Islamic and European slavery: a very brief comparison

The “European powers” (particularly Spain, Portugal, France and Britain) are rightly condemned for their past actions in respect of slavery, as is America.

There is no disputing the fact that in the course of the approx 350 years of European/American slavery some eleven million African slaves were transported across the Atlantic ocean in the most atrocious of conditions, which resulted in an average of 10% (more than a million) perishing on the journey.

That they were worked hard, sometimes literally to death, and that some of the women were used as sex-slaves is also indisputable. (The latter is provable on genetic grounds. Many African-Caribbean people have genes that could only possibly have come from Caucasians.)

That this was a dreadful crime against humanity is also beyond doubt.

In slight mitigation, it has to also be accepted that these same “Powers” and especially Britain were at the forefront of efforts to ban slavery worldwide, an objective that has not yet been totally achieved, though it has been achieved within the “West” and much of the world.

Many peoples throughout the World, including the Islamic world “point the finger” at the West in general, and Europeans and Americans in particular, over this issue.

Whilst this is morally justified, it has to be said that in the case of the Islamic world in particular the “finger of blame” should be pointed at themselves also.

Slavery in Islam is a scarcely mentioned matter, though books and resources are available, going right back to the records kept by Islamic Sultans, their advisers and other Muslim chroniclers.

At its zenith the Islamic Empire stretched from India through northern Africa and into Eastern Europe.

From its very inception Islam practiced slavery as a part of war and then as a tax- or tribute-measure.

A survey of sources concerning the numbers enslaved by the “Islamic powers”, according to their own records (which are incomplete and thus will under-estimate the figures) show the following:

Europeans enslaved: 400,000{1} (A secondary source{4} I have places this figure >1million.)

Indians enslaved: 6,000,000{2}

Africans enslaved: 12,000,000{3} (This figure neglects slaves for the Western trade – see below.)

Total enslaved: 18,400,000

Let me repeat: the figures shown above are, in each case, an under-estimate of the true figure. For example the Senegalese Author Tidiane N’Diaye in his book LE GENOCIDE VOILÉ, (Jan. 2008) says :  “17 million Africans who were brought to the Arab-Muslim world and transformed into eunuchs have disappeared … It was a programmed ‘ethnic extinction by castration.”. If this was the total number of male slaves, then the total number of Africans enslaved must have been much higher than that.
 
Even the most conservative figures show that the “Islamic powers” over their history (632 AD to present, approx 1380 years) have enslaved at the very least 66% more people than the Christian West over it’s history (approx 2000 years). 

Further it is also documented that the European slave trade was founded on the supply of slaves by muslim slave-traders who supplied about 80% of the slaves for the Atlantic slave-trade.

Thus, in total, muslims enslaved perhaps twenty-one million Africans – about nine million for the transatlantic trade and (as previously mentioned) a minimum of twelve million for the “internal” Islamic slave trade.

Furthermore, there are some aspects of Islamic slavery that are uniquely cruel. In the first place was the wide-spread Islamic practice of killing all the adult males captured in war or slave-raiding and only retaining the females, especially the children and fertile women. The latter were widely used as sex-slaves. (Harems containing many hundreds of sex-slaves are well documented in history.)

When the adult males were not killed they were frequently castrated. (Again the presence of numbers of eunuchs within the Islamic system is well documented.)

These two practices (slaughter and/or castration) had the consequence that the enslaved population had little or no chance to reproduce itself which meant that the surviving slave women could only have children fathered by their Muslim overlords. Since in Islam the child of a slave is a slave, the practice of castration was often carried out on subsequent generations also, thus the descendents of the slaves died out over time or, on occasion, were assimilated within the Muslim population.

(Sometimes Mussalmen married a slave – usually freeing her as her Mahr{10} – in order to aquire legitimate offspring.)

That the killing of the majority of the male population would have had a devastating effect on both the population of the peoples raided for slaves in particular and the population balance between muslims and non-muslims is self-evident and well documented in the case of India.{2}

Another source{5} claims that Jihad caused up to 270 million deaths. Given that jihad and slavery are inextricably linked in Islamic history, it is not beyond the bounds of reason that the upper limit for Islamic slave-taking is in the 100′s of millions range{6}.

Quoting N’Diaye again, he points out that “The slave trade of Negroes … was an invention of the Arab-Muslim world.  It was the Arabs, Berbers, Turks, and Persians, who originated this infamous practice long before the Europeans began the African slave trade. For one thousand years, they[Muslims] were trading in African people, from the 7^th to the 16^th centuries. They resumed the practice from the 19^th to the 20^th centuries, long after the Western nations had abolished this trade.” The only mistake here, due to the date of N’Diaye’s writing is that Islamic slaving continues into the 21^st century also.

The modern situation{7}

In the West today, slavery of any sort is illegal. This should not be conflated with the criminal human-trafficking that still takes place within the West for the purposes of prostitution etc, that no (Western) Country sanctions.

The only slaves still found in the West are those that arrive as part of the entourage of (typically) diplomats who, due to their diplomatic immunity, are not prosecuted on the occasions when a slave escapes and goes to the Police.

Despite world-wide condemnation of slavery, it still exists today in the Islamic world, though on a reduced scale.

The abuse (both physical and sexual) of servants in Arab (esp. Saudi and Sudanese) households is well documented as well as the conditions under which they are kept prisoners within the “employers’” households. Whilst this could be considered as parallel to human-trafficking in the West, the comparison is false: whereas Western Countries try to rescue the victims and will prosecute those caught in this heinous activity when possible, no such redress – legal or civil – exists within parts of the Islamic world.

Children as young as 5 (yes five) years old from North African Countries such as Mauritania are sold as sex-slaves (under the guise of marriage to elderly men) into the Mid. East, especially Yemen, Saudi Arabia and UAE, from whence numbers have been rescued by Save the Children – rather than government agencies. Again this is not parallel to the general pattern of human-trafficking since these “child-brides” are knowingly sold for sexual purposes by their own families. (To be fair, from the Islamic perspective, there is nothing wrong with this child-marriage – except that the families get the bride-price or “Mahr” rather than the girl herself.)

