Page 2 of 2 INTERVIEW
Hizbut Tahrir's view on Lebanese politics By Mahan Abedin
MA: To what extent did the events of May 2008
heighten sectarian tensions in Lebanon?
OB: Not surprisingly, Hezbollah's blunder re-opened old wounds
and divisions. We at Hizbut Tahrir completely reject sectarian notions of
Shi'ite and Sunni, especially insofar as they militate against Islamic unity.
MA: How can you call it a blunder when you consider the fact that
Hezbollah's armed intervention achieved the movement's goals, at least in the
short-term? They managed to annul two
controversial government decisions and more importantly won the veto concession
at Doha. Most people would say that is a resounding success.
OB: On the surface your analysis is trenchant. However, when you
look at the reality and dynamics of Lebanese politics, the [Fouad] Siniora
government did not have the ability to enforce the two decisions. They were
just ink on paper. Hezbollah committed a strategic blunder to secure an empty
tactical victory. It traded its reputation as a fearless and heroic
anti-Israeli movement for a pyrrhic tactical victory. Even the Doha agreement
did not give anything substantial to Hezbollah since Hezbollah has had a veto
power all along.
MA: You mentioned earlier that HT rejects sectarianism in
Lebanese politics. But does HT reject sectarianism on wider religious and
ideological levels as well?
OB: HT categorically rejects any sectarian and nationalistic
categories and descriptions. We refuse any such distinctions between Muslims.
Our position is that such categorizations serve the interests of the enemies of
Islam and the Muslim Umma [community]. It is no secret that the colonial
West has used the "divide and conquer" strategy to split the Muslim nation into
dozens of feuding mini-nations. The recent catastrophes in Afghanistan, Iraq,
Sudan, Yemen and Palestine are vivid examples of this strategy.
MA: How does HT propose to bridge the deep religious divide
between Shi'ite Muslims and Sunni Muslims?
OB: We have successfully bridged this gap within our
organization. We have Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims in our ranks. Indeed, the
chairman of HT's Executive Committee in Lebanon (the effective leader of the
organization in Lebanon), Dr Mohammad Jaber is a Shi'ite Muslim.
MA: But HT is widely regarded as a predominantly - if not
exclusively - Sunni organization.
OB: It depends where you are; in Iraq that may not be the case.
MA: But take Lebanon where Shi'ites and Sunnis are evenly
balanced; what percentage of your members in Lebanon are Shi'ite Muslims?
OB: We don't base our statistics on such categories.
MA: HT was born in Palestine, which is in the Sham [Levant]
region; would you say that more than 50 years later this region remains your
center of gravity?
OB: In a way you could say so, without at the same time
belittling the impact and strength of our mission throughout the Muslim Umma.
We have a strong presence throughout the Muslim Umma, from Indonesia to
Morocco. To give you an example, we planned for a major conference in Turkey on
July 26, yet two days before that the Turkish government launched a massive
crackdown on HT members and arrested more than 200 members of the party in 23
Turkish provinces.
MA: Why has the Turkish government been harsh to HT lately?
OB: The Turkish police made a childish allegation when they
arrested some HT members on weapons charges. This was a childish gimmick,
especially since everyone knows that since day one HT has been recognized as a
completely non-violent party. In the atmosphere created by the so-called war on
terror, the Turkish government has tried to present HT as a security threat in
order to justify a crackdown. However, it has only succeeded in relinquishing
its last fig leaf of legitimacy by claiming to be a democratic state led by a
supposedly "Islamic" party.
MA: Would you agree that the project to re-create the caliphate
is further away than ever?
OB: You should review HT's last global conference, held on July
21, 2009, in Indonesia [2] where 5,000 scholars and Ulama [legal
scholars of Islam] from all corners of the Umma issued a call to Muslims
everywhere to work for the re-creation of the caliphate. This is strong
evidence that the party's work is strengthening and day by day we are getting
closer to achieving our goal.
MA: It is one thing to hold a conference in Jakarta, but what
resonance does that have on national politics in different Muslim countries?
OB: Islam supersedes any national reference. The conference in
Indonesia gathered scholars from most countries in the Muslim world. It is part
of the party's annual global drive to commemorate the collapse of the caliphate
in 1924. In 2007, the conference in Jakarta attracted over 100,000
participants, with many not able to participate due to the stadium reaching
full capacity. Other conferences were held in Lebanon, the United Kingdom,
Denmark and Sudan. In Turkey, the conference was scheduled to be held on July
26 but the Turkish government aborted it by the massive crackdown it unleashed
on July 24, 2009. Hizbut Tahrir also held an international conference in
February 2009 in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to address the international
financial and economic crisis.
MA: There is a growing academic discourse in the West that
Islamism and Islamist groups are in crisis and decline. How do you counter this
argument?
OB: The fact that local regimes in Syria, Saudi Arabia and even
Turkey, which is supposed to be a democratic state, resort to harsh crackdowns
to stem the appeal of the Islamic message, clearly demonstrates the growing
appeal of this message. If Islamist groups were really in decline then there
would be no need for these brutal and costly police and security tactics.
MA: HT has been known to have a dogmatic and unfavorable attitude
towards other Islamist groups. Have you revised your opinions and are you now
willing to consider some of these groups as equal partners in the grand project
of re-establishing the Islamic caliphate?
OB: The project to re-establish the caliphate is not a monopoly
of HT; this is the mission of the Muslim Umma. As such we call on every
Muslim, at an individual and group level, to join in the effort. We believe
that recent geopolitical events, namely the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq
and the on-going Israeli occupation of Palestine, have strengthened the unity
of the Umma and driven home the urgency to create a global state that
can protect Muslims from their enemies. Surely we would have preferred for the
Muslim nation to accept our vision decades ago, without going through the
endless suffering and humiliations. Events over the past few decades have
proven both the correctness of our diagnosis of the ills besetting the Muslim Umma
and our vision to restore her dignity and pride. Once the idea of Muslim unity
is deeply entrenched nothing can prevent its manifestation in reality.
Mahan Abedin is a senior researcher in terrorism studies and a consultant
to independent media in Iran. He is currently based in northern Iraq, where he
is helping to develop local media capacity.
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