# Australian Muslims Encouraged to Shun Democracy



## 1feral1 (5 Jul 2010)

This is all over the TV news and talk radio today, and is causing quite a storm on both sides of the fence. To think 500 delegates attended this meeting.

I hope this type of behaviour is not evident in Canada.

http://www.news.com.au/national/islamist-leader-burhan-hanif-tells-aussie-muslims-told-to-shun-democracy/story-e6frfkvr-1225887784755

Australia a 'Godforsaken country' - group 
Secular democracy is 'un-Islamic' 
Islamic group's presence sparks protest 
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LEADERS of the global Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir have called on Australian Muslims to spurn secular democracy and Western notions of moderate Islam and join the struggle for a transnational Islamic state. 

British Hizb ut-Tahrir leader Burhan Hanif told participants at a conference in western Sydney yesterday that democracy is "haram" (forbidden) for Muslims, whose political engagement should be be based purely on Islamic law. 

"We must adhere to Islam and Islam alone," Mr Hanif told about 500 participants attending the convention in Lidcombe.

"We should not be conned or succumb to the disingenuous and flawed narrative that the only way to engage politically is through the secular democratic process. It is prohibited and haram."

He said democracy was incompatible with Islam because the Koran insisted Allah was the sole lawmaker, and Muslim political involvement could not be based on "secular and erroneous concepts such as democracy and freedom".

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His view was echoed by an Australian HT official, Wassim Dourehi, who told the conference Muslims should not support "any kafir (non-believer) political party", because humans have no right to make laws. 

Mr Dourehi also urged Muslims to spurn the concept of moderate Islam promoted by governments in the West, including in "this godforsaken country" of Australia.

"We need to reject this new secular version of Islam," he said. "It is a perverted concoction of Western governments.

"It is a perversion that seeks to wipe away the political aspects of Islam and localise our concerns. We must reject it and challenge the proponents of this aberration of Islam."

The conference, which followed the theme The struggle for Islam in the West' was the first major event held by the Australian branch of HT since a seminar in 2007 which coincided with calls for the group to be banned. 

HT is outlawed in much of the Middle East but operates legally in more than 40 countries, campaigning for the establishment of a caliphate or Islamic state.

HT's platform rejects the use of violence in its quest for an Islamic state, but supports the military destruction of Israel.

But the group's presence sparked angry protests outside as members of the Australian Protectionist Party (APP) yelled anti-Islam chants.

The APP met in a small park to express their need to "protect" the Australian way of life.

Conflict between the APP and HT amounted to an exchange of words, anti-Islam chants and the occasional drive-by of young Muslim men yelling obscenities from their car at the APP protesters.

One passer-by, a young Muslim man, yelled at the APP group: "You people have absolutely no idea", sparking a fiery exchange of accusations and finger-pointing.

Nick Folkes, the Sydney organiser for the APP, believes that the HT should be banned in Australia and thinks that practising sharia law should be illegal in Australia.

"Sharia law is an archaic legal system that treats woman as second-class citizens," he said.

"We're not asking them to change their skin colour or religion. But if they come here, they must reject sharia law."

Additional reporting by Sallie Don.

Read more about Australian Muslims being told to shun secular democracy at The Australian.



74 comments on this story



Read more: http://www.news.com.au/national/islamist-leader-burhan-hanif-tells-aussie-muslims-told-to-shun-democracy/story-e6frfkvr-1225887784755#ixzz0sme6WOlf


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## HavokFour (13 Jul 2010)

I'm quite surprised no one has commented on this.

Simple fix: Take away any benefits they get from Australia as Muslims. They'll start loving the idea of democracy a hell of a lot in a hurry.


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## 1feral1 (13 Jul 2010)

Your simple fix would fail, and its wrong.

As a modern democracy we can't take away the basic rights and freedoms from our general lawful citizens at large. We fought wars to keep things the way they are, for everyone.

As Australians, as citizens, regardless of faith, are all equal, and the benifits they have, so do I and everyone else.  All we can do here is have ASIO moniter (and they are) the key personnel in these extreme factions.

Australia needs to come on line with other western countries, and carpet ban such hate groups as Hizb ut-Tahrir from existing here, freeze/ban any aid generated by their supporters here, and ban any foreigners who belong to it from entering our country.

We need to do our best by informing/educating the general mainstream populace of the existance and seriousness of such groups, and the damage they can cause to young influencal minds of the target ethnic groups who are drawn into such. The words home grown 'clean skin' terrorist come to mind, and these young minds are out there now and being influenced by such, right in their own communities. Who knows what the future will bring, but educating these young minds about such dangers might help things out in the times to come.