In the Sudanese civil war, which cost two million (approx.) non-Muslims their lives, the Arab “Janjaweed” militia and the Islamic government forces made a practice of enslaving the young women when they razed villages and killed the men. Several charities bought these slaves back (thus freeing them) and helped them return home. Almost all had been multiply raped, many were pregnant by their rapists – which is pretty clear evidence of sexual slavery.

More recently (pre-2002) the Afghani Taliban and their allies (in particular “Mujahid”s from Pakistan) were in the habit of sex-slave raiding within Afghanistan itself. The Taliban and its allies were at war and in Islam war-booty has always included the women of a defeated enemy, thus when the Taliban et al “captured” a village (even if undefended), the women in it became the Talib’s property.

In Mauritania slaves and their off-spring are still handed down as chattels generation to generation.

Abduction, rape and forced conversion of non-Muslim girls and women in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt and elsewhere is also reliably documented. In these last cases the situation is also more akin to that of claiming women as “war booty” rather than “conventional” slave-raiding, but in many respects the effects and the (lack of) response of the Authorities (Police, legal system) is similar. In any case, this is still the accepted and, apparently, Islamically acceptable abuse of non-Muslim women for sexual purposes.

Thus muslims still believe that the enslavement of others (in particular non-Muslims, especially women) is acceptable. Indeed the Muslim Sudanese claim that it is sanctioned by Islam itself, which whilst no more than the truth, is a bold claim to make in today’s World.

Conclusion

Taken together the evidence; religious, historical and contemporary; shows that:

• Islamic slavery was pervasive, endemic and religiously sanctioned{8,9,11}.
• That it continues to this day in the Islamic world where at best it is ignored and at worst actively and openly practiced and supported.
• The evidence also “gives the lie” to the claim by those apologists for Islam who claim that “Islam abolished slavery”. This claim is, quite simply, a bare-faced lie; far from abolishing slavery, Islam regards the enslavement of women and non-Muslims as normative and regulates it legally within Sharia codes{8,9}

 References and notes

1. White Slaves, African Masters, The University of Chicago Press 1999
2. Islamic Jihad, M.A.Khan, iUniverse inc.
3. Slavery in the Arab World, Murray Gordan, New Amsterdam Books, 1989, similar figure quoted by “Arabslavetrade.com”, a Muslim-authored site.
4. Sharia Law for the non-Muslim, Bill Warner. CSPI. Available as pdf.
5. The Submission of Women and Slaves, CSPI Publishing, p.181
6. “The scourge of slavery”, Christian action. This source suggests that ~140 million Africans were “victims” (either through being killed or enslaved) of the Muslim slave trade. However, I acknowledge that the source may be less than impartial.
7. The evidence for my statements in this section are freely available on the web.
8. Interestingly, the translators of the “Reliance of the Traveller” do not translate the entire “book” devoted to slavery on the grounds that “it is no longer relevant” (!) and they also assert that it is a fallacy to understand Islamic slavery in terms of Western slavery. Were the latter the case, they should have no qualms about presenting the translation!
9. A quick “google” of “Sharia and slavery” shows an incredibly wide range of sources from all parts of the social-political spectrum (inc. Wikipedia and the BBC) all agreeing that Sharia regulates rather than abolishes slavery.
10. Mahr or “bride-price” is a sum of money (or other valuables) paid to a women to “buy” use of her vagina and the right to get children on her as part of the “Nikah” (lit: “sexual intercourse”, usually translated “marriage”) contract. For a slave, the example of Mohammed is to free her (therefore not costing a penny) as this elevation in status was considered enough to buy her vagina.
11. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292-1350 AD) who is one of the greatest scholars and chroniclers of Islam. In “Zad al-Ma’ad” (Part I, p. 160), commenting on the “holy” actions of Mohammed writes: “Muhammad had many male and female slaves. He used to buy and sell them, but he purchased more than he sold, especially after God empowered him by His message, as well as after his immigration from Mecca. … He was used to renting out and hiring many slaves, but he hired more slaves than he rented out.”

PAKISTAN`S GOVERNMENT FAILING ON MINORITIES

Pakistan's government is failing to protect the country's religious minorities, a new report says. The rising tide of vigilante violence and extremism is threatening Christians, Hindus and Ahmedis, the report by the Jinnah Institute said. The assassinations of two prominent advocates of minority rights this year had led to an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, it added. The report warned extremists posed a serious threat to Pakistan's stability. The 70- page report, entitled "A Question of Faith", was released on Tuesday by the Asian Human Rights Commission. The Jinnah Institute think-tank is headed by the former information minister and a parliamentarian belonging to the governing Pakistan Peoples' Party, Sherry Rehman. The report criticises President Zardari's government for backing off from repealing, or even discussing, the country's controversial blasphemy law. It documents growing incidents of mob violence against minority groups and provides examples of abductions and forced conversions of minority women. The report calls for repealing the country's controversial blasphemy law and urges the government to urgently undertake political and judicial reforms to ensure equality for Muslims and non-Muslim citizens of Pakistan.

