Press Release
Al-Habash, Minister of Endowments of the Palestinian Authority, Threatens Palestine's Imams and Preachers with the Dismissal from their Jobs if They Obey Allah and His Messenger
(Translated)

On Thursday 22/08/2013 the Minister of Endowments of the Authority (al-Awqaf) met hundreds of imams, preachers and the Endowments staff in the town hall of al-Bierah who were summoned from all over the West Bank.

Al-Habash vowed and threatened each and every one who does not adhere to the Palestinian Authority's policies and directives that are contrary to Islam with the dismissal from their jobs, and who so ever speaks of the Egyptian and Syrian affairs, considering it an internal affair, is prohibited from discussing these issues.

We in Hizb ut Tahrir Palestine have followed al-Habash's remarks and his threats directed at the Endowments staff over the past years. Previously al-Habash addressed the Endowments staff at a formal meeting saying, "The one who eats from the sultan's ladle, strikes with his stick" and has promoted normalization with the Jewish entity frequently and repeatedly. Accordingly we condemn his remarks and threats. We emphasize the following:

Al-Habash is not supposed to be a minister in an authority that is far-removed from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger, promoting obscenity and immorality; and endorsing vice, such as women's football, traditional and contemporary dance, beauty pageant competitions, fashion shows, and all other paths that encourage forbidden mixing between the sexes leading to promiscuity, as well as the dissemination of decay in the developing generations, all of this topped by the fundamental work of the Authority which is to alienate Palestine and protect the security of the Jewish entity.

Is it not actually al-Habash's duty to drive the imams and preachers to condemn the wrongdoings of the Palestinian Authority!? Instead he orders them to be the mouthpieces of the PA and its treacherous immoral policies.

How can the Minister of Endowments order the imams and preachers not to condemn the greatest of wrongdoings, the acts of murder of the people of Syria and Egypt!? Do you want the preachers to see Muslim blood flowing in the streets and squares of Egypt without denouncing it?! Do al-Habash and the Palestinian Authority ask the preachers to watch the people of Syria being annihilated by chemical weapons and all other sorts of lethal weapons and remain silent?! This is surely a great evil!

All of al-Habash's directives violate the Shariah, or did al-Habash not read in the Book of Allah:

[كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ]

"You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah." [Ali Imran: 110]

Did al-Habash not hear the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (saw), which was narrated Abdulla Ibn Umar who said: " ما أطيبك وأطيب ريحك ما أعظمك وأعظم حرمتك والذي نفس محمد بيده لحرمة المؤمن أعظم عند الله حرمة منك " I saw the Prophet (saw) doing tawwaf around the Ka'aba saying, "How sweet are you and how sweet is your scent. How great are you and how great is your sanctity. By the One who the soul of Mohammad is in His Hand the sanctity of a believer is greater with Allah than your sanctity." [Ibn Maja]

Or does al-Habash not view the killing and corruption of the Muslims to be an evil munkar!?

Al-Habash undoubtedly knows what is correct but he knowingly plays with the fire in exchange for a perishable part of this Dunya, he has even sold his Akhira for the Dunya of the oppressive tyrant regimes, for the Dunya of the enemies of the Muslims for the Americans and the Jews.

We say to the imams and preachers, let not this imposter deviate you from your original work, you are at the forefront of those working for the arbitration of the Law of Allah on earth and the establishment of the Khilafah "Caliphate", you are at the forefront of those enjoining good and forbidding evil. You have demonstrated your anger caused by the words of al-Habash when you chanted the Takbirat and applauded those who denounced the words of al-Habash at that ill-fated meeting. Stay firm in your covenant with Allah, advise the Ummah and spread the word of the Ummah's issues on your minbars throughout the Muslim lands, as said by the Messenger (saw): "المسلم أخو المسلم... " "The Muslim is the brother of a Muslim."  And he (saw) also said: تَرَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فِي تَرَاحُمِهِمْ وَتَوَادِّهِمْ وَتَعَاطُفِهِمْ كَمَثَلِ الْجَسَدِ إِذَا اشْتَكَى عُضْو تَدَاعَى لَهُ سَائِرُ جَسَدِهِ بِالسَّهَرِ وَالْحُمَّى "You see the believers in their mercy and their mutual love and sympathy like one body, if one limb complained, the rest of the body falls into wakefulness and fever."

Teach the people to renounce division, rotten patriotism and nationalism, for Allah will ask you what you taught the people, was it on the method of the Prophet al-Mustapha or on the method of al- Habash and the Palestinian Authority which fight Allah and the method of His Prophet (saw)?

[وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّن مَّنَعَ مَسَاجِدَ اللّهِ أَن يُذْكَرَ فِيهَا اسْمُهُ وَسَعَى فِي خَرَابِهَا أُوْلَـئِكَ مَا كَانَ لَهُمْ أَن يَدْخُلُوهَا إِلاَّ خَآئِفِينَ لهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا خِزْيٌ وَلَهُمْ فِي الآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ]

"And who are more unjust than those who prevent the name of Allah from being mentioned in His mosques and strive toward their destruction. It is not for them to enter them except in fear. For them in this world is disgrace, and they will have in the Hereafter a great punishment." [Al-Baqara: 114]

The Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Palestine