Encyclopedia of Islam

Hizb al-Tahrir al-Islami

  

303  J

---

side government surveillance and arrests. Some 

observers have remarked that it resembles the 

Communist Party in organization more than other 

Islamist movements, even though it is overtly 

anticommunist and antisocialist in its ideology.

During the 1990s, increased Western military 

presence in the Middle East, the fall of the Soviet 

Union, the break up of Yugoslavia, and the Pal-

estinian-Israeli conflicts provided Hizb al-Tahrir 

with opportunities to extend its reach into Europe, 

Pakistan, Central Asia, m

alaysia

, and i

ndonesia

. It 

currently maintains a public relations office in 

London, and its governing council is thought to 

have headquarters in Lebanon. It disseminates its 

ideas via numerous publications and Arabic- and 

English-language Web sites. However, it is banned 

as a terrorist organization in most Arab countries, 

Germany, Russia, and all the Central Asian repub-

lics, where it has gained many followers in recent 

years. British authorities have been monitoring it 

carefully, especially after the London Metro bomb-

ings in July 2005. According to one estimate, Hizb 

al-Tahrir has more than 20,000 members, includ-

ing recent converts to Islam. Another asserts 

that it may have as many as 80,000 members in 

Uzbekistan alone (Benard, 345).

The ideology of the party centers on the goal 

of reuniting all Muslims into a single community 

under an Islamic government called the 

caliph

-

ate

, which once ruled the early Islamicate empire. 

This government is obligated to rule in accordance 

with the 

sharia

, the law of God. All other political 

systems that govern Muslims are illegitimate and 

must be overcome by winning public opinion. 

Only by doing this will Muslims at last be free of 

the burdens imposed by centuries of colonial rule. 

Hizb al-Tahrir professes to be a nonviolent Islamic 

activist movement. Its British branch, for example, 

has joined with other Muslim community organi-

zations to raise funds for charity and to combat 

drugs. However, police and security agencies sus-

pect that its members pose a terrorist threat. Its 

publications purportedly equate prayer with 

Jihad

and 

terrorism

, and it has allowed for the killing 

of apostates, or “those who commit aggression 

against the sanctities of the Muslims” (Benard, 

347). It has also been condemned for being anti-

Semitic and supporting suicide attacks in Israel.

See also 

anti

-s

emitism

; 

commUnism

;  i

slamism

; 

reneWal

 

and

 

reForm

 

movements

.