Press Release
Exposing the Plan to Rescue Prevent

On Sunday 22^nd October 2017, Hizb ut Tahrir Britain held a public event in Birmingham entitled, “Exposing the Plan to Rescue Prevent.”

Dr Abdul Wahid spoke about the history of the Prevent policy and how its real aim had very little to do with terrorism, but “whose purpose is to change Islam, not to stop terror.” He reminded the audience that “no Muslim should allow Islam to be defamed and deformed. That is why we need to understand this policy and its aims.”

Despite the utter failure of Prevent to achieve its purported aims, there are now suggestions that Muslims should own a new Prevent policy. Dr Abdul Wahid stated it is “the government [that] needs Muslims to own this project.”

“Owning this policy would validate its false claims, that Islam causes the problem; not destabilising of the world through the foreign policy.” He went on to explain that “Prevent uses fears about terror to stigmatise Islamic values, spreading the lie that the more Islamic you are, the more of a threat you become.” The pressure that Muslims feel to support the Prevent policy is due to the insinuation that we would be supporting terror if we did not. Dr Abdul Wahid explained, “Perversely we would be fuelling it (terrorism), if we did support the policy, because we then distract from the real problem. Prevent actually stops Imams and Khateebs from discussing Khilafah, Jihad and Shariah, denying the youth clarity on these topics.”

The event repeated the phrase “we need more Islam, not less” to counter the Prevent insinuation that Islam is the problem. When Muslims understand Islam as an ideology, it alone becomes the solution to the world’s ills, particularly those caused by the secular capitalist elite today.

The second speaker Ammar Jawad reminded the audience that such policies are not new, indeed they have existed since the beginning of Revelation (wahy), as the elite leaders felt threatened by the empowerment that Islam gave the common man, so they “have always attempted to draw the believers away from Islam or have them alter the message so that it fits with their own beliefs, traditions and values.” He demonstrated that “Quraysh didn’t like many aspects of Islam, some of which were the Prophet’s (saw) criticising of their religion, attacking their gods, mocking their leaders, and cursing their forefathers. Today the Prevent strategy has issues with the aspects of Islam that pertains to vocal opposition to British values, including democracy. The Quraysh used to tell people that Islam divided the community and today Prevent strategy states that ‘Islamist extremists’ attack social cohesion.”

Ammar went on to explain how Muslims must remain steadfast with Islam, not bending it to fit the whims of the elite of the day. He encouraged Muslims to gain strength and guidance from the verses of the Qur’an that talk of the struggle between truth and falsehood, and in particular Surah Yunus, verse 15:

[وَإِذَا تُتْلَى عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُنَا بَيِّنَاتٍ قَالَ الَّذِينَ لاَ يَرْجُونَ لِقَاءنَا ائْتِ بِقُرْآنٍ غَيْرِ هَـذَا أَوْ بَدِّلْهُ قُلْ مَا يَكُونُ لِي أَنْ أُبَدِّلَهُ مِن تِلْقَاء نَفْسِي إِنْ أَتَّبِعُ إِلاَّ مَا يُوحَى إِلَيَّ إِنِّي أَخَافُ إِنْ عَصَيْتُ رَبِّي عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ]

“And when Our signs are recited to them, clear signs, those who look not to encounter Us say, 'Bring a Qur’an other than this, or alter it.' Say: 'It is not for me to alter it of my own accord. I follow nothing, except what is revealed to me. Truly I fear, if I should rebel against my Lord, the chastisement of a dreadful day.'”  In the end the take-home message of the day was clear “Prevent is dead - let it die.”

Yahya Nisbet
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Britain