Press Release
Denunciation of the Conference: "Islamists and Democratic System of Governance: Experiences and Trends"

The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies concluded a conference held in Doha on Monday, 22 Thul Qi'da 1433 AH, 08 October 2012, entitled "Islamists and Democratic System of Governance ... Experiences and Trends" at which a number of "Islamist" researchers, academics and politicians addressed themselves to the subject of Islam and Democracy, especially in the phase of the Arab Spring in order to "find the best ways to support the values of democracy, freedom and good governance in the Arab world."

From the Arab Center for Research website, it is clear that the goal behind it is to market the idea of democracy of such that it is embraced with conviction under various false pretexts that can be summarized as:

1. The relationship between religion and the state: religion in the view of the Conference is "a matter of spirituality and creed, while democracy as a system of government is a political issue." The call for the separation of religion from life (i.e. the new secular religion) condemns the Divine Rules of Islam to imprisonment within the walls of "the mosque" and their prevention from interfering in community affairs and politics.

2. Beautification and "adornment" of secularism and reducing the contradiction between it and Islam according to the false pretence that it is "a procedural mechanism organizing the devolution of power and governance" and not an atheist philosophy based on the installation of mankind as a god to legislate according to his whims and desires.

3. Giving a makeover to democracy: which according to them means, "building a political system that allows representation and selection of representatives by elections, and, at the same time, oversight of elected representatives and determination of the duration of the representatives so that power does not turn into tyranny." It is also emphasised that democracy does not have any particular point of view towards religion, but is a point of view towards ruling. And therefore there is no contradiction or incompatibility between democracy and Islam. Some even boasted that "nothing in Islam prohibits copying the wisdom of other peoples, and that democracy, civil equality and political pluralism are examples of the wisdom of other peoples regarding the state." A document was issued by Al-Azhar called the document of Foundation for Democracy, equality and pluralism, legitimizing the position of Al-Azhar on democracy as "a document similar to the covenant which enacted by Islam at the dawn of Islam."

4. The false claim, based on the above, that "a majority of Islamists are convinced of democracy, and that the Islamic trend is growing in its conviction that the building of a civil state derives its legitimacy from the people." According to the organizers of the conference, "conference papers were presented from all components of political Islam."

5. Some went on to claim that political Islamic movements should establish a model of contemporary democracy, and several authors confirmed "the need to elevate the Islamic movements' level of thinking and practice, not only to recognition of the mechanisms of democratization such as political competition, impartiality, handing-over of power and respect for constitutions and diversity. What is required now in the stage of democratic transition is to move to convert the Islamic movements to understanding the definition and philosophical essence of democracy and the centrality of the issues of freedom and equality also in the philosophical sense."

6. "The issues of citizenship and democratic transformation occupied a substantive part of the discussions of the conference sessions, and resulted in almost complete unanimity among the participants - including representatives of Islamic movements - that democratic transformation in the Arab countries should be directed to the establishment of a democratic state (or a civil state as some called it) even if Islamists were at the helm of the state, focusing on the principles of justice and equality as the basis for this state."

These are the headlines of the deliberations and opinions presented in this conference, "forthcoming" which comes within a series of workshops in an invasion of Western thought to the Islamic nation, which has been designed to challenge the faith of Islam that is based on the concept of Tawhid and forbiddance of associating partners with Almighty God and the forbiddance of making lawful and prohibition except by what He brought in revelation, and this cultural invasion also challenges the law of Islam that is timeless preserved in the book of Allah, which is an eternal miracle that the Lord of the Worlds preserved for all mankind through time and space.

We in Hizb-ut Tahrir assume the burden of exposing, to the Islamic nation, this episode of conspiracy to religion and faith and the law of the Lord, and to this end we declare the following:

1. Islam is innocent of atheistic secularism altogether, and the tricks and games of all the king's horses and all the king's men could not paste over the poisons, misguidance and disbelief that ooze from it. The call for Secularism is a call to the avoidance of Allah's Law, under the notion of separation of religion and life. The call for Secularism is a call to disable the message of Islam, by making it a priestly message, caged-up within the walls of the mosque, which does not extend beyond the realm of matters of individual conscience and falls short of governing the functioning of the society in all its affairs. This whole slanderous fabrication against Allah's religion is unfounded and lacks even the faintest semblance of an evidence to justify it; "... ومن أحدث في ديننا ما ليس منه فهو رد" "... and regardless of whoever innovated in our religion something that is not a part of it, then it is rejected." This rejection applies to the lying claim that secularism is merely a neutral mechanism that is aimed at the common good, without reflecting any particular religious orientation, wherein Religion, being a private matter between the individual and himself, as they claim, is not contrary to the engagement of a "devout" Muslim in the pursuit of secularism. All of this amounts to a huge calumny and fraudulently portrays the reality of secularism, which turns human beings into the legislators, if not Lords and masters to forbid and allow as they please, which makes secularism, therefore, a "religion" that is in total contradistinction to Islam.

