بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Hizb ut Tahrir / Wilayah Syria Radio Interview with one of the Supervisors of al-Waie Magazine
Dhul Qi’dah 1437 AH – August 2016 CE
1.First, can you give us a general overview about Alwaie Magazine; its inception, its objectives, its contents?
Firstly, we meet your joy with greater pleasure from us to meet you, and we meet you and meet with you on the same goals for which we work together to achieve, and we are united on a single thought, work and concern. In fact, together, we and you, complement one another in the work; therefore we thank you for the meeting request, and we share the same feeling of pleasure with you.
With regard to your inquiry, as you know, Hizb ut Tahrir is a political party whose ideology is Islam, and seeks through its current interaction stage to work on having the Ummah adopt its thoughts, rules, and Sharii opinions, and adopt the goal which the Hizb set for itself. This requires deploying the Party’s adoptions among Muslims, and the legitimate (Sharii) acts of the method followed by the Party, in line with the method of the Prophet (saw), which are acts of mass culture. From here, a group of young university students of the Hizb in Lebanon suggested in 1989, to the Party’s official there, who was at that time the Senior Brother Abu Mahmoud Abdul Hadi al-Faour, may Allah have mercy on him, to issue a magazine which reflects the party's opinion on various issues related to the work of the party, whether in Lebanon, or in its work area as a whole. Thus, the party at that time approved to move forward with this proposal, and the official there offered the necessary facilities to the students and supported them.
2. Was it taken into account that the Lebanese state would not allow the issuance of the Alwaie Magazine?
Our Senior Brother Abu Mahmoud Abdul Hadi al-Faour, may Allah have mercy on him, repeatedly said that young people are always motivated to move forward in the work, and they never lived very harsh conditions of prosecutions, arrests and cases of harassment experienced by those before them. Thus they did not take into account their negative effects; therefore when they propose their ideas, their sense for security and its consideration is not extensive”. From this perspective, the view of many senior members was that the Lebanese state will not permit the issuance the magazine, whereas he, Rahimahullah, insisted on going ahead with this proposal, refusing apprehension repeating that if they (the government) close it, then we would have done what is legitimately required of us; and felt that the proposal deserved the go ahead, especially if the magazine were established, it would be one of the most important means to spread the Da’wah for us. He asked the members who have shown a strong enthusiasm toward the magazine publication to request an approval from the relevant authorities as a magazine being published by a group of university students in Lebanon. Afterwards it obtained a license from the Ministry of Information in 1989, while it was not known to the Lebanese state at that time that this group of students are members of the Hizb. The party was at that time was banned ...
It can be said that Abu Mahmoud, Rahimahullah, was the godfather of the magazine and its first supervisor, and he remained running it successfully for sixteen years. Specifically from the first edition, until Issue Number 193. It is noteworthy that the magazine initially began with strong, bold, eye-catching sensitive topics from the first edition.
3.When the Alwaie Magazine was issued, the Syrian regime was present in Lebanon, did that not affect public access to the magazine?
From a security standpoint, since its first issuance the magazine has passed through difficult security conditions, because it was issued during the presence of the repressive Syrian military security in Lebanon. Therefore the magazine administrators adopted the act of selling the distribution to the libraries directly to the public distribution center, whether in Beirut or Tripoli; because Syrian intelligence were imposing on this center to provide them with copies of everything they distributed. They were monitoring everything, the Shabab resorted to this method of distribution for fear of preventing the magazine and of prosecuting and holding them accountable by the Syrian intelligence services, which controlled all walks of life, and counts the breaths of the Shabab and among others. Syrian intelligence asked about it repeatedly; and this is what tightened its spread and led to the abstention of a large number of libraries of selling it. Nevertheless, the magazine, by the Grace of Allah (swt), and subject to the Shabab’s activity in its distribution, has become widespread and well-known, with many inquiring about it.
It is noteworthy here that the Syrian intelligence started accusing all those who were caught in possession of the magazine of being members of Hizb ut Tahrir. This was in Lebanon, and then it spread across many countries where Shabab were present, and it became one of the serious security seizures upon arrest, this was not limited to the magazine, but it extended to the booklets issued by the magazine such as the book “The Call to Islam”. Thereafter, whoever was arrested of the Shabab with possession of this book, was sentenced to a few years of prison as was the case in Turkey.
