News:

On 4th March 2015 an article was published in one of the leading Urdu newspapers of Pakistan with the title "Khilafah "Caliphate"". This same article was published in an English newspaper on 11th March of the same media group. The writer of this article claimed that, "It is an undeniable fact that for the past many centuries, the word ‘Khilafah "Caliphate"' is being used... But it cannot be regarded as a religious term... As far as the view that according to Islam there should be only one global government in the world is concerned, it is evident to every person of learning that the Quran is absolutely devoid of any such directive...establishment of United States of Islam based on the union of countries in which Muslims are in majority can be the desire of every person and we can also strive to fulfill this desire, but there is no basis that such a union is a directive of the Islamic Shariah, defying which Muslims would be committing a sin."

Comment:

The appearance of an article on the matter of the Khilafah "Caliphate" in one of the leading newspapers, a secular-oriented one at that, is something out of blue. But the most astonishing fact is how more than a dozen columnists and religious scholars came forward to rebut this article and its rejection of the Khilafah "Caliphate" as an institution and an Islamic terminology which has not only overwhelmed the parent newspaper which published it originally but other newspapers also published some refutations. So far these rebuttals have not stopped coming. So much so one columnist who is secular and writes in the same newspaper which published this article criticized the author and said that he has started a totally wrong discussion and people of Pakistan won't accept his narrative. So far not a single columnist or a religious scholar has written in favour of rejecting the idea of Khilafah "Caliphate".

A few years back we would question amongst ourselves about when the time will come when Khilafah "Caliphate" will be talk of the town in Pakistan. Know it feels that it is truly on the horizon. One most encouraging aspect of the rebuttals is that Hizb ut Tahrir did not initiate any effort to dislodge this modernist approach rather columnists and religious scholars themselves came forward and started refuting this modernist approach towards Islam. They not only rejected the author's views in political terms but rather gave Islamic evidences that establishment of an Islamic state is not a mere desire of Muslims rather it is an obligation on them from Allah swt. These intellectuals even hit him hard that he is presenting secular thoughts under the cover of Islam.

It seems that the Raheel-Nawaz regime has initiated this debate in the society after Peshawar School attack with the aim of cleansing it of Islamic thoughts especially regarding the enforcement of Sharia and unity of Ummah through the establishment of Khilafah "Caliphate". It has done this under the banner of Nation Action Plan. That is why regime mouthpieces often say that it is a long war and it may take fifteen to twenty years. The resilience shown by the intellectuals in the society on the topic of Khilafah "Caliphate" may have forced the traitors in the political and military leadership to change their assessments that it may take even longer to fulfill the dream and desire of their masters sitting in Washington. But the matter of fact is that Allah swt has promised that He will complete His light. All efforts to block His light are in vain and bound to fail.

((إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ لِيَصُدُّواْ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ فَسَيُنفِقُونَهَا ثُمَّ تَكُونُ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسْرَةً ثُمَّ يُغْلَبُونَ))

"Verily, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to hinder (men) from the Path of Allah, and so will they continue to spend it; but in the end it will become an anguish for them. Then they will be overcome" [Al-Anfal: 36].

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Shahzad Shaikh
Deputy to the Spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Pakistan