India Briefs: Recent Incidents of Persecution

State police on June 5 arrested Christians based on a false complaint by Hindu nationalists of forcible conversion in Doddamma Layout, Hulimavu village, Bangalore. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported that at around 10 a.m. police disrupted the worship of an Indian Pentecostal Church home fellowship and arrested Pastor Manjunath Venketappa Naik. Later that morning, officers returned to the house and took Naik’s wife to the Hulimavu police station, along with their minor children and six Christian women, for questioning. With GCIC intervention, the Christians were released the same day at around 2:30 p.m. without being charged.
Jharkhand – Hindu extremists in Karivadhi village, Garwah district of Jharkhand threatened three Christian families who had converted from Hinduism in the village, warning them to stop following Christ or be severely beaten. Pastor Arjun Karmagi, field coordinator of Gospel Echoing Missionary Society, told Compass that the extremists threatened to force the families of the Christians, Raghuvir Chowdhary, Purnima Devi and Mahendra Chowdhary, to the Ganges River in Banaras city to reconvert them back to Hinduism. The Christians fled the area and are now in hiding.
Jharkhand – Hindu extremists beat five Christian families for their faith in Christ on May 28 in Laherbanjari, Palamu district. The Evangelical Fellowship of India reported that a week earlier about 20 Hindu extremists had threatened Pastor Sanjay Choudary of the Gospel Echoing Missionary Society, warning him to stop leading worship meetings or be beaten. Christians filed a complaint, and police on May 28 visited the area. Immediately after the police left, the enraged extremists appeared and started beating the five Christian families, including the women. One woman, Mala Devi, suffered internal injuries and was hospitalized at Sadar Hospital. Another Christian woman, Kalavati Devi, was reportedly still missing. The Christians fled their houses and at press time were still in hiding.
Uttar Pradesh – Hindu extremists in Bhopura, Sahidabad on May 19 threatened Pastor Sanju Mahananda of the Believers Church, telling him to stop construction of his church building. A Believers Church representative told Compass that Pastor Mahananda was constructing a pastor’s residence/prayer hall when the extremists appeared and threatened to demolish it if he continued building. Christians stopped the construction work but filed a police complaint.
Chhattisgarh – Hindu extremists in Jangir, Champa district on May 20 attacked a Christian because of his faith. A source told Compass that the extremists had threatened a Christian convert from Hinduism who goes by a single name, Tarzan, on Feb. 20 for following Christ and singing gospel songs. They warned him to stop his Christian activity or face harm. Led by Jharu Ram Manohar, the extremists on May 20 attacked him for continuing to follow Christ, beating him, destroying his house and keeping him from using the village pond. The next day the extremists filed a police complaint against him for “misbehavior.” The Christian filed a counter-complaint against the extremists, but no action has been taken by the police at press time.

Algerian Authorities Close Seven “Illegal” Protestant Churches

I make it a habit to keep abreast of events in the Muslim word by perusing the articles appearing in the Arabic online daily, Elaph. On Wednesday, 25 May, I noticed a report with the headline: “Algerian Authorities Close Seven ‘Illegal’ Protestant Churches.” Here is a translation of the Arabic text, followed by my analysis and comments.

“The president of the Protestant Church in Algeria reported to Agence France Presse that the Algerian authorities ordered the closure of seven Protestant churches in the Province of Bejaya, in the ‘Little Kabyle region’ of eastern Algeria. The reason given was that these churches had not complied with the law governing the practice of religion within the country.

“Mustapha Kareem Kareem, the overseer of the churches in the area declared that on the 8^th of May, 2011, the Governor of Bejaya ‘ordered us to close seven of our churches, without giving any justification for his order. However, it appears that the decision was taken in accordance with the law of February, 2006, that required obtaining permission from the provincial authorities for the practice of any religion, other than Islam.’

“Kareem went on to explain: ‘We have continued our activities in these churches, since they had been organized prior to the passing of the law of 2006. Having contacted the authorities in order to comply with the order, we found out that there were many obstacles standing in our way, thus delaying the granting of the permit.’

“Algeria requires that all those desiring to practice a religion other than Islam, must obtain two permits: one regarding the place of worship, and the other information about the person or leader responsible for the local church.

“The Algerian Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, and the right of non-Muslims to practice their faith. According to the daily Algerian newspaper Al-Watan, Hamou al-Touhami, the governor of the province where the seven churches were closed said, ‘We don’t oppose the practice of non-Islamic religions, but their followers must honor the law of the land.

“It is to be noted that the Algerian Church is experiencing a growth, especially in the Kabyle[1] district of the country. According to Mustapha Kareem, the number of Evangelicals in Algeria has reached 30,000.

“Muslim leaders in Algeria have been very critical of the activities of Evangelicals who engage secretly in their work. They assert that such activities are contrary to Islam, which is, according to the Constitution, the State Religion, and the faith of the majority of Algerians.”

Analysis

The Algerian Constitution in theory guarantees freedom of religion.  In practice, however, the authorities have put obstacles in the way of those who actually choose to practice a religion other than Islam.  The report states that non-Muslims must get permits which state the location of their church and its leader before they can operate.  This is not unreasonable on its face, but by closing churches which had been in operation before these conditions were applied to their situation, and before they could even comply, appears to indicate that this is just an excuse to close the churches down.  The governor of the province where the churches were closed may have been bowing to pressure from leaders in the Muslim community who have become fearful of the Evangelical presence and effectiveness in the area. It will be interesting to see how this story will play out in the days ahead.

Comments

During the second half of the twentieth century, millions of Muslims from South-East Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, moved to Europe and the Americas where they experience the personal freedoms that all Westerners enjoy.  This includes the freedom of religion. They have built mosques in most of the cities and towns where they settled. Not only do they practice their faith freely, but they engage in Da’wa, the Islamic equivalent of missions to non-Muslims. However, Christians and those of other faiths who live in the lands under Muslim control do not experience similar freedoms. They face discrimination and outright persecution in some instances.  As for engaging in evangelism, like Muslims in the West do, it is totally unacceptable and criminal.  Converts to Christianity in particular live in constant danger.

Algeria has not been as hostile to non-Muslims as have the authorities in other Islamic countries.  That is why the reported closing of those seven churches is not a good sign.  When the Christians seek to comply with the authorities, they are rebuffed as well.  Rules are put in place and then the officials refuse to allow the Christians to comply when they seek to do so.  There are other sources that believe the authorities are threatening to close all the churches, not just the seven listed in the report translated above.

This report from Algeria, coupled with the other examples of viciousness against Christians in those very “liberated” Middle Eastern nations that have been striving to see democracy succeed, indicates that the political situation may not be as rosy as many commentators in the West have been saying. 

