On the 15^th of Rabee’ ul-Awwal 1433, corresponding to 7^th Februrary 2012, 107 Muslim scholars issued a declaration regarding the events in Syria. This statement included fatawa about the sanctity of the Muslims’ blood and their right, and that it is impermissible for members of the army or security services to kill anyone or to remain in their posts. They expressed support for the (Syrian) Free Army, and called on the Arab and Islamic countries to take a serious position towards the Syrian regime, and towards the states supporting it, like Russia and China. In addition, they called on the opposition to join ranks so that they could build their state on the basis of justice, protection of rights, establishing the freedoms, and institutions that would protect the country and its interests. They also announced their support for any effort which would prevent shedding of the Syrian people’s blood, and that such efforts should lead to free elections, a fair distribution of power and compensation for victims and their families.

It is indeed good that Ulema from many different Muslim lands have joined together, which emphasises that the Muslims’ causes are one; however it is highly blameworthy that this declaration does not contain any Islamic solution. It is as though it was intended to please certain authorities with whom Allah subhana wa ta’ala is not pleased – in other words the Western Kafir Capitalist states, and the regimes who do not rule by what Allah has revealed. It is obligatory that the declaration of Muslim scholars should be comprehensive, definitive, clear, bold and should put the right points in the right places, expressing the true position of Islam regarding what is happening in Syria and the rest of the Muslims’ lands. They should send a genuine call to all the Muslims, so that they take a stance which is sincere to their Lord and to their Deen. They should declare that the Islamic Ummah – in her causes, her peace and her war – is one Ummah, and she cannot be separated by walls or borders. Nor can she remain separated by regimes cultivated by the West to divide her according to their interests – the same West which now fights over our lands as the wolves fight over the sheep.

We in Hizb ut-Tahrir Syria remind these ulema’ first of all that they are the inheritors of the Prophet (sall Allahu alaihi wa sallam), and they are the trustees of his Deen; Allah has taken a covenant from them that they must convey the truth to the people, and not conceal it.

We also remind that Allah sees and hears them, and among the Sharee’ah rules that they would be sinful for concealing and not conveying are the following decisively proven rules:

• The Muslims of Syria are obliged to overthrow the regime in Syria because first and foremost, it is a regime which does not rule by Islam

• The method of change must be according to the method of Rasoul Allah (sall Allahu alaihi wa sallam). It must be a clean work, which is undertaken by all of the Muslims, including their scholars, leading personalities, the general masses and the people of power amongst them, by their own hands, as they are the ones who have the power to change the situation practically in their land.
• The people of power in Syria must know that they have two Shar’i obligations: protection of their people, and supporting their deen in order to establish the Islamic Khilafah state, as the Ansar supported Allah, his Messenger and the Muslims in Madeenah Munawwarah.

• The call for a civil, secular, irreligious state is a call of falsehood, as such regimes are regimes of Kufr which it is forbidden to adopt, implement or call for.

• Foreign intervention in the Muslims’ lands is forbidden, whether this was America and Europe, who hypocritically claim that they support the people of Syria, or Russia and China who are open in their enmity towards them. All of these states are united In their enmity towards Islam and in fighting it, however each of them uses their own methods.

• Calling for UN Security Council intervention is forbidden, as its legislation is Kufr legislation, and its goals are tied to the objectives of the major powers, particularly America.

Along with this, if these scholars intend to be sincere men of knowledge, they should declare that the situation of all of the Muslims in their lands is one, and thus the Sharee’ah solution for them is one – that the tyrant regimes which do not rule the Muslims by what Allah has revealed must be removed and the Islamic state must be established in their place.

O distinguished Ulema in all of the Muslims’ lands:

Indeed the time has come that you say the word of truth, after a long period of silence, and that you work for the establishment of the promised Islamic Khilafah state, after a long period of waiting. It may indeed be that the homeland of the Khilafah may be Ash-Sham (Syria region), which Allah has blessed. Take your share of the reward in this critical time of the labour, which may give birth to the Islamic state.

Allah ta’ala says:

وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَىٰ لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُم مِّن بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْنًا ۚ يَعْبُدُونَنِي لَا يُشْرِكُونَ بِي شَيْئًا ۚ وَمَن 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”
[Surat un-Noor, verse 55]

Hizb ut-Tahrir

Wilayah of Syria
17^th Rabee’ ul-Awwal 1433
9^th February 2012