We have to be right 100% of the time, these extremists only have to be right once.

Regards,

CC

EDITs to add this, an MP is suggesting this...   http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/ban-islamic-extremist-preachers-says-mp-michael-johnson/story-e6frfku0-1225888233117

Ban Islamic extremist preachers says MP Michael Johnson 
From: AAP July 05, 2010 9:47PM Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Print Email Share Add to Digg Add to del.icio.us Add to Facebook Add to Kwoff Add to Myspace Add to Newsvine What are these? PREACHERS of Islamic extremism should be barred from Australia, a federal MP has said. 

Michael Johnson, a lower house independent, has also called for a debate on banning the burqa.

He said Prime Minister Julia Gillard and his former boss, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, needed to repudiate the leadership of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a global Islamic group which wants Australian Muslims to reject democracy.

"Join together and repudiate the extremism of this global movement and ... guarantee that none of its international preachers ever receive a visa to step on to Australian soil again," Mr Johnson said in a statement.

The release was issued in response to an article in The Australian which reported Hizb ut-Tahrir leaders urging participants in a western Sydney conference to join the struggle for a transnational Islamic state.


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Mr Johnson said Australia's Judeo-Christian heritage promoted inclusion, openness and transparency.

"It is not our culture to exclude, nor is it one that aims to suppress women's rights of equality, openness and full political participation," he said.

"Therefore, let us have a full and fearless debate on whether women should be required to wear the head to toe covering niqab, or the burqa."

In May, Liberal senator Cory Bernardi called for a ban on the wearing of the burqa, prompting criticism from Victorian Premier John Brumby.

Still, Mr Johnson's comments make him potentially the most vocal Queenslander to criticise a minority group since Pauline Hanson said in her 1996 parliamentary maiden speech that Australia was in danger of being "swamped by Asians".

EDITts to add this to from the nations newpaper, The Australian, akin to Canada's Globe and Mail...
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/jihadist-group-a-threat-to-us-all/story-e6frg6zo-1225888223710 

Its a bit of a read, but this article tells you more about the group in question. Read on...

Jihadist group a threat to us all Melanie Phillips From: The Australian July 06, 2010 12:00AM 5 commentsIncrease Text SizeDecrease Text SizePrintEmail Share 
Add to DiggAdd to del.icio.usAdd to FacebookAdd to KwoffAdd to MyspaceAdd to NewsvineWhat are these?WHATEVER its protestations, Hizb ut-Tahrir actively promotes terror and violence, says Melanie Phillips. 
HIZB ut-Tahrir , which held its controversial rally in Sydney on Sunday, is not just yet another radical Islamist group.

It is one of the most manipulative and effective recruitment fronts for the Islamic jihad, particularly among the educated Muslim young.

It is precisely because its spokesmen do not appear to be wild-eyed fanatics but are usually highly intelligent and even intellectual that it is so appealing and therefore so dangerous.

But because it takes such care to conceal its links to terror, governments in Australia and Britain, where it has managed to establish a significant and highly troubling presence, find it difficult to deal with it.

Liberal societies are reluctant to ban any organisation unless it can be proved to be connected to terrorism or violence. Since neither Australia nor Britain says it has found any such links, they allow HT to continue to operate while monitoring its activities. Hence Sunday's meeting in Sydney.

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Related CoverageExtremists with caliphate on their minds
 The Australian, 10 days ago
The infidel
 The Australian, 21 May 2010
Preaching hate in Perth suburbs
 Perth Now, 27 Mar 2010
These are not friends
 Herald Sun, 21 Mar 2010
Scholar issues anti-terrorism fatwa
 Adelaide Now, 2 Mar 2010
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But HT members in other countries have been involved in terrorism, and whatever its protestations to the contrary, the organisation actively promotes and encourages violence.

And since it regards itself as a global movement that does not recognise national boundaries, the comforting fiction that it presents no threat to Australia is particularly otiose.

In Russia, HT has been banned since 2003, when the leaders of its Moscow cell were arrested in possession of plastic explosives, grenades, TNT and detonators. In August 2005, nine members of HT in Russia were convicted of illegal possession of weapons and incitement to racial and religious hatred.

In August 2002, HT in Denmark reportedly offered the equivalent of pound stg. 25,000 to anyone who killed a prominent Danish Jew, producing a hit list of between 15 and 25 leading members of Denmark's Jewish community. The leader of HT in Denmark, Fadi Ahmad Abdel Latif, was convicted of incitement to racial hatred for distributing a leaflet urging people to "kill them, kill the Jews wherever you find them".

