The world has witnessed an eruption of unparalled magnitude in the Muslim world over the past two weeks. Muslims the world over from Pakistan, to Tunisia, to Egypt, Yemen, Palestine, Jordan and even Albania have showed their utter mistrust and disapproval of the tyrant rulers imposed upon them. The demonstrators have shown great courage inspired by the Muslims of Tunisia. These demonstrations have erupted from the frustrated hearts of the Ummah and are a sincere display of the Islamic sentiment. Indeed, the videos from Cairo are riveting, with masses of Muslims flowing from the masajid after Friday prayer and overwhelming security forces. As a clear sign of the goodness of the Ummah, the world is witnessing the riot police allowing the Muslims to perform the Isha prayers in the streets; an indication that the very security forces that repress the Ummah are the same ones who will protect and defend it when its Islamic sentiment is evoked.

A sign of the the tyrant rulers in the Muslim world scrambling for legitimacy can be seen in Palestine. The secret documents and meeting notes gushing forth clearly illustrate how Western Nations are using the PLO to surrender the majority of Palestine. Everything in those documents emphasizes that the PLO was established to legitimize the recognition of the Israel and to surrender the majority of Palestine. Furthermore, it punctuates the reality that the Palestinian Authority’s goal is to protect the state of Israel while focusing on crushing the Islamic sentiments of the Muslims of Palestine. As if that weren’t enough, the Arab dictators fragile alliances are crumbling under the weight of their own words, as revealed by these recently released documents. The mis-trust and betrayal for each other is now in the open.

In Pakistan, the very lawyers who protested the detainment of Chief Justice Chaudry in 2007 by President Pervez Musharraf, are the very ones supporting Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the admitted killer of Salman Taseer, the former governor of Punjab province. Their support is noteworthy because it indicates the Islamic sentiment across all segments of Pakistani society, from the underclasses to the young and educated class. The recent shooting by a US diplomat of two Pakistanis was the most recent flashpoint in the continued outrage Muslims have against the US presence in the Af-Pak region.

Clearly, what is happening in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and Pakistan shows the desire that the Muslim Ummah has for change. The Ummah has adopted the numerous injunctions in the Quran and Sunnah to take their rulers to account and hold them to task for their transgressions:

كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ
“You are the best nation produced for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah” (Quran 3:110)

The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “By Him in whose hand is my soul, you must enjoin the Ma’aruf and forbid the Munkar, otherwise Allah will be about to send His punishment upon you. And then if you pray to Him (to ask Him), he would not answer you.”

The Messenger of Allah also (saw) said: “The master of martyrs is Hamza bin Abdul-Muttalib and a man who stood to an oppressor ruler where he ordered him and forbade him so he (the ruler) killed him.”

Muslims are beginning to take matters into their own hands; the veil of fear has been lifted. The time is now and now is the time for the return of the natural order of the Muslim world.  Hizb ut-Tahrir calls upon the people, the intellectuals in society and the army to work together to uproot the foreign capitalist influence and establish a sincere Khilafah.  This ummah with its rich Islamic heritage and real leaders (not those who are Western influenced) possesses the framework of the system, its solutions and its ideology.  We possess brave men and ample resources.  We must not be cheated of real change.