The magazine quickly crossed the border, and became an outlet for the party's members’ participation in their wide fieldwork around the world to read and to write articles. Indeed, the magazine revealed the existence of high standards of thinking and writing within many of the Shabab; it was a fitting atmosphere for the gifted Shabab, emerging from among them the thinker, the politician, the journalist, the scholar, the jurist and the poet, and the one whose da’wah knowledge are deeply rooted within him... Thus, the magazine fueled itself with writers and fueled them on the other hand, elevating them to higher levels…
It is worth mentioning here, that we verify that the writings published in this magazine are exclusively within the adopted culture, so the administrators of the magazine and the writers take this into account without any indulgence, and therefore if any opinion was issued contrary to the adopted concepts, it is immediately corrected.
Also, the funding of the magazine was internal, those responsible for it, who are a few, usually do not take a wage for their work, so it self-financed itself, and recovered its costs from sale, it is sold at a minimal price because of its low costs. Some of the Shabab who were financially capable would also buy several issues of the magazine and gift them to their contacts or the contacts of other Shabab.
4. What are the factors that have contributed to the growth of Al-Waie and its success?
The magazine was intensively launched by two factors:
Firstly: it was due to the first administrator’s care for it, the senior brother Abu Mahmoud Abdul Hadi al-Faour, may Allah shower him with great blessings, he was very keen to make it a success with his full conviction in the magazine’s role in being one of the important means to carry the Da’wah, and the delivery of the party’s opinions on various current political and intellectual issues and because it makes an effective contribution to the ideological conflict through which the West is trying to conquer the Ummah's thoughts, and the political struggle against the regimes and their betrayals against the Ummah, and revealing the infidel West’s colonization plans, especially those that revolve around the maliciousness against Islam and the looting of the bounties of the Ummah, and adopting the interests of the Ummah through addressing the crises and problems that are being hatched against the Ummah by the West and carried out by the treacherous rulers; through exposing them and presenting the Hukm of Allah (swt) regarding them, giving them legitimate solutions and linking them to the creed. It also helped in creating the intensive culturing and played an active part in spreading the culture of the Hizb to the masses ... all of this is the core of the party's work, according to the way the Messenger (saw).
Secondly: it was due to the interest of the Shabab themselves in it. It was practically the first outlet for them in the Da’wah, it opened a wide door to some of them as writers who then became prominent in that area. Over time, newspapers and some other well-known political magazines began publishing some of their articles, and indeed more than that, these newspapers and magazines also published serialized articles issued by Alwaie Magazine which the magazine later published as books. Most of these books were extracted from the heart of the magazine ... Alwaie also enabled all the Shabab to have access to the party’s viable culture that deals with various issues affecting the Ummah on ground, and the topics raised became the daily conversations of the Shabab with the people, and its effect on people became apparent. It struck me once at a Friday sermon that the topic of his Khutbah was the opening article of Alwaie, which usually covers the most prominent topics that relate to the Ummah. I purposely repeated my presence in this sermon, and I found that the Sheikh was consistent in this style.
5. Where is Al-Waie published, and approximately how many followers does it have?
The magazine was published and has spread wherever the Shabab were found; it was their business and their merchandise that accompanied them in their activities; and it was found in almost every place the Hizb functioned. It was even translated in the non-Arabic-speaking Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Indonesia, Central Asia. The organizers of the magazine relied a lot of the time on publishing articles to writers of the Shabab from these areas, and still are, where these articles were translated into Arabic, and then revised and published. Moreover, the magazine has spread further and wider than all what we have mentioned, and that is after the spread of various means of communication globally, and it became feasible for all people to see it.
From here, Al-Waie Magazine is considered of the most prevalent magazines in the world. I remember when the honorable Brother Abu Mahmoud, may Allah have mercy on him, asked us if it was possible for the articles that will be published in the special edition of the magazine to be sent for translation first and then publish both Arabic and translated copies at the same time in the special edition. The reason for this request was because it takes months for the special edition there to be published because of its many and lengthy topics and the work on their translation. We tried doing so but it was difficult to achieve this request; because the article that is to be published may be postponed, and corrected more than once... from here was the spread of the magazine in all the Party's work areas, with millions of followers.
6. Who are the authors of the Al-Waie Magazine and how are its contents drafted?
As for the authors, they are many and most of them are of the Shabab, they are too many to mention, and I do not think it is befitting to mention them because one is ought to forget some of them. It also worth mentioning that the writers are respectable and proficient in addressing their topics in an adequate and sufficient manner, they are politicians at the same time. Therefore their writings are far from being purely theoretical, they address the reality and provide radical and realistic solutions, these writings are characterized by being purposeful and link the solutions to the root of intellectual ideology which the magazine adopts. They also negate the reality deeply and ideologically so that it shows the falsity of solutions in the existing regimes through negating the roots upon which they are built, i.e. negating them from their basis. They are in fact the future writers, and through their solutions, the provisions of Islam are instilled in them, and the great project of Islam becomes present in their minds.
