The Brunei Times
Dzikrullah W Pramudya and Santi Soekanto
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
THIS Sunday, if Allah Almighty wills, some 80,000 people will take part in a large conference here, whose main aim is to disseminate the call for the revival of the khilafah (caliphate). To be held at the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Stadium, the gathering will feature both domestic and international speakers of Hizbut Tahrir movement as well as leaders of other Islamic organisations.
Hizbut Tahrir, as introduced in its Britain's official Internet site, is a global Islamic political party that was established in 1953 under the leadership of its founder _ the scholar, political thinker and judge in the Court of Appeals in al-Quds (Jerusalem), Taqiyuddin an-Nabhani. Hizbut Tahrir global leadership is currently headed by Ata' abu Rishta.
Hizbut Tahrir works at all levels of society to bring Muslims back to living an Islamic way of life "under the shade of the Khilafah State following an exclusively political method". The movement claims to adopt the methodology employed by the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) when he established the first "Islamic State" in Madinah.
In Hizbut Tahrir's point of view, the Prophet limited his struggle for the establishment of the Islamic State to intellectual and political work. Instead of resorting to violence, the Prophet mobilised public opinion in favour of Islam and endeavoured to sway the political and intellectual elites of the time.
For us in Brunei Darussalam, the system is not a strange thing. In fact, it could very well be considered personal because HRH Al-Muhtadee Billah, our own Crown Prince, bears the same name as that of the 13th Caliph (868 AD) in the Khilafah Abbasiyah (Abbasid Chaliphate) known for its scientific and technological achievements.
Even if, as history shows, the Khilafah Abbasiyyah recorded many differences from the system adopted by Khulafaur Rashidin (the four Rightly-Guided successors of the Prophet: Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, 'Umar ibn Khattab, 'Uthman ibn 'Affan and 'Ali ibn Abu Talib), it was legally and scientifically considered as the ideal form of Islamic political leadership after the Prophet era.
Relations between Brunei Darussalam and the caliphate go beyond similarity in names _ the sultans of Brunei made a conscious effort to sustain those ties with the Uthmaniyyah Caliphate in Istanbul. Khilafah Uthmaniyyah ended on March 3, 1924 with the establishment of the secular Republic of Turkey under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal.
In the "modern" discourse, a Khilafah (which seeks justice as part of the worship and obedience toward Allah, in the spirit of loving Rasulullah, be it spiritually, through the search for knowledge, through the building of a just community) is often considered an Islamic anti-thesis toward a Western globalised system that is capitalistic, materialistic and secular.
However, as a form of ijtihad (the reform in implementing religious life), the line and direction taken by Hizbut Tahrir is not free from criticism.
In Indonesia, Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (the largest organisation of so-called traditional Muslims), called Hizbut Tahrir "a transnational ideological movement which threatens Indonesia's national unity". He said, "We must be wary of movements that do not spring from Indonesian traditions."
Hasyim's fears are understandable given how Indonesia has yet to recover from the various social, political and economic upheavals of recent decades, as well as the numerous natural disasters.
If it is true that Hizbut Tahrir seeks to replace the secular nationalism adopted by Indonesia at its proclamation of independence 62 years ago, then it certainly must be described as a threat for Indonesia.
At the international level, eminent jurist Yusuf Qaradhawi has also criticised Hizbut Tahrir for turning its founder Sheikh Taqiyuddin An-Nabhani into a cult. "They accept whatever Syaikh Taqiyuddin has to say about the economic and political system as if it was the religion of Allah rather than a personal ijtihad that can sometimes be correct but can also be mistaken at other times," Qaradhawi has said.
There are other criticisms such as one that sees Hizbut Tahrir as a partial movement emphasising politics while ignoring that Islam is a complete way of life that touches all aspects such as economics, social and culture, defence and others. This is in line with the movement's own declaration through its official site (www.hizb-ut-tahrir.org), "Hizb ut-Tahrir is a political group and not a priestly one. Nor is it an academic, educational or a charity group."
Will the conference on the khilafah be able to respond to the increasing list of criticism? Let us wait and see how the conference evolves in Jakarta, while praying to God Almighty that the growing organisation will add only good to mankind.
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