And last year HT was banned in Bangladesh after the government said it feared the organisation posed "a threat to peaceful life".

Not only does HT explicitly promote violence in Israel, Afghanistan and Iraq, but it calls on Muslims everywhere to engage in violent jihad.

HT is dedicated to the creation of a single Islamic state, or caliphate, that "will reach the whole world and the rule of the Muslims will reach as far as the day and night". It believes there is a timeless conflict that governs relations between Muslims and "unbelievers", a conflict it encourages.

On the Harry's Place website recently, "Raziq", a former HT member, wrote that HT's efforts in Britain are primarily aimed at disrupting the civic and political integration of British Muslims: "They want Muslims to disown citizenship in their hearts, to reject government and all democratic institutions in their minds . . . and to encourage them to work semi-secretly for the return of a lost empire across a massive land base."

HT makes clear in its literature that peaceful means are not enough to win this conflict and that Muslims are allowed to launch aggressive wars against non-Muslims. Its publications say Islamic religious texts all command Muslims to initiate fighting against disbelievers, "even if they do not initiate [it] against us".

It even justifies the killing of Muslims who do not want to live by these rules. "He who does not rule by Islam and rules by a kufr [non-Muslim] system should either retract or be killed."

It also calls on Muslims to fight Jews everywhere, and engages in vicious anti-Jew invective. Last month, HT in Bangladesh issued a press release to advertise a demonstration about the Gaza flotilla which said: "O Muslim armies! Teach the Jews a lesson after which they will need no further lessons. March forth to fight them, eradicate their entity and purify the earth of their filth."

Its invective radicalises Muslims everywhere to the cause of extremism and jihadi violence.

In Britain, it has had a particularly seismic effect on campus, where its combination of intellectualism, save-the-world idealism and secret-society comradeship has proved devastatingly effective in recruiting even highly westernised students to the jihad.

Britain's National Union of Students has twice banned HT - in 1994-95 and again in 2004 - holding it "responsible for supporting terrorism and publishing material that incites racial hatred".

The result has been merely that HT has repeatedly changed its name to continue to spread its message on campus. But the students union's attempt to stop HT has not been echoed by the British government, although the new Prime Minister, David Cameron, promised in opposition to ban it.

Not only has the government refused until now to proscribe it, but it sometimes inadvertently even channelled public funds to it through front organisations.

And it has taken no legal action against it, despite calls by British Jewish leaders for HT to be prosecuted after it repeatedly called on its website for the killing of Jews and the annihilation of Israel.

Several former HT members in Britain have testified to the extraordinary effectiveness of HT's manipulative mind games on impressionable Muslim youths, and have been in the forefront of arguing that the British government's refusal to ban it has been a disaster.

Shiraz Maher, who left HT after the London tube and bus bombings in 2005, says there is a real danger in allowing the group to operate freely, as its words may have inspired terrorist activity. One of Britain's first suicide bombers, Omar Sharif, was partially radicalised by HT activists at King's College, London.

Maher also notes that HT targets Britain's many foreign Muslim students in order to project the party's message back into the Muslim world, where it is severely curbed by local governments.

That's why public meetings such as the one in Sydney are so important to HT, not just to radicalise Australian Muslims but to boost the organisation's ability to recruit to the cause in countries that have banned it because they are only too well aware of the lethal threat it poses.

Democratic countries such as Britain and Australia are rightly very reluctant to clamp down on political expression. But the decision that nothing can be done to ban HT's "conveyor belt to terror" is disastrously naive.

Melanie Phillips is a columnist for Britain's Daily Mail.

5 comments on this story


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## 1feral1 (13 Jul 2010)

Carcharodon Carcharias said:
			
		

> I hope this type of behaviour is not evident in Canada.



Too late, it's in Ontario http://counterterrorismblog.org/2009/07/hizb_ut-tahrir_debuts_in_canad.php and in July of last year.

 Hizb ut-Tahrir Debuts in Canada
By Madeleine Gruen
Later this month, the members of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Canada will host a conference in Mississauga to discuss the establishment of a Caliphate. The conference announcement acknowledges the presence of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Canada for the first time publicly; indicating that, like Hizb ut-Tahrir America (HTA), it may have recently transitioned into the second stage of its three-stage strategy. (For more on the method of Hizb ut-Tahrir, please see my previous article, linked here).

Branches of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) worldwide are hosting Khilafah conferences this month as part its "Rajab Campaign." Rajab, on the Islamic calendar, is the month of the fall of the Ottoman Empire; or, as HT views it, the anniversary month of the destruction of the Khilafah. 