It is well known that of the signs of the party's success is the existence of this army of political thinkers, whom the project of the Khilafah "Caliphate" is rooted in their minds, and are ready to be the owners of this great project, and through their writings for the magazine, the Shabab of the Hizb are preparing themselves to be statesmen in the Khilafah "Caliphate" State, and proving themselves as politicians.
As for the contents, its articles have dealt with various topics of interest to the Da’wah of the party, and this course took two aspects: First, it was based on articles initiated by the Shabab’s own endeavor of what should be written, namely generally dealing with sensitive topics publicly discussed, presenting the straight way against the crooked lines, which others work on to pervert the people away. The Shabab who read these articles were quick to carry these ideas, disseminate them, while trying hard to distance the effect of misleading writings from the people; and hence these articles were the strongest support for the Shabab in their Da’wah.
The second is that those in charge of the magazine asked of the Shabab with expertise to write about some topics which were important. Here it must be pointed out that they were asked to write according to their specialties, i.e. according to what is known of their familiarity with specific topics more than others, and there are some Shabab who possessed the ability to deep-writing in more than one subject.
It is these two aspects, the magazine has been able to proceed with confidence, and was one of the most meaningful magazines, if not the most. And it was consistency in its commitment and spread with the party, and was one of the most magazines prosecuted by the regimes under which the Shabab were working, and was a fixed evidence that shows the link of the Shabab to the party and thus were convicted by these regimes.
7. What is the nature of the topics published in the magazine?
It is difficult to number the topics covered by the magazine but can be summarized because they dealt with topics related to the work of the party, which achieve its goal, including, for example:
Articles were published identifying the Hizb, and presenting its work and rules and principles of thought and they elaborated in it. Some headlines related to this section of the magazine can be accessed through search pages on the Internet: “Hizb ut Tahrir is a Global Party That Seeks to Renew the Oath by Establishing the Second Righteous Khilafah "Caliphate"”; another headline: “This is the Hizb ut Tahrir ... Its Roots are Deep, and its Branches in prospects”…
Articles were published regarding the obligation of carrying the Da’wah to establish the Deen by working for the implementation of the Khilafah "Caliphate", and it published a book in this area entitled: “Call to Islam” which focused on the necessity of the ruling by the laws of Allah (swt), and the obligation of establishing the Khilafah "Caliphate", that it is the crown of all obligations, and presenting the necessity to abide by way of the Prophet (saw).
Many articles were published that show the ruling of seeking the Nussrah (military support) and accorded it great importance. Other headlines from this section included “Nussrah is a Great Obligation... Its Reward is Great... and Rejecting it is Rejecting the Establishment of Ruling By What Allah (swt) Has Revealed”. It presented the legal provisions relating to all of this and has launched calls and cries to the people of power for the victory of their religion, on the footsteps of the first Ansar who supported the Prophet (saw), such as: (أين نصرة الأغيار للأخيار؟!)،Where are the catalysts for change?”, also: “A Warm Call to the People of Power from the Army, And the Role of The Armies in Change”, and: “The Ummah Has Revolted, When Will The Armies Revolt?!”, another heading: “A Cry of Seeking Victory to the Ansar (Supporters)”. It published on its pages poems by the Shabab who are fueling in agony to push the people of power to support their religion, such as the poem: “Get up, be as the Saad of our Prophet, our Saad”, and also another title: “For Every Person With Protectiveness (for the Deen) Responding to the Call Of Victory...”. Under the fixed title “Follow Their Guidance”, the magazine presented the stories of the Companions who supported the Prophet (saw) like Saad bin Maaz, and Osayd Bin Hudayr, and As'ad ibn Zurarah, may Allah be pleased with them all.
The magazine also published articles: "The role of Scholars before the Establishment of the Khilafah "Caliphate" and Beyond", and warned of evil scholars who decorate the falsehood of the rulers and call unto Muslims to obey them as guardians (wali amr) who may not be objected. Such as the article entitled: “The Leading Role of the Scholars Under the Khilafah "Caliphate" and Today” and directed calls and cries urging their eagerness be pioneers in this Da’wah, including: “A Call to the Scholars”.