The Iraqi “democracy,” for instance, has not proven to be very amenable to the thousands of Iraqi Christians who have lived in the country since the early years of the Christian era. The United States’ military presence, contrary to what one might have expected, has not made things easier for the Christians.  More than half of Iraq’s Christians have been forced to leave their homeland, since the American military presence began! And even though the forty-year old rule of Hosni Mubarak came to an end in Egypt, the Copts thus far, have not benefited from the power shift that occurred with Mubarak’s departure. Serious confrontations between the authorities and Christians have occurred and churches have been burned. Whether the so-called “Arab Spring” brings true democracy has yet to be seen; but thus far, it has certainly not brought any basic improvement in the conditions of Christians living in these countries.

The situation in Algeria reminds us again how difficult it is for Christians and those of other faiths to practice their religion in Islamic countries.  To obtain permission to build houses of worship or to meet at all is not easily come by.  Muslims who have settled in Europe and the Americas, however, experience no such difficulties.  They have total freedom to practice their faith, build mosques, and propagate their faith and worldview.  And this despite the fact that some mosques in the West, thanks often to Saudi money, have become centers of radicalism.  Many Saudi-backed Imams have been imported into the West to preach Jihad against the very nations that had welcomed them.

The mosque, beginning with Muhammad in Medina, has served both as a place of worship, and a center for political activities. Over the years, I have listened to the Friday sermons broadcast on short wave radio stations, from the mosques in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and in Cairo, Egypt. The ethical elements of the messages are minimal, and limited to clichés interspersed with Qur’anic texts. The majority of the Khutbas[2] are devoted to political issues, with references to the glorious Islamic past, while deploring present-day conditions within the Islamic Umma that stand in the way of its ascendancy.

We should not forget that the leader of the 9/11/2001 attacks on the United Sates, Muhammad Atta, attended the Jerusalem Mosque, in Hamburg, Germany, where he would have heard his share of fiery sermons from its Imam. He was confident his crime on 9/11, was done “Fi SabeelAllah” (In the Pathway of Allah.)

To amplify this point I quote from the Introduction to Professor Ephraim Karsh’s book, “Islamic Imperialism: A History” published in 2006 by Yale University Press, in 2006. 

“The worlds of Christianity and Islam, however, have developed differently in one fundamental respect. The Christian faith won over an existing empire in an extremely slow and painful process and its universalism was originally conceived in spiritual terms that made a clear distinction between God and Caesar. By the time it was embraced by the Byzantine emperors as a tool for buttressing their imperial claims, three centuries after its foundation, Christianity had in place a countervailing ecclesiastical institution with an abiding authority over the wills and actions of all believers. The birth of Islam, by contrast, was inextricably linked with the creation of a world empire and its universalism was inherently imperialist. It did not distinguish between temporal and religious powers, which were combined in the person of Muhammad, who derived his authority directly from Allah and acted at one and the same time as head of the state and head of the church. This allowed the prophet to cloak his political ambitions with a religious aura and to channel Islam’s energies into ‘its instruments of aggressive expansion, there [being] no internal organism of equal force to counterbalance it.’” (P. 5)

As I write these lines, the turmoil in the Arab world continues and outcomes are not clear. President Mubarak is facing trial for the crimes he has committed during his forty-year rule.  Colonel Gadhafi is hanging on in Libya .Yemen’s president has refused yielding to the pressure of the opposition seeking to dislodge him from his autocratic rule, until his stronghold came under attack. He was wounded and left the country seeking medical attention in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the first week of June, 2011. And in Syria, the land I know so well, and where I spent the early years of my life, the blood-letting continues. President Bashar al-Assad resorts to unbelievable measures to suppress the peaceful demonstrations of the people, causing more than 1,100 deaths in the streets of numerous cities, towns, and villages in every part of Syria.  Interestingly, the situation in Algeria is fluid.  According to other sources the churches in question continued to meet. They also continue to check with the authorities to comply with the new rules, but the authorities do not cooperate with them.

When the dust finally settles, it remains doubtful whether the condition of the Christians would improve. I am not deploring the attempt of Middle-Eastern people to rid themselves of decades of oppression. However, if having liberated themselves from dictatorial rule, they return to the core beliefs of Islam, no basic changes would have taken place; and minorities, both ethnic and religious, would continue to suffer discrimination and persecution. My fear is legitimate having read recently in an Arabic-language journal, an article by a Syrian intellectual (in exile) who warned against the possible take-over of these countries by the well-organized Muslim Brotherhood. My hope and prayer is that such a catastrophic event would be averted by the concerted efforts and actions of reformist leaders who realize that such a Salafist[3] group would plunge the area into another era of darkness.

[1] The Kabyle district is in the north-central part of Algeria, east of Algiers. The Kabyles are one of the Berber groups that have retained their identity, along with the Chaoul, Tuareg, and Mozabite. This retention of identity is evidence that the Arab-Muslim invaders having succeeded in Islamizing them nevertheless failed to completely arabize them. 

2. Khutba is the sermon delivered by the Imam of the Mosque during the Friday Prayer Service.

3. Salafist is an Arabic term that refers to those Muslim thinkers who claim that the only way for Islam to catch up with the rest of the world, is to go back to early Islam, possibly re-establishing the Khilafat (Caliphate.)

Written By Jacob Thomas, Faith Freedom International

source :    http://www.elaph.com/Web/news/2011/5/657445.html

  

Hizb ut-Tahrir Target Bangladesh

THE HATE-INCITING Islamist sect Hizb ut Tahrir has three clear goals: to establish a community of like-minded Hizb ut Tahrir members in host states, to sway public opinion in one or more host states to facilitate change of government, and, finally, to install a new government that implements Islam generally and comprehensively, carrying (its particular brand of) Islamic thought to people throughout the world.

Hizb ut Tahrir’s constitution is a typical, dark, Islamist, totalitarian, freedom-removing, theocratic and extremist formula for an Islamic Caliphate. Hizb ut Tahrir has distributed leaflets inciting the murder of lesbians and gay men. It has referred to suicide bombings as “legitimate” acts of “martyrdom”. One Hizb ut Tahrir member recently expressed his regret to the religious freedom organization Forum 18 that Hitler had not succeeded in eliminating all Jews. Hizb ut Tahrir is proscribed in Russia, Germany and many Muslim countries.