The announcement for the Mississauga conference refers to the hosts as "the members of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Canada" rather than as "Hizb ut-Tahrir Canada," a moniker that would be consistent with the names of the other HT branches around the world. Also, the venue for the conference is smaller than HTA's Chicago-area conference. HTA conference-goers filled the Grand Ballroom at the Oak Lawn Hilton for the full-day affair. The Canadian conference is booked in a lounge at the Mississauga Community Center for only two hours in the evening of July 31st. According to the center's web site, the Frank Bean Lounge (the room booked for the meeting) seats only 40 people. The HT conference organizers have described the meeting as an "open question session on issues of importance to the Ummah, including the re-establishment of Islam as a way of life, the role of the Khilafah Rashida, and the role of the Muslim community in Canada."

That the Canadian branch refers to itself as "Hizb ut-Tahrir in Canada" may signify that there are too few adherents to warrant the official title "Hizb ut-Tahrir Canada." Certainly, the scale of the Canada event shows that the group is far smaller and perhaps more loosely organized than the US-based branch. It may also mean that the Canadian branch may fall under the authority of a larger branch elsewhere; possibly even HTA. 

Mohammad Malkawi, a resident of the US who acted as HTA's spokesperson to the media at Sunday's conference in Oak Lawn, and who delivered the keynote address, has traveled to Canada to deliver speeches at universities and at mosques in the province of Ontario. For example, in March 2007, Malkawi gave a speech titled "Islam & Contemporary World Affairs" at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. Also in 2007, Malkawi delivered a lecture at a mosque in Hamilton. The content of these lectures were based entirely on the ideology of HT, although Malkawi did not openly acknowledge his affiliation with HTA at that time. These events, and others, likely indicate that Malkawi has an established relationship with the members of HT in Canada. 

For more information about HTA, please see my article from the Jamestown Foundation. 

For further background on HT, please see Zeyno Baran's research, linked here. 


July 22, 2009 12:04 PM    Print 

Here's what wiki has to say about HT... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hizb_ut-Tahrir

Hizb ut-Tahrir
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search 
Hizb ut-Tahrir
حِزْبُ التَحْرِير‎ 
Leader The Scholar Ata Bin Khalil {abu Al Rashtah } 
Founder Taqiuddin al-Nabhani 
Founded 1953 
Headquarters London 
Ideology Political Islam 
International affiliation Worldwide 
Website 
[8] 

Hizb ut-Tahrir (Arabic: حِزْبُ التَحْرِير Ḥizb at-Taḥrīr‎; English: Party of Liberation) is an international pan-Islamist, Sunni[1] "vanguardist"[2] political party whose goal is to combine all Muslim countries in a unitary Islamic state or caliphate, ruled by Islamic law and with a caliph head of state elected by Muslims.[3]

The organization was founded in 1953 in Jerusalem by Taqiuddin al-Nabhani, an Islamic scholar and appeals court judge (Qadi)[4] from the Palestinian village of Ijzim. Since then Hizb ut-Tahrir has spread to more than 40 countries, and by one estimate has about one million members.[5] Hizb ut-Tahrir is very active in the west, particularly in the United Kingdom, and is also active in several Arab and Central Asian countries, despite being banned by most of the local governments.

Hizb ut-Tahrir believes a caliphate, an Islamic State, "will provide stability and security to all the people of the region, Muslims and Non-Muslims".[6] The party promotes "an elaborate and detailed program for instituting an Islamist state"[7] that will "establish the laws of the Islamic Shariah and to carry the Da'wah of Islam to the world."[8] It believes this "comprehensive solution" will provide "sincere leadership that cares for and protects its citizens from the colonial foreign policies of Bush and Blair" and bring an end to "US interventions, energy inspired wars, puppet (Muslim) governments and western values forced by the barrel of a gun."[9] Hizb ut-Tahrir is strongly anti-Zionist and calls for "the dismantling" of the "illegal entity" of Israel.[10]

Hizb ut-Tahrir has generated mixed opinions. Some observers believe it is a victim of unjust and untrue allegations of connections to terrorism.[11] Others argue its stated opposition to violence is tactical and temporary,[12] and it works to create an atmosphere conducive to terrorism[13] by preaching hatred[14] and by actions such as calling suicide bombers "martyrs" and talking of the need to "destroy the new crusaders," i.e. Western troops in Iraq.[15]


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## bdave (13 Jul 2010)

HavokFour said:
			
		

> I'm quite surprised no one has commented on this.
> 
> Simple fix: Take away any benefits they get from Australia as Muslims. They'll start loving the idea of democracy a hell of a lot in a hurry.



That's a quick 'solution' to a larger problem.


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