's biological needs and survival instinct thatare under scrutiny i.e. man's need to eat, and hissurvival, which requires him to own certain ameni-ties to ensure survival & a respectable life.

On this subject matter, Islam distinguished betweenman's needs/instincts, and the means of satisfac-tion.

In other words, the agitation of the needs/instinctsrequires a solution, namely an economic system,whereas the means of satisfaction is related to thesubject of economic science.

Hence since the pivots of any economic system arebased upon ownership, disposal and distribution,Islam being the system of the creator, stipulated inthe realm of possession/ownership, utilisation anddistribution.

On the other hand, man was given permission/rec-ommended to explore the realms of the economicsciences, which are related to production.

Ownership in Islam

Therefore, ownership in Islam is the permission ofthe Legislator to benefit from an asset. Private own-ership is determined by the Shar'i rule; this ascribesan asset or a benefit to an individual, thus enablinghim to benefit from the asset itself. Hence, owner-ship cannot be asserted unless proven by the Shar'irule. Thus, the right to own a thing does not arisefrom the thing itself or from the fact that it is bene-ficial as for the capitalists.

Ownership in Islam means the right of disposal.The individual has authority over the thing that heowns. It enabled him to freely dispose of it and ben-efit from what he owns according to the Shar'irules. It also obliged the state to protect privateownership and laid down punishments to deterthose who infringe upon the ownership of others.

Islam & Intellectual Property

The reality of intellectual property as defined earli-er consists of two elements:

One of them is sensed and tangible such as a trade-mark and a book. The second is sensed but not tan-gible such as a scientific theory and an idea of aninvention stored in the brain of a scientist.

Thoughts are not subject to ownership. Howeverany idea originates from mans mind, hence hismind is the initial 'home' for any particular thoughtfrom the perspective of reality. Thus he can ignore

it or dispense it seeking a material value. However,once dispensed it is haram to copyright it as this isan invalid contract, or patent it as this is not subjectto ownership according to the Shar'a and patents arean exclusive monopoly given to the patent holderand monopolies are haram.

On the other hand trademarks are sensed, tangible,and have a material value because it is a componentof the trade.

Therefore, it is allowed for the individual to own itand the state is obliged to protect this right of theindividual. He will be able to freely dispose of it,and others will be prevented from infringing uponthis right.

Current Reality in Muslim Lands

In politics, economic dependency is synonymous topolitical subservience. America's economicstrength has given it an unparalleled leverage tosubvert nations & approve policy. The track recordof Pakistan and other Muslim states are all poignanttestimonies to this.

The non-ideological Kufr systems within theMuslim lands are all signatories of WIPO and aremembers of the WTO. This means that they offi-cially recognize and must enforce intellectual prop-erty rights.

A brief study of the impact of intellectual propertyon the so-called 'developing nations' has alreadybeen outlined, however in the context of theMuslim countries a brief case study of Pakistanprovides a good example.

Pakistan

Pakistan has been on the U.S. Trade Representative"Special 301" watch list since 1989 due to wide-spread piracy, especially of copyrighted materialsand slow efforts to implement its patent.

For example according to a U.S. report, "Theimpact on U.S. exports of only weak IPR protectionin Pakistan is substantial, though difficult to quan-tify. In the area of copyright infringement alone, theInternational Intellectual Property Alliance estimat-ed that piracy of films, sound recordings, computerprograms, and books resulted in trade losses of $62million in 1994."

Pharmaceutical Industry

Medicines have become the latest among Indianimports. Under Pakistani law, only medicines thatare approved and registered with the health depart-ment can be sold in the country. This is largelybecause Indian drugs can be 10 times cheaper thanthose manufactured in Pakistan by the same multi-national companies (MNCs).

Medicines from India are becoming even more pop-ular in this country as Pakistan's Ministry of Healthseeks a 6 to 10 percent increase in drug prices due

to various economic factors.

Agricultural Industry

Pakistan's agricultural industry accounts as one ofits largest export markets. Multi national cooper-ates like Monsanto control world markets throughpatents on genetically modified seeds, food etc.

The result will be that third world peoples likePakistan actually have to pay to use seeds and othergenetic materials that have been freely available tothem for centuries.

The Khilafah & Intellectual Property

The period prior to the development of intellectualproperty was seldom scarce of innovations.

During the glorious history of the Khilafah, Spain,Baghdad and Damascus were centres of medicine,physics, astronomy, optometry, and pharmacology,to name but a few sciences.

Since Islam does not recognise intellectual proper-ty or copyright, the Khilafah state will immediatelyrepudiate such laws and enforcements by political-ly withdrawing from the colonialist's institutions ofthe WTO and UN.

The implications for the Khilafah state, the devel-oping world and the capitalists states will inevitablybe prolific and numerous. Below are presentedsome possibilities for illustration.

Socio-economic, Political, & Intellectual Implications

International Politics:

The greatest implication for the world will be thepresence of a practical alternative to Capitalism.