2. The law of Islam imposes on Muslims, as individuals and groups, the resorting to the law of their Lord in all matters, whether big or small, and Allah the Most High said:

(إِنِ الْحُكْمُ إِلَّا لِلَّهِ أَمَرَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاهُ ذَلِكَ الدِّينُ الْقَيِّمُ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ) "The decision rests with Allah only, Who hath commanded you that ye worship none save Him. This is the right religion, but most men know not." [Surah Yousef: Aya 40] and He said

(يَقُولُونَ هَلْ لَنَا مِنَ الْأَمْرِ مِنْ شَيْءٍ قُلْ إِنَّ الْأَمْرَ كُلَّهُ لِلَّهِ) "They said: Have we any part in the cause? Say: The cause belongeth wholly to Allah." [Al Imran: Aya 154] and His speech

(وَلَا تَقُولُوا لِمَا تَصِفُ أَلْسِنَتُكُمُ الْكَذِبَ هَذَا حَلَالٌ وَهَذَا حَرَامٌ) "And speak not, concerning that which your own tongues describe, the falsehood: "This is lawful, and this is forbidden," [ Surah An Nahl: Aya 164] and saying

(وَمَنْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْكَافِرُونَ) ((Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are disbelievers.)) [Surah Maidah: Aya 44]  said (وَمَنْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُون) "Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are wrong-doers." [Surah Maidah: Aya 47] said (وَمَنْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُون ) "Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are disobedient."  [Suarh Maidah: Aya 47]

3. The claim that Islam does not prohibit us from benefiting from the experiences of other nations or from copying what could benefit us from them is a fraud against the people, and it is mixing the truth with falsehood. For sure, there is objection against the Muslims gaining benefit from the others within the framework of science, industry and civilization, which are not related to legislating the lawful and unlawful, but in matters of legislation it is not permissible for a Muslim to take the lawful and unlawful from the legal rules of earlier prophets after the Islamic legislation came to take precedence over and correct whatever existed before, and indeed we have in the blessed Hadith his saying peace be upon him: "...وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ، لَوْ كَانَ مُوسَى حَيًّا مَا وَسِعَهُ إِلَّا أَنْ يَتَّبِعَنِي" "... and by Him in whose hand is my soul, if Moses were alive now, he could not but follow me" in the collection of Ibn Abi Shaybah, and so how could it be that Islam should forbid Muslims from following the canons of the earlier prophets, while allowing the judging to rest with the whims of humans and their deficient minds? Oh my God, what an incredibly brazen lie this is.

4. Hizb-ut Tahrir has previously explained the how the document of al-Azhar is in clear contradiction to the Islamic rulings and is an attempt to defraud the Muslim Ummah by claiming that there is no contradiction between Islam and democracy. Whoever would like to follow up this matter further may refer to what we have already published in this regard. We may add that even if some day there should be universal consensus in favour of allowing the crime of usury that still would eliminate the fact that usury is expressly forbidden in the Holy Quran, no matter how hard the best con artists tried to twist and manipulate the texts. Furthermore, Allah sent this nation distinguished scholars and resolute men who fear none but Allah, and it happened that many of them that were able to see through the document of al-Azhar as a brazen affront to the religion of Allah, and we are confident in the promise of Allah that the froth and foam will dissipate in good time, and just as the masks fell off from the criminal tyrants, who fought against Allah and His Messenger over the decades, so to shall the masks of the traffickers of Allah's religion fall off. As for the false claim that the conference papers were from all sectors of political Islam, this is the mother of all lies ... it is agreed that there were a few voices from those enchanted with the civilization of "Uncle Sam" who pant behind him in order to gain his satisfaction even at the expense of their religion. But that is very far meaning that they represent the nation from all walks of life, and none can represent this nation is not except those who are rooted upon truth, whether they be many or few, and those who draw support from the nation's enemies are of no consequence, regardless of the value of the material capabilities in their favour when compared to the balance of truth upon which the heavens and the earth were founded.

5. What we have quoted above (fifth false pretext) of the call issued at the conference for the "Islamic" movements to adopt the philosophy and creed of democracy and to reveal clearly the reality behind this conference (and those that went before, and any that may follow, which falsely claim that democracy and Islam are two sides of the same coin) , and we trust that those who raise the banner of Islam will not slip into this deadly error, so we call upon Allah to awaken the careless from slumber with true repentance to and that they join the ranks of the sincere callers to support the religion of Allah and uphold his word and to disown the partisans of democracy and secularism, and we remind him of the saying of the Almighty:

