Press Release
Commentary on the Statements of the Dutch Minister of Social Affairs, Lodewijk Asscher About the Expulsion of Imams who Preach Hatred
(Translated)

On Monday, 25/08/2014 the Associated Press conducted an interview with the Minister of Social Affairs, of the Labour party, Lodewijk Asscher. In the interview, the minister said that, "he will and in collaboration with another minister named Obstelin provide a plan that stops granting entry visas to the Netherlands to malicious imams who harbor evil for the Netherlands". At the same time, Minister Asscher wants of imams who are currently in the Netherlands to leave the country if they continue to spread the ideas of hatred, according to the Dutch state, and he supported his position by saying:

"The greatest freedom we have in this country is freedom of belief, but this freedom should not be misused, therefore we will make the work of the imams of hatred very tough, but we will make their work impossible if we could do so." [Telegraph Newspaper, August 25, 2014].
The primary objective of the Minister is to address the issue of so-called fundamentalism and extremism, and this is nothing new, and the minister's speech aims to continue and intensify the policies to address this issue, and what is noted is the timing of the announcement of these severe policies towards Muslims, it is not a coincidence, in the past few weeks, the media has published negative news extensively about what is happening in Iraq, especially those that contain the atrocities committed in the name of Islam, which have contributed towards finding the motivation by the Dutch government and other Western governments to adopt policies that are more stringent with Muslims.

It is strange that under the so-called "policy of extremism" in the Netherlands, phrases such as extremism and fundamentalism have become heavily used and vaguely, and people are classified as extremist without any clear and specific definition to these terms by the Dutch government, and as a result of such loose policies and what is propagated by the media of news, the term Khilafah "Caliphate" has become a subject of criticism more openly than ever before.

The dominant public opinion in the West, which was founded through the media is that the work for the re-establishment of the Islamic Khilafah "Caliphate" in the Muslim world must be through violence! While the opposite is true, after a deep study of the biography of the Prophet (saw), it becomes clear that he (saw) had established his state in Medina without resorting to any form of violence.

Without putting any effort to interpret what Minister Asscher has meant by saying "the owners of malicious intent," we can say that this is a clear policy intending only to distance Muslims from Islamic values described by the Dutch government as extremism and fundamentalism. In other words, the Dutch government will accept Islam and Muslims only if they are in line with Western secular values, even though this means that they are violating their own values and freedoms, and in particular the so-called freedom of belief, but this does not concern or bother them at all, and this shows us very clearly the policy of double standards adopted by the Dutch government toward Muslims and not others. This is from one aspect, on the other, the Dutch government wants Muslims to integrate into Dutch society and accept Western values, even though they do not care about their values when committing to them is not in their best interest!

Therefore it is important that the Muslims of the Netherlands do not get fooled by such speeches, and Muslims should be aware that the issue here is not the issue of moderation versus extremism, but the issue is that they want the Muslims to abandon their Islamic values and the Shari'ah rules, especially those related to their desire in the return of the Islamic Khilafah "Caliphate" state. Muslims must realize that the return of the Khilafah "Caliphate" is an order of Allah, there is no choice in it or negotiations but it is an obligation that Allah has decreed. Alla Azza wa Jal says:

[وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنْكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَىٰ لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْنًا ۚ يَعْبُدُونَنِي لَا يُشْرِكُونَ بِي شَيْئًا ۚ وَمَنْ كَفَرَ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ]

"Allah has promised those who have believed among you and done righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession [to authority] upon the earth just as He granted it to those before them and that He will surely establish for them [therein] their religion which He has preferred for them and that He will surely substitute for them, after their fear, security, [for] they worship Me, not associating anything with Me. But whoever disbelieves after that - then those are the defiantly disobedient" [An-Nur: 55]

Okay Pala
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir
in the Netherlands