Embarrassingly, Britain is now Hizb ut Tahrir’s de facto headquarters, from where it fundraises and recruits, whilst supporting its extremist brothers and sisters across the globe. A ban on its activities is currently being reviewed by the British Government following the delivery of two dossiers of information on the sect’s activities by the anti terrorist group VIGIL in November 2006 and March this year.

The main spokesman for Hizb ut Tahrir, Dr Imran Waheed, who led a rally of 8,000 people in London in December 2005, is recorded as saying that there can be “no possibility of harmonious co-existence between Islam and the West. Ultimately one has to prevail.” Hizb ut Tahrir is – and has been for years - a systematic dissemination of venom and poison through duplicity; cloaked in a flawed and blatantly apostate interpretation of Taqiyya.

Hizb ut Tahrir – like most extreme Islamist groups (Al Qaeda, the Algerian Islamic Salvation Front, the Taliban and Hezbollah) – seek that elusive state from which they think they will be able to launch their religious and political ideologies and thus grow an Islamic empire. An empire – Hizb ut Tahrir refers to a caliphate - which, according to an archived webpage of the Hizb ut Tahrir website, would "wrest the reins of initiative away from other states and nations" and become the dominant hegemony before Islam ultimately takes over the world.

Since its inception in Jerusalem in 1953, Hizb ut Tahrir’s attempts at winning over a state – like almost all extreme Islamist parties’ attempts – have failed pitifully. In 1968 then 1969 Hizb ut Tahrir was allegedly involved in two failed coup attempts in Jordan and Syria. In 1974 Hizb ut Tahrir failed in a coup attempt in Egypt. Upset that they’d overestimated the number of nuts in their target states, in 1978 Hizb ut Tahrir begrudgingly acknowledged “that the Muslim Ummah had reached a state of total surrender and despair and was not responding to anything”.

After twenty years of banging its head against the wall (virtual silence punctuated by the occasional arrest of a member), in 1998 – incidentally the year of the Tanzanian and Kenyan US embassy bombings by Al Qaeda, and a year of marked Internet take-up – Hizb ut Tahrir suddenly decided once again that the world should know that “the Caliphate is the wish of all Muslims” and thus busily set about making as many people as possible believe in their parallel universe, hanging onto the coat-tails of 911 and consequent “victimization” of Muslims. Hizb ut Tahrir began a two level recruitment strategy – recruiting students who, when they found work, would keep the sect financially buoyant and uneducated “footsoldiers” who would eventually do their dirty work, when called upon to rise up and seize power.

Hizb ut Tahrir’s failures to get hold of a state rankle it most in Central Asia where it has large followings in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, as well as in China's traditionally Muslim Xinjiang Province. Its expansion into Central Asia coincided with the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s but it came across unexpectedly tough national leaders where it tried to grow – one of whom is alleged to have got so fed up with Hizb ut Tahrir that he boiled some of its members alive - and consequently Hizb ut Tahrir huffed and puffed but failed to make the breakthroughs it was banking on.

Now Hizb ut Tahrir has set its sights on weak, impoverished Bangladesh, where President Dr Iajuddin Ahmed declared a state of emergency in January this year. Hizb ut Tahrir has developed a considerable support base in Bangladesh and in the Bangladeshi community in the UK, describing the last 16 years of government in Bangladesh as ”a failure of the so-called democratic system run according to the dictates of foreign imperialists”. Hizb ut Tahrir Bangladesh has recently published its “Islamic Manifesto” for the country demanding a Khilafah (caliphate), widespread implementation of Shariah law and – perhaps most worrying for the impoverished Bangladeshi economy - for such measures as no foreign ownership of any of the country’s resources.

Yet Hizb ut Tahrir refuses to enter democratic elections wherever it is in the world, claiming elections contrary to Shariah law thus null and void – instead, in Bangladesh, according to its chief in Bangladesh, Mohiuddin Ahmed, wishing to establish Bangladesh as an Islamic state through “systematic movement”.

So what is this “systematic movement” Ahmed refers to, and does Hizb ut Tahrir really have a chance of gaining the keys to the unstable Bangladeshi state?

Hizb ut Tahrir denies sending death threats to politicians, journalists and intellectuals in Bangladesh, though this extremist sect has a record of sending death threats to try to get its own way. (Notably, the gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell received numerous death threats from Hizb ut Tahrir representatives in the 1990’s). Through infiltrating government positions, Hizb ut Tahrir has brought pressure to bear on politicians through fear and finance.

Hizb ut Tahrir is recruiting followers at Bangladesh’s universities and several of its student activists have recently been arrested in the country for distributing inflammatory leaflets. It uses the old excuses of Palestine, Iraq and Western colonialism as the grounds for opportunistic recruiting – saying that its own policies will bring Bangladesh into a “Golden Age”, as once Islam (they allege) experienced. Any opportunity - whether it be cartoon protests or Papal utterances - presents the grounds for a Hizb ut Tahrir protest and recruitment drive.

Subsequent to a massive bombing attack on cities in Bangladesh on August 17th, 2005, Hizb ut Tahrir responded by accusing India of initiating a campaign to destabilize Bangladesh. Investigation later revealed the terrorist attack was carried out by another extremist Islamist faction in Bangladesh, Jama'atul Mujahideen. (Hizb ut Tahrir habitually accuses India, along with "Western colonial powers" of 'conspiracy' against the Bangladeshi populace, using speechifying not dissimilar to that used against the United States or Britain in the Middle East)

Certainly, Bangladesh is ripe for political change. And students – unlike in many other democracies – play an important part in Bangladeshi government. Student politics is particularly strong in Bangladesh, a hangover from the liberation movement era of the early 1970’s. Almost all parties have highly active student wings, and students have been elected to the Bangladeshi Parliament while still students.

The two major parties in Bangladesh are the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Bangladesh Awami League. BNP finds its allies among Islamist parties like Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and Islami Oikya Jot, while Awami League teams up with leftist and secularist parties. Another important player is the Jatiya Party, headed by former military ruler Ershad. The Awami League-BNP rivalry has been bitter and punctuated by protests, violence and murder – the three environments Hizb ut Tahrir thrives in.

