Concept
Hizb ut-Tahrir (Ḥizb at-Taḥrīr; HT) is an international pan-Islamist and Islamic fundamentalist political organization whose stated aim is the re-establishment of the Islamic caliphate to unite the Muslim community (called ummah) and implement sharia globally. The party was founded in 1953 as a political organization in then-Jordanian-controlled Jerusalem by Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani, an Islamic scholar from Haifa who was educated in Egypt and served as a qadi (religious court judge) in Mandatory Palestine. Al-Nabhani developed a program and "draft constitution" for the caliphate, Since 1953, Hizb ut-Tahrir has spread to more than 50 countries, and has a membership estimated to be between "tens of thousands" to "about one million". Hizb ut-Tahrir is active in Western countries, including the UK, and also in several Arab and Central Asian countries despite being banned by some governments. Members typically meet in small private study circles, but in countries where the group is not illegal, it also engages with the media and organizes rallies and conferences. Hizb ut-Tahrir has been banned in Bangladesh, China, Germany, Russia, Turkey, Indonesia, and all Arab countries except Lebanon, Yemen and the UAE. In July 2017, the Indonesian government revoked Hizb ut-Tahrir's legal status, citing incompatibility with government regulations on extremism and national ideology. Hizb ut-Tahrir is a difficult issue for Western and Muslim governments because it aims to restore the Caliphate but rejects the use of violence to bring about political change. Despite the rejection of violence, it is illegal in almost every Muslim country, with the following exceptions: Malaysia, Lebanon, Pakistan and Yemen. It has also been banned in Germany and Russia. Hizb ut-Tahrir states its aim as unification of all Muslim countries (or as it calls them "Islamic lands") over time in a unitary Islamic state or caliphate, headed by a caliph elected by Muslims. This, it holds, is an obligation decreed by God, warning that Allah will punish those Muslims "who neglect this duty.
