Restoring the Proper Role of the Armed Forces to Serve Islam and the Muslims

Regarding the hostile forces in the region, America’s hold on Afghanistan and the region is purely dependent on Pakistan. Realizing that without controlling Pakistan’s armed forces, it cannot succeed, America has instituted a policy to win agents for itself form amongst Pakistan’s political and military leadership. This is achieved through continual contact via America’s political and military official as well as evaluating potential agents through Foreign Military Training programmes, in which it ascertains those most susceptible to corruption. As such America’s hold in the region is fragile and will be reversed within hours should a sincere leadership arise in Pakistan.

As for India, it is a fragile rule, with a tendency to collapse. It is based on bigotry to the point that there is a myriad of secessionist groups, which seek the division of India through separation. It is incapable of providing security and prosperity to non-Hindus or even Hindus of lower castes. The Hindu state is energy dependent on the huge gas and oil reserves with the Muslim Lands and upon Pakistan for access to these resources.

The whole of US strategy in the region is predicated on a pliant and subservient Pakistan. The US depends on Pakistan for its ingress into the Central Asian Republics, depends on Pakistan to stablize Afghanistan and needs Pakistan to allow the strengthening of India. Due to its location and evident strength Pakistan is the real regional power, whose direction determines the regional scenario. Thus establishing a Muslim power in the region on the basis of Islam as a bond, rather than narrow nationalism, will alter the regional dynamics radically.

Islam is a unifying force for the Muslims of South and Central Asia that are over half a billion in number, of which nearly 200 million are in the Hindu state itself. India is outflanked by Muslims in Bangladesh and Pakistan, which also kerb her naval projection into the Arabian Sea and the Pacific as well as the fact that all of India’s land energy and trade routes are through Muslim Lands. The combined forces of the Islamic Ummah are approaching six million, those of the Hindu state stand at one million. The call for Khilafah (Caliphate) has permeated through Central and South Asia, so the platform for the reunification of the Muslim Lands is in place.

There are many non-hostile non-Muslim states in the region who resent American aggression on their doorstep. They are also amenable to access to the huge resources of the Muslim Lands.

Pakistan’s armed forces are 617,000 personnel on active duty and 513,000 reservists, 304,000 in its paramilitary forces, 20,000 in Strategic Plans Division forces. It should also be noted that Pakistan has a huge and youthful population, which greatly boosts its number of able bodied males into tens of millions.

The Obligation Upon the Armed Forces for Liberating Humankind from the Oppression of Kufr Rule

The political orientation of the Islamic commander in chief of the forces, the Khaleefah, is radically different to the current political slaves to America. The focus of the state, its political actions, its media discourse and military actions will all be for achieving three key matters.

Firstly: The Khaleefah will Treat Hostile Non-Muslim States on a War Footing

These are nations who have occupied Muslim Land or other similar acts of aggression. The Khilafah will focus the resources of the Ummah upon liberating occupied Islamic Lands, such as Kashmir and Palestine. It will also diminish the threat from the hostile states by ending the presence of all their bases, embassies and personnel within Muslim Lands. It will sever all political and military contact with hostile states, who use such contact to order and forbid their agents within the military and political leadership and fish for new ones. As in the past, the Khilafah will not compromise on this matter, even if it would take decades to achieve, such as the liberation of Masjid Al-Aqsa from the crusaders.

As Hizb ut Tahrir has adopted in its Introduction to the Constitution, in Article 189, “States with whom we do not have treaties, and the actual imperialist states, such as Britain, America and France, and those states that have designs on the State, such as Russia, are legally considered to be belligerent states. All precautions must be taken towards them and it would be wrong to establish diplomatic relations with them. Their subjects may enter the Islamic State, but only with a passport and a visa specific to each individual and to each visit, unless they become practically belligerent.”  And in the same article’s Clause 4 it has stated that with respect to actually belligerent states, such as “Israel” for example, a state of war must be taken as the basis for all dealings with them. They must be dealt with as if a real war existed between us, irrespective of whether an armistice exists between us or not, and all their subjects are prevented from entering the State.

Secondly: The Khaleefah Will Regard the Current Muslim States as the Subject of Unification

The Khilafah is a single state for all Muslims and the Ummah must hold the Khaleefah for Islam's implementation. From the first hours of the establishment, the Khaleefah will work for the end of borders between Muslims, establishing a single armed forces, a single state treasury and a single citizenry for this vast and resource rich Ummah. And Hizb ut Tahrir, the world’s only global Islamic party working for the Khilafah will mobilize with full vigour to assist the Khaleefah.

As Hizb ut Tahrir has adopted in its Introduction to the Constitution, Article 181, “Politics is taking care of the affairs of the Ummah domestically and internationally. It is performed by the State and the Ummah. The State takes on this task practically through government, and the Ummah accounts the State upon it.” In Article 189, Clause 1, it has adopted, “The existing states in the Islamic world are considered to be part of one land and therefore they are not included within the sphere of foreign affairs. Relations with these countries are not considered to be in the realm of foreign policy and it is obligatory to work to unify all these countries into one state.”

