It is the beginning of the blessed month of Dhul Hijjah, people have just gone to Hajj, and we are in the best ten days of the year for doing good deeds. This would be the natural focus to talk about in my khutbah. However, other things are happening which are leaving unanswered questions in the air for some Muslims in the West and where Western governments are pushing Muslims to adopt their own justifications for acting in the Muslim world. Some of the questions being raised include: Why don't you accept the Khilafah "Caliphate" declared by ISIS? What about ISIS's kidnapping of foreign aid workers that we have seen so much of on our TV screens? Now that Western and Arab nations have joined a US lead coalition to bomb Iraq and Syria, should Muslims here welcome not welcome that since it is to deal with ISIS?

The climate in the UK is that many activists, Imams and Islamic groups would shy away from addressing these issues. The UK government's programme called PREVENT has created a climate where people who address such issues are labelled as ‘extremists' and are accused of ‘radicalising' Muslim youth and them to commit acts of violence and ‘terrorism'. This narrative is false and dangerous. If we all do not discuss such issues and give the Islamic perspective, how can we claim to be following the guidance revealed to Prophet Muhammad (saw)? How can we be surprised when someone turns to the internet and gets all sorts of answers - to these pressing questions the youth are discussing - some of which are not Islamic.

A discussion with a friend reminded me that I could draw out principles from the last Hajj khutbah of the Prophet (saw). Principles such as his warning to us that the blood of the Muslim is sacred and should not be shed. Applying such a principle on the question of supporting Western intervention in Iraq or Syria makes it clear that Muslims in the West cannot support such bombings as it involves the shedding of Muslim blood by disbelieving nations and the puppet regimes in the region. The abscence of talking about such issues from the mimbar during most jumuah khutbahs also allows the UK governments preferred views to be pushed to Muslims in order to justify their colonial interference in Muslim lands - despite the disasters that has brought.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Taji Mustafa

Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Britain