Hizb ut Tahrir garners support and funds for its Bangladeshi designs in Bangladesh and in the UK.

One investigator from the anti terrorist organization VIGIL has been spending a considerable amount of time in the Tower Hamlets area of London – an area synonymous with Bangladeshi immigration and (in world-famous Brick Lane) Bangladeshi restaurants. 33 percent of the Tower Hamlet’s inhabitants are of Bangladeshi origins. It’s a deprived area with high levels of unemployment (like South Croydon, the kind of void area Hizb ut Tahrir look to expand their “footsoldier” recruitment in) .

From her investigations of the area, it has become clear that Hizb ut Tahrir (1) are spending considerable sums of money recruiting Bangladeshi Muslims in the area (2) taking out whole-page, cash-paid Hizb ut Tahrir recruitment ads in Bangladeshi newspapers (which keep some of the papers going according to one editor) (3) inviting Bangladeshis to Hizb ut Tahrir study circles and events (4) telling Bangladeshis not to vote in local or national elections as this is against the principles of Islam (5) distributing inflammatory propaganda leaflets in the area daily, which aim to attract the youth (6) at meetings declaring the West and, in particular, British life as deviant and corrupt – declaring even the Brick Lane festival as an event which Muslims should not be seen at because of the free mixing and alcohol present (7) underlying the “great work” Hizb ut Tahrir is doing in Bangladesh – how their work there is a portent of the Hizb ut Tahrir sponsored caliphate to come there (8) taking considerable funds off Bangladeshi recruits (9) apologizing for their failure in the past to recognize Bangladeshi Muslims as equals (Hizb ut Tahrir Britain consists predominantly of Pakistani Muslims who, as a group, have a well-documented superiority complex over Bangladeshi Muslims) and are actively looking to elect a British, Bengali-speaking Bangladeshi to their visible British leadership (10) are aggressively engineering takeovers of cash-cow Bangladeshi mosques in the Tower Hamlets area (11) are fishing the Tower Hamlets Bangladeshi community for useful, particularly Bangladesh Nationalist Party, political connections and routes for infiltration (12) are openly rejecting integration into British society, underlying the superiority of “Muslim identity” and the irrelevance of British “kuffar” laws (13) are privately distributing radical Islamist literature amongst members of the Bangladeshi Diaspora in Tower Hamlets (14) are particularly “providing structures of support” (radicalizing) Bangladeshi Muslims from the community in or recently out of jail and (15) are discreetly attending study circles and seminars in well-known private premises, who have been made aware (16) reports are coming through UK Bangladeshis that terror training camps are now springing up in Bangladesh to which British Bangladeshis are being sent.

More worrying is the evidence uncovered on the area’s East London Youth Forum, which is operating as a front organization for Hizb ut Tahrir. The Youth Forum engages Muslim youths in activities ranging from hiking to paint-balling – activities, which on the face of it, their (often 18 hour working day) parents are happy to see them partake in. Only, when these youths are away, then Hizb ut Tahrir starts the brainwashing. Undercover Sunday Times journalists accompanied members of the group to one paint-balling session last September in Zulu wood, Manchester, where an imam present described Osama Bin Laden as a "Muslim brother" and said it was the "responsibility" of every Muslim to bring back the caliphate. Kasim Shafiq, 28, a senior member of Hizb ut Tahrir who was present, declared that Muslims should not vote in British elections. "Our own shahadah [creed] tells us that the authority and law do not belong to the non-Muslims, so why are we going to vote for non-Muslims?" According to the Sunday Times, “The Asian group paid no attention to the 300 or so other players at the six-acre site, although they kept their voices down when, at the end of a game, the winning team called "Allahu Akbar [God is great]". During one game, a player said: "I’ve been shot." His team-mate replied: "Don’t worry, the shahid [martyr] never dies."

Hizb ut Tahrir’s focus in search of its “elusive state” has swung away from the Central European states like Uzbekistan – for now. It is focused primarily on a takeover of Bangladesh, from within Bangladesh and using the financial and political muscle of the Bangladeshi population living abroad. Or as one Bangladeshi Tower Hamlets resident put it to VIGIL’s investigator, “Bangladesh is home to corruption and political violence – in that chaos, any vaguely ordered Islamist group with cash and influence coming from abroad could seem like the solution.”

What are the odds of Hizb ut Tahrir succeeding in taking over Bangladesh, when they’ve failed in the past in all their coup attempts?

On the one hand, they have a chance. If the Jamaat e Islami party can be sufficiently infiltrated, bought out and threatened by Hizb ut Tahrir, they are already the largest partner of the largest political party in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

On the other hand, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has already banned two radical Islamist parties in Bangladesh –the JMJB and the JMB – so a likely deal with a group which is clearly in the pockets of Hizb ut Tahrir seems unlikely, unless Hizb ut Tahrir have sufficiently infiltrated the BNP (which, according to a BNP source, they have not).

Moreover, other factors play against Hizb ut Tahrir. For one, Bangladesh has instituted a unique system of transfer of power; at the end of the tenure of the government, power is handed over to members of a civil society for three months, who run the general elections and transfer the power to elected representatives – it is unlikely, even in the current political crisis, that Hizb ut Tahrir would not be revealed during these three months as the force behind a government looking to come to power. As a party seeking the caliphate, and therefore an end to democracy in Bangladesh, the three months would reveal their illegal attempt, by deception, at ending Bangladesh’s popular parliamentary representative democratic republic.

Moreover, Bangladesh is surrounded by India on all sides except for a small border with Myanmar to the far southeast and the Bay of Bengal to the south. Bangladesh is heavily dependent on India for direct foreign investment and much trade. India will not sit idly by while an extremist sect (of any kind) attempts a state takeover – nor will the wider international community.