Thirdly: The Khaleefah will establish relations with non-hostile non-Muslim states

The Khaleefah will establish relations with non-hostile non-Muslim states for the purpose of carrying the call to Islam to the entire world, as the Khilafah had done so for over a millennium. The purpose of this Ummah, the Ummah of the Final Messenger to humankind, RasulAllah (saw) is to carry the Divine Message of Islam to the entire world. Throughout the ages of the Khilafah, it was a beacon of light and guidance to all of humankind. It set standards for ruling, justice, prosperity, knowledge and security for over a millennium. It continuously sought the spread of Islam, removing the injustice of man-made rule over peoples. Its armed forces were welcomed by the people for they were not colonialist marauders that looted and pillaged, but were the righteous Mujahideen who sought to make the word of Allah (swt) as the highest. In time, the people embraced Islam in hordes from seeing practically Islam implemented over them, as did our forefathers in the initial opening of these lands to Islam. Thus the Khilafah will seek out states amenable to accepting Islam, forging relations with them, involving economic, commercial, good neighbouring and cultural ties. It will use these relations to expose before them the injustice of capitalism and the oppression and exploitation it has caused around the world. It will present Islam in a vivid and practical manner, as well as inviting their citizens to remain in the Khilafah and experience the blessings of Islam. All of this is a prelude to invitation to the society to enter the Khilafah or Jihad to remove the physical obstacle that prevents the opening of the land to Islam. This Jihad is not an attack on the people of the society but a war solely on the armed forces, with strict laws on preventing harm upon the civilians that have been the hallmark of gallantry on the battlefield throughout the era of the Khilafah’s rapid and vast expansion.

To establish relations with non-hostile non-Muslim states for the purpose of carrying the call to Islam to the entire world. It will undertake political manoeuvring to isolate and weaken its enemies through actions on the world stage. As Hizb ut Tahrir has adopted in its Introduction to the Constitution, Article 184, “Political manoeuvres are necessary in foreign policy, and the effectiveness of these manoeuvres is dependent on concealing (your) aims and disclosing (your) acts.” And in Article 187, it has adopted, “The political cause of the Ummah is Islam, in the strength of the status of the State, the best implementation of its rules and continuity in carrying its call to mankind.” In Article 189, it has adopted, “States who have economic, commercial, good neighbouring or cultural treaties with our State are to be treated according to the terms of the treaties … The economic and commercial relations with such states must be restricted to specific items and characteristics which are deemed necessary and which at the same time do not lead to the strengthening of these states.”

The Khaleefah will Personally Supervise the Matters of the Armed Forces

Thus, the Khaleefah will personally supervise the matters of the armed forces, creating a marriage between political vision and military assets. He will undertake political manoeuvring to isolate and weaken its enemies through actions on the world stage. So troop deployment will occur according to the real external threats and requirement and not upon concocted and self-created internal ones in order to serve America. Moreover, being a politician and a statesman, the Khaleefah is not limited by the narrow scope of military thinking and will exercise political styles to augment military capability to realize objectives.

As Hizb ut Tahrir has adopted in its Introduction to the Constitution, Article 65: “The Khalifah is the Commander of the Army and he appoints the Chief of General Staff, a general for each brigade, and a commander for every division. The remaining ranks in the Army are appointed by the brigadiers and commanders. The appointment of a person in the General Staff is according to his level of military expertise and is carried out by the Chief of General Staff.” Within this article, it is further elaborated, “Jihad is obligatory upon every Muslim, but the management of Jihad is for the Khalifah alone, and not anyone else. The Khalifah can appoint someone to carry out on his behalf what has been obligated upon him as long as he is under his observation and supervision, while it is not permitted to give him complete independence without his monitoring and supervision.” And regarding troop deployment Hizb ut Tahrir has stipulated, Article 66: “The Army is a unified entity which has specific bases. However, it is necessary that some of these bases are placed in different provinces and others in strategic locations. Some of the bases should be permanently mobile fighting forces. These bases are organised in numerous groups, with each group being given a number as a name, such as the first Army, the third Army, or they can be named after a province or district.” It further stipulates within this article, “from the issues of “Whatever is required to complete an obligation” if they were necessary to protect the land, such as the arrangements of the Armies on the borders, and placing and putting the bases across various strategic locations to protect the land and so on.”

Spending on the Armed forces

Regarding the spending on the armed forces, the Khilafah will end the traditional conflict of health and education, versus defense spending. The economy of the Khilafah is neither a socialist nor a capitalist economy and therefore will avail huge revenues for all the duties incumbent on the Khilafah, without dampening the drive to earn and thrive financially. The Khilafah will restructure revenue generation according to the Shariah rules to accelerate industrialization, which is a pre-requisite for military superiority and ending technological dependency on other states. The Khilafah will generate huge revenues from public properties such as energy and state enterprises such as large scale construction and manufacture of machinery. It will end the oppressive income and sales tax that has strangled economic activity. It will also refuse to pay the interest based loans from the colonialists and others, which eat a third of the expenses of Pakistan as debt-servicing, in the knowledge that the loans have been paid many times over due to interest. And if this were not enough to fulfil its obligations, it will ask for charity or loans or seek emergency wealth taxation, but only from those who can meet their basic needs and some luxuries as well.

Moreover, the very notion of powerful armed forces, seeking military superiority, drives industrialization and technological innovation, which energizes the entire economy. This is a phenomenon that was witnessed in the contemporary age by Western nations, including America itself. In the past, the Khilafah was a world leader in technological development and scientific knowledge, decades and sometimes centuries ahead of its nearest competitors. It was a pioneer throughout the ages in arms manufacture, naval capabilities and land warfare which contributed to its being the world’s leading state without rival for centuries. In the future again Inshallah, the Khilafah will work vigorously to become the leading state again, in order to carry Islam to all of humankind. Thus as one part of this effort it will end the technological dependence on the West and focus upon strong industrialization and state of the art research.