The position of the West of Islam and its hostility to the Khilafah "Caliphate" and to Hizb ut Tahrir, and it included a booklet in one of its special editions as a gift to its readers, titled: “In The Eyes Of The West: Islam... Khilafah "Caliphate"... Hizb ut Tahrir...”, and excessed in the publication of articles which spoke about: “Western Predictions That Muslims Will Change the World Order”, and also: “The West's Strategy in the Muslim World: Fear and Greed”. The magazine published articles that marked the difference between the West’s rulers and citizens, and that at a time when the rulers are being deceitful to Islam and Muslims, Westerners are converting to Islam, until the Western rulers, politicians, and thinkers considered it the fastest growing religion in the world,such as the articles: “The West’s Conversion to Islam: semantics and meanings”. It also spoke against the Western campaign against the Prophet (pbuh), including an article entitled: “Who and What is Behind the Campaign of Insulting Islam and the Prophet (pbuh)?” The magazine also revealed in its articles the intervention of the West in the revolutions and riding on its wave, including an article entitled: “The West Wants to Ride the Wave of the Revolutions”, and another entitled: “Effects of Western Intervention, Especially in Libya”.
The magazine published articles on the Islamic movements, which the West calls "moderate Islamic movements", and which the West wants to play their own game and make it the last bullet to prevent Islam from reaching the rule. Articles published in that regard: “The Risk of the West Playing the Paper Of Moderate Islamic Movements to Distance Islam From Ruling”, and warned these movements advising them in several articles, including an article entitled: “Is It Not Time For The Islamic movements that Recognize the Legitimacy of the Taghout Regimes to Wake Up?!”
8. Has the Alwaie Magazine not addressed the revolutions in the Muslim world generally, and in Syria specifically?
Magazine excessed in publishing articles about the revolutions and "manipulations of the West to abort the blessed revolutions", and addressed the revolutions in general, including an article entitled: “The Revolutions ... Correcting Slogan and Track” and “The correct concept of change to the slogan "the people want to overthrow the regime”, “Towards the Rationalization of the Muslim revolutions: the High Values They Should Abide By”. The magazine gave special attention to the revolution in Syria with more articles because of what arose in it of explicit statement that it aims to establish the Khilafah "Caliphate", and for what was shown by the enemies of Islam and the Muslims of the world leaders cunning outright fear of the establishment of the Khilafah "Caliphate" in it, and of what it witnesses of unprecedented deceit and criminality…
Publishing many articles that reveal the depth of conspiracy against this revolution, so as such: “O Muslims in Syria: West Beats the Alarm Of Fear Of the Islamic Nature of your revolution, So Confront Them With the Establishment of the Khilafah "Caliphate"”, and also another title: “A Road Map in Syria to Establish a Khilafah "Caliphate"”, and: “Will the People of Power in Syria Surprise the World with Giving the Nussrah, and Transforming the State to A Khilafah "Caliphate" on the Method of Prophethood”, the magazine published poems and a booklet for the Muslims as a gift covering the goodness of the people of Shaam in the Ahadith of the Prophet pbuh; and proceeded with this revolution step by step, helping the party in Syria in revealing conspiracies and crimes there.
Its articles also spoke about TV channels and media as a weapon that has a role in the suppression of the revolutions, publishing many articles about it, including: “TV channels and the attempt to divert the revolutions away from the demand for Islam” and “TV channels’ role in mobilizing or extinguishing the revolutions”…
It also addressed the Muslim rulers whom it calls imposed by the West, worthless by the Ummah. And elaborated strongly in their exposure, publishing many articles, of which are: “The Criminality of The Muslim Rulers is a Continuation to the Criminality of Western Colonialism” and also: “Rulers of the Muslim world: Guardians who Should Be Obeyed, Or Tyrannical Rulers Who Should be Overthrown?” and: “The Rulers of the Muslim World are a single style in their agency to the West and their betrayal of the Ummah”, and also another title: “Wealth of Muslim rulers in Western banks”.
It also spoke about “Hereditary Rule in Muslim Countries”, and published poems about it, including a poem entitled: “The Maliciousness of the West has Created the Agent”.
9.How many books have you published for the magazine and what are these books?
The magazine published a number of books, their titles are evident to the importance of their contents, and these books in order are:
1- “Intellectual and Media Pollution” by Dr. Ayed Shaarawy, may Allah have mercy on him.
2- “Combating Civil Law” by Sheikh Ahmed Da'our, may Allah have mercy on him.