There are several reasons why extreme Islamists will find assuming power in Bangladesh like pushing water uphill. But the key reason is that Bangladesh just isn’t a very religious place, particularly amongst the upper, ruling classes. A very traditional group of mullahs have a monopoly over religious institutions and their staid, unimaginative, conservative approach has made religion rather passé. This dullness was encapsulated in the award-winning Bangladeshi film Matir Moina – homeopathy and prayers instead of antibiotics, punishments for using one’s left hand to write and grim sermons on the conviction needed for Islam all commonplace.

Hizb ut Tahrir is – according to one BNP (Bangladesh) source – more likely to face a ban in Bangladesh than get even the slightest grip on the reins of power. Once again, it seems, the people are just not ready (or unwise?) enough to want to return to the Middle Ages and embrace Hizb ut Tahrir’s idea of a Caliphate.

Perhaps the people can remember what it was like in Afghanistan under the Taliban. Perhaps they can remember the Islamist factions’ attempts at taking control in Algeria in the 1990’s – where, in a Monty Pythonesque series of events which shocked even Al Zawahiri – Islamist sects began declaring that only they held the absolute truth and so set about slaughtering anyone who didn’t believe in their particular version of Islam (to the point where one Islamist sect leader, who also happened to be an illiterate chicken farmer, gathered his six disciples and went around murdering everyone else because they were, so he said, the only seven people in the world who held the truth, so all others, according to the Qu’ran he couldn’t even read, must die). Or maybe they just see through a sham when they are faced by one. (At the last time of counting the population of Bangladesh was 147,365,352. That’s an awful lot of people for Hizb ut Tahrir to con – an awful lot of paint-balling trips).

Hizb ut Tahrir’s actions are once again a worry for states across the world. The conveyor belt to terrorism, which they are part of, is still rolling and remains active in far too many countries. While Hizb ut Tahrir is an ever-present danger in that it radicalizes youths who may well go onto more extreme things, in relation to this extreme sect taking over a state perhaps we should worry less – for Muslims the world over think they are unbearably ugly and understand exactly why they have to wear a mask.

Even Muslim extremists warn about Hizb ut Tahrir. In a website “HT exposed” set up to warn fellow Muslims about the group’s dangers, an extremist Muslim group warns:

In reaction to this loss of the Khilafa in 1924 there arose many Islamic groups who claim to be fulfilling the obligation of working for the return of the Islamic State. Amongst these groups is one known as the "Hizb-ut-Tahrir." This group has been the cause of many of the youth being led astray, indoctrinated in false Islamic beliefs and fooled by false methodology. By this, they fall into those who maybe included in those astray sects who will be punished in the Fire of Jahannam, as made clear from the following aayah and hadeeth. "And whoever contends with and contradicts the Messenger after guidance has been clearly conveyed to him, and chooses a path other than that of the faithful believers (the companions and those that follow them in faith), We shall leave him in the Path he has chosen and land him in Hell, what an evil refuge" [Surah An-Nisa 4:115] "And this Ummah will divide into seventy-three sects, all of which except one will go to Hell and they (i.e. the saved sect) are those who follow what I and My Companions are upon." [Hasan Hadeeth, At Tirmidhee]. In particular they take a opinion on aahad narrations which is in opposition to the understanding of the scholars of the salaf, and they seek to confuse the youth by playing with words and their meanings, as will be made clear insha'Allah. We sincerely advise our brethren that maybe confused by these people to not let their eloquent speech confuse you. To the callers who call to misguidance after having the truth made clear, we remind you that the Fire of Jahannam is no joke.”

But let the last word go to Hanif Qadir, a moderate Muslim leader in East London who confirmed that Hizb ut Tahrir targeted “vulnerable young teenagers”, adding, “They can’t see the damage they cause to the Muslim community. If you want Sharia, then go and ask for it in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.”

History Will Mark You As Traitors

Bangladesh will become a communal, fundamentalist and failed state like Pakistan if the spirit of the 1972 's constitution is foiled, a citizen's platform has said. "And if it happens, parliament will be held responsible," said a press release on Monday from the Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee (Committee for Elimination of Killers and Collaborators of 1971). "If you [the government] take part in this evil, history will forever mark you as traitors," the organisation said in the release. Addressing the MPs, it said, " People voted for the Grand Alliance in the election of 2008 to ensure trial of war criminals and restoration of the four pillars of the 1972 constitution, not to legalise the 5 th and 8 th Amendments…" The special committee on charter review finalised its report on June 5 with 51- point proposals on the 15 th amendment to the constitution. In its report, the special committee proposed to keep Islam as the religion of state and to retain religion-based politics and ' Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim' in the preamble of the constitution. "Presentation of these proposals in parliament would be a treachery with the ideology and spirit of Bangabandhu and the 1972 constitution," the organisation said in the release. "It will be a hideous example to retain the proposals by disobeying the Supreme Court verdict." It said, "The former presidents Hussein Muhammad Ershad and late Ziaur Rahman passed the 5 th and 8 th amendments in order to create a fundamentalist state like Pakistan. It had nothing to do with their love for Islam." The press release was signed by committee advisors' panel president Prof Kabir Chowdhury, executive committee president justice Golam Rabbani, committee president Shahriar Kabir and general secretary Kazi Mukul. The 5 th Amendment added Bismillah to the preamble of the constitution while the 8 th introduced Islam as the religion of state.

