Question:
Assalam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatuh
It is stated in the Introduction to the Draft Constitution, Article 21: Muslims have the right to establish political parties to hold rulers accountable, or to reach power through the Ummah.
The question is: If the party that assumed power had a partisan political program, would it implement it as is the case with parties in current countries?
Also, is it correct for the party’s Ameer – like our party – to hold the post of the party’s leadership and that of the caliph at the same time?
If it is correct, how can the party account the Caliph, while being under the leadership of its Ameer, who is the Caliph?
Barak Allah feek our Ameer, and may Allah grant you good deeds.
Answer:
Wa Alaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatuh
We have issued more than one Question and Answer on this topic: on 14/8/1967 and on 26/12/2014, and it contains sufficient details, so refer to it.
But in brief it is as follows:
1- The assumption of power by Hizb ut Tahrir is not like the assumption of power by existing parties in the world. What reaches power is the idea upon which the party is based, in its detailed form, as it has adopted it, and not the members of the party. The party works to bring its ideas to power, not to bring its members to power.
2- However, since the concepts of the party cannot be implemented well except by those who adopt it and live by it and for it, the caliph would inevitably be from the party, the assistants would inevitably be from the party, and the commander of jihad would inevitably be from the party. These three sides of the ruling apparatus would inevitably be from the party in order for the idea to be implemented and to ensure its proper implementation. As for other governing organs, they may be from the party, or they may be from outside the party according to ability and competence.
3- In addition to the fact that the party’s concept coming to power, is the party’s arrival to power, the party is careful not to impose the party’s members in ruling of the people and takes the utmost caution against that. (It is narrated on the authority of Umar bin Al-Khattab that when he chose the people of the Shura Council, that is, the six candidates for the leadership of the Khilafah (Caliphate), he came to Ali and said to him: O Abu Al-Hassan, if they give it to you, do not allow Bani Hashim to carry on ruling of the people. He came to Uthman and said to him: O Uthman, if they give it to you (Khilafah), beware of making Bani Umayyad continue in ruling the people), and if the Caliph is from Hizb ut Tahrir, then the members of the party will be to him like Bani Hashim to Ali and Bani Umayyad to Uthman, so it is not right for him to pass down the ruling to them over the people.
4– As for the party’s accountability to the ruler when the party comes to power, the answer to that is:
The party carries out four actions: culturing (concentrated and collective), and intellectual struggle in terms of clarifying correct ideas from false and corrupt ideas. These two actions are not the subject of accountability, but rather they are the party’s cultural and intellectual work. The party’s work to do both continues, both before and after the ruling, as they are not affected by the party’s taking of power.
As for the third work (revealing the plans), it is no longer the party’s work because the party’s presence in power has eliminated the issue of the party revealing colonial plans. Rather, it is carried out by the government’s organs, and holding the rulers accountable for adopting interests, as it was before ruling, remains and is carried out by the Wilayah Committees.
The Wilayah Committees, as before the ruling, have the authority to hold the party leadership accountable (the Ameerand his office), so they continue to have this authority to hold the party leadership accountable while it is in power, and in adopting the interests of the Ummah in accordance with the rules of Shariah and watching over them with benevolence and mastery.
Hopefully, this was suffeicent, and Allah is All-Knowing and All-Wise.
Your Brother,
Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah
4 Rabi ul Awal 1445 AH
19/9/2023 CE
