Press Release
The Muslim Community should be objecting to the Visit of MBS!

On Tuesday 6th March 2018, a delegation from Hizb ut Tahrir in Britain delivered a statement to the Saudi Ambassador protesting the coming visit of Mohammed Bin Salman - and exposing the ugly relationship between the Saudi regime and the British state.

The statement made the following points:

1) Mohammed bin Salman, more than anyone in the Saudi Kingdom, has on his hands the cold-blooded slaughter of men and women, children and elderly, in Yemen - already one of the poorest countries in the world prior to Saudi intervention.

2) The Saudi monarchy has played an ominous role in Syria, arming various factions and then using this influence to alter and divert the Syrian opposition’s aim of removing the regime in Damascus. It armed rebel groups to fuel the conflict but withheld crucial support such as surface-to-air missiles that would make a decisive difference. It then abandoned them in the face of the Russian-Iranian-Syrian Regime slaughter in Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta.

3) It is clear that despite the Islamic ‘image’ the Saudi monarchy portrays, Islam plays no role in its foreign policy. The regime can find money and troops to intervene in Yemen and Bahrain, but only excuses in Palestine and Myanmar. This double standard, amongst other things, exposes its hypocrisy.

4) We are aware there are governments in the West who love the language of ‘reform’ and ‘modernisation’ offered by the young pretender, Mohammed bin Salman. It is worth remembering that many welcomed Bashar al Assad’s similar attempts to reinvent an image. Just as that make-over did not suppress dissenting voices in Syria, these efforts will not silence dissent in Saudi Arabia against the authoritarian un-Islamic rule of the Al-Saud family.

5) Sadly, the British government has a long and ugly history of installing and then supporting tyrants in the Middle East, if they serve British national interests. The Al-Saud family were armed by Britain from the start and then given legitimacy for their kingdom. In 2010 the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) halted an investigation into corruption in the Al-Yamamah Arms deal. We believe colonial interference in the region should end.

6) Finally, the visit exposes yet another example of hypocrisy. Successive British governments play the human rights card with one hand, whilst on the other hand allow arms sale to those who commit the worst atrocities.

According to the Foreign Secretary, British exports to Saudi Arabia have risen to £6.2bn – a 41% increase since 2010. These are almost entirely arms sales including advanced munitions and Typhoon jets, which have been used in Yemen. Aside from this complicity in Yemen, the hope that Riyadh will choose London for the planned stock market flotation of Aramco, the state oil group, will mean silence when it comes to raising any criticism of this regime.

We call upon all Muslims in the UK to make their voices heard, in condemning the Saudi monarchy for its betrayal of Allah and His Messenger (saw), its misrepresentation of Islam, and its continued support for the colonial ambitions of Britain and America.

Ahmad reported in his Musnad from Mujahid, who said:

حَدَّثَنِي مَوْلًى لَنَا، أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ جَدِّي، يَقُولُ: سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَقُولُ: «إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُعَذِّبُ الْعَامَّةَ بِعَمَلِ الْخَاصَّةِ، حَتَّى يَرَوْا الْمُنْكَرَ بَيْنَ ظَهْرَانَيْهِمْ،وَهُمْ قَادِرُونَ عَلَى أَنْ يُنْكِرُوهُ فَلَا يُنْكِرُوهُ، فَإِذَا فَعَلُوا ذَلِكَ، عَذَّبَ اللَّهُ الْخَاصَّةَ وَالْعَامَّةَ»

“One of our masters talked to me, saying he heard my grandfather say: “I heard the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم say: “Allah does not punish the generality for an individual action, until they see the wrongdoing (munkar) in their midst and are able to forbid it but they do not forbid it. If they do so, Allah will punish the generality and the individual.”

(إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَذِكْرَى لِمَنْ كَانَ لَهُ قَلْبٌ أَوْ أَلْقَى السَّمْعَ وَهُوَ شَهِيدٌ)

“Indeed in that is a reminder for whoever has a heart or who listens while he is present [in mind].” [Qaf 50:37]

Yahya Nisbet
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Britain