Contradiction And Opportunism Marks JS Panel Report

THE report that the parliamentary special committee on constitution amendment finalised on Sunday, containing as many as 51 recommendations, is loaded with contradiction and smacks of political opportunism. It also undermines the committee’s self- professed claim to restore the constitution on the ideals and values that defined the people’s struggle for freedom, which culminated in the successful nine- month long war of independence in 1971. The people put their lives on the line, against the Pakistani occupation forces in the hope of establishing a state that will be politically republic, culturally secular and economically egalitarian. Regrettably, however, the committee has recommended retention of Islam as the state religion, at the same time suggesting that the state’s policy should be religion-neutral and that the state shall not afford any political status to any religion. The obvious contradiction could be explained by the inadequate understanding of secularism by the committee at best and a crude attempt at securing the sympathy and support of the Islam-pasand electorate at worst. Moreover, the recommendation that the people of Bangladesh will be known as Bengali by nationality and Bangladeshis by citizenship is not only in contravention with the core principles of democracy but also an affront to the national minority communities. Worse still, the committee has recommended insertion of the word ‘upajati’ to define the national minority communities, a definition that these communities have clamoured against for years. Such a blatant manifestation of Bengali chauvinism is an impediment to Bangladesh’s natural progression to a citizens’ state from a nation state and risks undermining the progress towards achieving natural peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. It may also rekindle mistrust in the ethnic minority communities of the intent of the Bengali ruling class. The least said about the recommendation for reinstatement of socialism as one of the fundamental principles of the constitution the better. The ruling Awami League has long ceased to be a party ideologically inclined to socialism, if it ever were, and pursued neo-liberal economic policies, at the behest of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral lending agencies, especially since the 1980 s, a fact that the committee members should be aware of more than anyone else. Hence, its recommendation for a return to socialism as a state policy is essentially a ploy to hoodwink the people at large. Finally, in recommending repeal of the non-party caretaker government provision, although it had earlier decided to propose two caretaker models for the prime minister to choose from, the committee showed, once again, where the ultimate power rests. Moreover, by proposing constitutional recognition of the slain president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the father of the nation and incorporation of his ‘ declaration of independence’ in ‘ the early hours of 26 th March, 1971 ’, an issue that historians have not yet been able to reach a consensus on, in the constitution as well as inclusion of his March 7 , 1971 public speech in its schedule, besides recommending that his portrait should be preserved and displayed in public offices, government, semi-autonomous and private organisations, government and non-government educational institutions, and foreign missions in Bangladesh, the committee seems to have only subscribed to the idea of perpetuating the practice of cultism and dynasticism in politics. These are just a few examples; there are more. The committee is claimed by its key members to have sought to weed out the distortions that different regimes—elected or unelected, civilian or military—had caused to the constitution since 1975 and to restore the constitution of 1972 ‘in line with the [recent] Supreme Court verdict. ’ In reality, however, the committee appears to have been driven by the same intent and impulse that it claims dictated the constitutional amendments since 1975 —tailoring the constitution to partisan needs. Most importantly, the report and the recommendations therein are loaded with the risk of instigating a political crisis that may eventually set back the existing political process. Hence, the ruling party would be well-advised to give the report a second thought, instead of pushing the amendments through by dint of its numerical strength in parliament.

Sentimentalization Of Bismillah In The Constitution Is Blasphemous

SENTIMENTAL OBJECTION against removal of "bismillah"s placement in the Constitution of Bangladesh has begun just as I apprehended. This is a familiar trick reminiscent of Hitler's campaign rhetoric stoking popular racial and ethnic sentiments in 1930 s Germany. Later the Catholic Church of Austria used religious sentiments to persecute the Jews and oust them from Vienna. The lesson to be learned is that the word of God, when politically manipulated, can bring massive human destruction. The Genocide of 1971 is scorched in our memory. When I raised the issue of illegally placed “bismillah” above the Preamble of the Constitution of Bangladesh in the internet forums, I got angry responses. Accused of being anti-Islam and a paid servant of Zionist masters, I was asked: “Why "Bismillah" is a problem for you?” ‘Bismillah’ is not a problem for me. It is a constant and trusted companion. Besides using it in prayers, I love saying it at the commencement of any good work, and I love writing it. Give me a minute or two, and any old pen, and even without practice, I will write ‘bismillah’ in Arabic in passable Nashtaliq calligraphic style. I do have a problem though with a thing called Martial Law. There is no such thing called ‘Martial Law’ in the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. ‘Bismillah’ should not be put above the Preamble of the nation’s Constitution by an unlawful usurper of civilian power who called himself Chief Martial Law Administrator. The use of ‘ bismillah’ for such crass political purpose behind the clout of illegal Martial Law by a Proclamation Order in 1977 , thereby betraying the trust of 150 million people should surely count as the most shocking and egregious blasphemy! It is pure kufri! See the Holy Qur’an for a strong interdiction against invoking Allah' s name in an unlawful act like this in Sura Hud (11 : 18) : Waman athlamu mimmani iftara AAala Allahi kathiban ola-ika yuAAradhoona AAala rabbihim wayaqoolu al-ashhadu haola-i allatheena kathaboo AAala rabbihim ala laAAnatu Allahi AAala alththalimeena And who (is) more unjust/ oppressive than who fabricated/cut and split on God lies/denials/ falsifications? Those, they are being displayed/exhibited/shown on (to) their Lord, and the witnesses/testifiers (the angels) say: "Those (are) those who lied/ denied/falsified upon their Lord." Is not God's curse/torture on the unjust/oppressors? …11:18 Anything that bears the sign of preference for one particular religion, be it the religion of a large number of natives, is debris from the illegal acts of constitutional vandalism. Surely it is blasphemous to use the hallowed name of Allah as a mark to legitimize such an act of unjust vandalism. By upholding the welcome repeal of the Fifth Amendment, Act 1979 , the Supreme Court has fulfilled the duty of the judiciary in the service of preserving and defending the Constitution of Bangladesh. Now it seems that a Parliamentary process should be put in place to remove this heinous blasphemy and restore the sanctity of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Independence from the British rule, and then from Pakistan’s oppression, must mean freedom from the dreadful colonial practice of categorization of people and computation of demography by the professed faith of a person or a group. Counting people by their religions means everyone is forced into a pre-selected classification that ignores other principles of grouping. We must stop the practice of depicting majority/ minority on the basis of religion alone. The Parliament should do its part to fulfill the obligation of preserving and protecting the Constitution that represents our valiant fight for independence from a false statehood (Pakistan) whose existential basis was this weird notion of computation of people by their religion. Pakistan was a disasterous experiment in a bad idea! The birth of Bangladesh in 1971 proved conclusively that Muslim Bengalis do not need a separate state as Muslims only and no one else. They can live with people of other religions and ethnicity as they have happily and prosperously done so for centuries.