بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Question:
Asslamu Alaikom w Rahmat Allah w Barakato, our noble Sheikh, may Allah preserve you and grant victory at your hands.
Yusuf Habashi from the land of az-Zaitouneh (Tunisia).
To proceed: I would like to ask regarding the continuation of the work of Hizb ut Tahrir after the establishment of the Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate):
What will its work be after its establishment? What is intended by its remaining? And what is the evidence for that?
Answer:
Wa Alaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatahu,
1- Yes, the Hizb will remain after the establishment of the Khilafah, because the establishment of the Hizb is an obligation before the Khilafah and after it. It came in the book, Hizb ut Tahrir Chapter: “The Reasons for the Establishment of Hizb ut-Tahrir”.
“Hizb ut-Tahrir was established in response to the Saying of Allah ﷻ,ِ
[وَلْتَكُنْ مِنْكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ]
“There must arise from among you a group (or groups) that invites to all that is good (al-khair), commands all that is right (al-ma’roof) and forbids all that is evil (al-munkar). Those are the successful ones.” [TMQ Surah Aali Imran 3:104]. This is in order to revive the Islamic Ummah from the severe decline it has reached, and for the liberation (tahrir) of the Ummah from the thoughts, systems and rulings of kufr, and from the dominance and influence of kafir states. This is in order to work to bring the Islamic Khilafah state back into existence, so that the ruling by all that ﷻ has revealed returns.”
The Shariah Legal Obligation of Establishing Political Parties
Firstly, the establishment of the Hizb is in response to the Saying of Allah ﷻ,
[وَلْتَكُنْ مِنْكُمْ أُمَّةٌ]
“Let there be among you a group.” This is because Allah ﷻ has commanded the Muslims, in this ayah, that there must be, from amongst them, a structured group (jamaa’ah), which must perform two commands:
Firstly, to invite to the good (khair), which is the Dawah to Islam.
Secondly, to command all that is ma’ruf (right) and forbid all that is munkar (evil).
The command (amr) to establish a structured group is a talab (request). However, there is a contextualization (qareena) that makes it a decisive request (talab jazim). The work of the structured group, as defined in the above ayah- of inviting to Islam, and of commanding all that is right and forbidding all that is evil- is an obligation (fard) upon Muslims, that they must establish. This is confirmed in many ayaat and ahadith that give evidence for the obligation. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,«وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ لَتَأْمُرُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَلَتَنْهَوُنَّ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ أَوْ لَيُوشِكَنَّ اللَّهُ أَنْ يَبْعَثَ عَلَيْكُمْ عِقَابًا مِنْ عِنْدِهِ ثُمَّ لَتَدْعُنَّهُ فَلَا يَسْتَجِيبُ لَكُمْ»“By Him in Whose hand is my soul, you must command all that is right, and forbid all that is evil. Otherwise, Allah will send His punishment upon you. Then were you to make Dua to Him, He would not answer you.” [Narrated by Ahmad]. That is a qareenah (contextualization) that the request (talab) is a decisive request (talab jaazim). So the command within the request is a wujoob (obligation).
The structured group must be a political party. This comes from the perspective that the ayah requests from the Muslims to establish a group from amongst them, and from the perspective of defining the work of this group as being the Dawah to Islam, and the commanding of all that is right, and forbidding all that is evil.
The action of commanding all that is right, and forbidding all that is evil, includes commanding the rulers to all that is right, and forbidding them from all that is evil. Indeed, the most important of the works of commanding all that is right, and forbidding all that is evil, is accounting (muhaasabah) of the ruler, and giving them advice. This action is political. Moreover, it is amongst the most important of the political actions, and it is one of the most prominent actions of political parties. Accordingly, the ayah (verse) gives evidence of the obligation (wujoob) of establishing political parties.
However, the ayah imposes the constraint that these structures must be Islamic parties, because the tasks that the ayah defined, which are the Dawah to Islam, commanding to all that is right and forbidding all that is evil– in accordance with the Shariah rulings of Islam- cannot be performed, except by the structures and parties that are Islamic.”
2- Therefore, the Hizb continues after the establishment of the Khilafah, but the work it performs when it reaches authority differs from the work it performed before establishing it, according to the relevant Islamic rulings.
We clarified this in a Question to Answer dated 30/12/2014, in which it was stated:
“The party carries out four actions: culturing (concentrated and collective), and intellectual struggle in terms of clarifying correct ideas from false and corrupt ideas. These two actions are not the subject of accountability, but rather they are the party’s cultural and intellectual work. The party’s work to do both continues, both before and after the ruling, as they are not affected by the party’s taking of power.
As for the third work (revealing the plans), it is no longer the party’s work because the party’s presence in power has eliminated the issue of the party revealing colonial plans. Rather, it is carried out by the government’s organs, and holding the rulers accountable for adopting interests, as it was before ruling, remains and is carried out by the Wilayah Committees.
The Wilayah Committees, as before the ruling, have the authority to hold the party leadership accountable (the Ameer and his office), so they continue to have this authority to hold the party leadership accountable while it is in power, and in adopting the interests of the Ummah in accordance with the rules of Shariah and watching over them with benevolence and mastery.”
And Allah Knows Best and is Most Wise.
The link to the answer from the Ameer’s Facebook page.