3- The Call to Islam by Brother Ahmed Mahmoud.
4- “International Monetary System: A Historical Perspective and a Drastic Treatment” by Sheikh Fat’hi Saleem, may Allah have mercy on him.
5- “The Promised Righteous Khilafah "Caliphate" and Its Challenges” by Brother Hamad Tabeeb.
6- “The Khilafah "Caliphate" State and the so-called "Minorities"” by Brother Yassin Ben Ali.
And here it draws to our attention that what the journal contains of convergent and complementary subjects, allows for many of the magazine’s writers to benefit from them and issue from them more than a book. For example, the various articles dealing with the West and the intervention in the lives of Muslims can be benefitted from and publish a book based on them, and articles that dealt with the revolutions from various aspects, can also be utilized in publishing a book in relation to the revolutions. There are sequential articles on one topic from which a book can be published such as the theme: “Health Care in the State of the Khilafah "Caliphate"”, which was published in seven sequential series ... and many others.
10. Are you related to the Alwaie Association in Tripoli?
The relationship is in the name only, though they were found in the same country (Lebanon), and by students, and in the same conditions, during the oppressive Syrian military and intelligence presence, but there is no link between them except that they both work with the Hizb in their own style, but in a different domain. The magazine was launched by Shabab of the Hizb from Beirut, while the Association launched from the Shabab of the Hizb from Tripoli.
11.What difficulties do you face, in either publishing or other aspects?
There is no work without difficulties, and with willpower and patience one can overcome the greatest difficulties, and the difficulties were manifested in the security situation before, as for the difficulties related to work, then in spite of its small number of staff working in the publication of the magazine, and being forced to solve the problems they face on their own, but they remain tolerable problems. What reduces the problems is the numerous writers from among the Shabab, and they write voluntarily seeking no praise desiring the reward from Allah (swt), and they respond to writing requests on any subject requested; also, the workers for the publication are volunteers… working unpaid. This keeps it far from any financial problems which it may encounter. As well as in helping to reduce any problems is the interaction of the Shabab with it, as it feeds their minds first. They are the first beneficiaries from it; therefore, they are concerned about it by waiting for its issues one by one, and if it was delayed due to work overload at the hands of those working on it - and this is usually urgent - you see them inquiring about it…
12.Do you believe that Alwaie has achieved its objective?
Alwaie Magazine is part of the Party's work, which contributes to it in achieving its objectives. In this area, the magazine has made extensive contributions to delivering the opinion of the party widely. Therefore it can be said that it will not achieve its goals until the party achieves its objectives. It is one of the effective and efficient means to the party. Here it must be said: that despite the development of means of communication, and people’s passion in them and their direction towards it... but the magazine has been able to maintain its level and remains desired by the Shabab because of what its writers’ raise of important topics and drastic treatments not found elsewhere. The readers even look for it in the same other means of communication that we're talking about; in other words, the leading magazine remained a pioneer in its field, indispensable.
13. In its first inception, Alwaie used to give people a brief overview of a book of its own choosing, why has it stopped doing so?
The Magazine offered much of the doors that were deemed useful to its work, and with time, it abandoned them to open new doors it saw necessary, this does not mean that it left them because they was not useful, but because it may have considered that there other more necessary doors. If we go back and we reviewed the doors that were closed to open others, since the first issuance to today, we find that they are many. The magazine took on itself the commitment to a limited number of pages so that the reader does not become bored of frequent themes; it renews itself in this style and tries to put forth the best. Even in this question, you may find this section important, and others may see it the most important; and Allah knows best.
14. Is there a message you would like to deliver to your magazine followers specifically, and the Muslims at large?
Yes, we would like to call on the Shabab to pay attention to Alwaie Magazine comparable to its importance:
First: persistence in reading it as its topics are in line with current events and it provides solutions to problems, and commits to the adopted culture; if its topics are read carefully, this will help as we said from establishing the intensive culture…
Second: persistence in providing the magazine with writers from the Shabab that write about current events, and that these articles are elevated in professionalism, whether in terms of adherence to the origins of research, or of adjusting the texts so that it is free of errors as much as possible, or in terms of persistent commitment to the adopted culture, and document their words by citing evidence, or directing it to the sources and references that are cited and review and revise their articles before they are sent…
Third: distributing it to their contacts as much as possible, and publish its articles on the means of communication as much as possible; because publishing them is a way of spreading the culture of the party… drawing a straight line next to the crooked lines, in this area, it contributes to establishing a collective culture…
May Allah (swt) reward you…