(وَأَنْزَلْنا إِلَيْكَ الْكِتابَ بِالْحَقِّ مُصَدِّقاً لِما بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ الْكِتابِ وَمُهَيْمِناً عَلَيْهِ فَاحْكُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ بِما أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ وَلا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْواءَهُمْ عَمَّا جاءَكَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ لِكُلٍّ جَعَلْنا مِنْكُمْ شِرْعَةً وَمِنْهاجاً وَلَوْ شاءَ اللَّهُ لَجَعَلَكُمْ أُمَّةً واحِدَةً وَلكِنْ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ فِي مَا آتاكُمْ فَاسْتَبِقُوا الْخَيْراتِ إِلَى اللَّهِ مَرْجِعُكُمْ جَمِيعاً فَيُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِما كُنْتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ، وَأَنِ احْكُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ بِما أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ وَلا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْواءَهُمْ وَاحْذَرْهُمْ أَنْ يَفْتِنُوكَ عَنْ بَعْضِ مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ إِلَيْكَ فَإِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّما يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُصِيبَهُمْ بِبَعْضِ ذُنُوبِهِمْ وَإِنَّ كَثِيراً مِنَ النَّاسِ لَفاسِقُونَ، أَفَحُكْمَ الْجاهِلِيَّةِ يَبْغُونَ وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ مِنَ اللَّهِ حُكْماً لِقَوْمٍ يُوقِنُونَ، يا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تَتَّخِذُوا الْيَهُودَ وَالنَّصارى أَوْلِياءَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِياءُ بَعْضٍ وَمَنْ يَتَوَلَّهُمْ مِنْكُمْ فَإِنَّهُ مِنْهُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ، فَتَرَى الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ يُسارِعُونَ فِيهِمْ يَقُولُونَ نَخْشى أَنْ تُصِيبَنا دائِرَةٌ فَعَسَى اللَّهُ أَنْ يَأْتِيَ بِالْفَتْحِ أَوْ أَمْرٍ مِنْ عِنْدِهِ فَيُصْبِحُوا عَلى مَا أَسَرُّوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ نادِمِينَ)

"And unto thee have We revealed the Scripture with the truth, confirming whatever Scripture was before it, and a watcher over it. So judge between them by that which Allah hath revealed, and follow not their desires away from the truth which hath come unto thee. For each We have appointed a divine law and a traced-out way. Had Allah willed He could have made you one community. But that He may try you by that which He hath given you (He hath made you as ye are). So vie one with another in good works. Unto Allah ye will all return, and He will then inform you of that wherein ye differ. So judge between them by that which Allah hath revealed, and follow not their desires, but beware of them lest they seduce thee from some part of that which Allah hath revealed unto thee. And if they turn away, then know that Allah's Will is to smite them for some sin of theirs. Lo! many of mankind are evil-livers. Is it a judgment of the time of (pagan) ignorance that they are seeking? Who is better than Allah for judgment to a people who have certainty (in their belief)? O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for friends. They are friends one to another. He among you who takes them for friends is (one) of them. Lo! Allah guides not wrongdoing folk. And you see those in whose heart is a disease race toward them, saying: We fear lest a change of fortune befall us. And it may happen that Allah will vouchsafe (unto thee) the victory, or a commandment from His presence. Then will they repent them of their secret thoughts." [al-Maida: 48-50]

6. The call for a civil state is an emphatic call to secularism and we warn the sons of the Islamic nation of the need to comprehend what is being plotted against her religion and faith, it was narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad from Arabad Bin Saariya, saying: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) gave a sermon that caused the eyes to shed tears and the hearts to miss a beat; We said: O Messenger of Allah, this is your farewell sermon, so to what do you entreat us? He said:

قَدْ تَرَكْتُكُمْ عَلَى الْبَيْضَاءِ لَيْلُهَا كَنَهَارِهَا لَا يَزِيغُ عَنْهَا بَعْدِي إِلَّا هَالِكٌ، وَمَنْ يَعِشْ مِنْكُمْ، فَسَيَرَى اخْتِلَافًا كَثِيرًا، فَعَلَيْكُمْ بِمَا" عَرَفْتُمْ مِنْ سُنَّتِي وَسُنَّةِ الْخُلَفَاءِ الرَّاشِدِينَ الْمَهْدِيِّينَ، وَعَلَيْكُمْ بِالطَّاعَةِ، وَإِنْ عَبْدًا حَبَشِيًّا عَضُّوا عَلَيْهَا بِالنَّوَاجِذِ، فَإِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُ كَالْجَمَلِ الْأَنِفِ حَيْثُمَا انْقِيدَ انْقَادَ"

"I have left you upon the clear path and no one should leave it or he will be destroyed, and those amongst you who live after me will see much discrepancy, so you should hold firm to my "Sunnah", and that of the Rightly Guided Khulafah in obedience, though he be an slave Abyssinian cling firmly, and the believer is not misled." Narrated by Ahmad.

(والله غالب على أمره ولكن أكثر الناس لا يعلمون)

"And Allah is the master of his, but most people do not know." [Yousef: 21]

 Osman Bakhach
Director of Central Media Office
of Hizb-ut Tahrir