Challenge to the American hegemony will be at theforefront, as she is the world's policeman. AlthoughAmerica will retain its support with the Westernstates, the state will raise immediate internationalopinion against her through a multitude of medi-ums.

The Khilafah should be able to influence and winleadership over the developing world including theMuslim states, as it these states which have longsuffered from intellectual properties. World opinionwill be challenged and divided.

Economics:

We will openly repudiate international patents onthe world arena and initiate copying, developingand selling medical drugs, software, etc to othercountries for lower prices and political aims.

This should see the inauguration of the collapse ofthe capitalist multi-corporate monopolies. Suchfierce and aggressive competition should shatter the

Please address your letters and questionsto the Editorial Team, atthe address given onpage 4 of the magazine.?


US forces "serve as a deterrent to SaddamHussein. But beyond that, as a symbol ofAmerican presence, influence, [we] need to haveUS forces in the region.General Powell - on US presence in the Gulf[21/01/02 - the Daily Telegraph]

"I have great concern about America's credibilityand I care about how America is perceived...Asyour friends and as your allies, we are very proudof our relationship with you."Crown Prince Abdullah - on the US-SaudiRelationship [1/29/2002 Arabic news.com]

Quotes

"When the Afghan conflict is over we will notleave central Asia. We have long-term plans andinterests in this region."Elizabeth Jones - US assistant secretary ofstate [12/02/02 The Guardian - America'simperial war]

"Indeed the western world and its values, are stillunder deadly threat. That threat must be elimi-nated, and now is the time to act vigorously."George Bush - American President

Published by Al-Khilafah Publications

volatile economy of the West, beginning with theloss of confidence, wiping millions of the marketvalue, forcing out investors/shareholders. Increasedcompetition and a decline of prices an inevitability.

Intellectual Wealth & Progress:

Research will once again flourish beyond the capi-talist states. Innovation, science and technologywould be encouraged and developed using currentknowledge irrespective of intellectual property.

Non-ideological & subservient nations will becomerevitalized nations, referring to the Islamic ideolo-gy to solve their problems. Hence not only willmaterial wealth flourish, but intellectual wealth willdevelop.

Defence/Military research & Heavy Industry:

Education, in terms of research level, at university,will develop as the state initiates its policy ofda'wah and removing all material obstacles in thepath of the da'wah through Jihad.

Heavy industry the cornerstone for any nation willbe linked to the policy of Jihad & da'wah.

In conclusion, as has been demonstrated, the spec-tre of colonialism manifests itself in a new guise astyle far more discerning than the then archaicphysical colonisation.

After these nations had gained ownership of tech-nology, the knowledge relating to industry, and pro-duction of goods and services, they imposed theirlaws to hoard this knowledge and prevent othernations from benefiting from them.

The laws of protecting intellectual property are oneof the styles of economic and cultural colonialismimposed by the capitalist superpowers on the statesof the world and its peoples via the World TradeOrganisation and only the Khilafah will bring thealternative system capable of challenging the Kufr.

Shaban Ul-Haq

www.khilafah.com.pk

By signing an MOU on Friday 22nd, therebycommitting itself to the construction of a gaspipeline from Iran to India, via Pakistan, the gov-ernment is working to solve India's energy prob-lems and strengthen India's military and industri-al prowess at a time when India has amassed ahuge army on the border and is currently contem-plating increasing its defence budget by 35%.Islam prohibits providing assistance to thosecountries that have occupied Muslim land andthat have declared an open war on Islam.

Both the governments of Pakistan and Iran areundeterred by the enormous strategic advantageto be gained by India and are only interested inthe commercial aspects of the venture. This wasaptly summed up by Commerce Minister AbdulRazzaq Dawood, who described the project asbringing economic prosperity and peace to theregion. Putting economic interests before thesecurity of the Ummah seems to be the hallmarkof all the regimes of the Muslim world. Indeed,the Pakistani government has justified supportingAmerica's war on Afghanistan, the continuouspresence of US troops on Pakistani soil and thefighting of extremism - all for $1 billion of con-ditional aid. With such a mind-set how longbefore Musharraf tells the people of Pakistan thatit is in the economic interest to disarm Pakistan'snuclear assets, give up the Kashmir cause or evenbecome a part of India. Surely the price of suchtreachery will only benefit the enemies of theUmmah.

By all accounts, the present leadership of theMuslim world is incapable of protecting the

Ummah and her Islam. If they were sincere toIslam the least they could do is cut the supply ofoil and gas to the enemies of the Ummah, whichalone would be sufficient to bring them to theirknees. The leadership within the Khilafah Statewill be sincere to Islam and will spare no effort inusing the resources of the Ummah for the benefitof the Ummah and the deen.

www.khilafah.com.pk26th February 2002

Government bolstersIndian hegemony in theregion by seeking to fulfillher energy needs

khilafah magazine march 2002

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