Not very complicated.all laid out in the Koran.
Bruce Germany Struggles to Assess True Aims of Islamic Group http://www.apostatesofislam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=760 By RICHARD BERNSTEIN Published: September 26, 2004 BERLIN - Very few Germans have heard of it, but there is a case slowly working its way through the administrative courts that could strongly influence Germany's strenuous and popular efforts to deal with what officials consider a threat from Islamic militants living here. The case has been filed by Hizb ut-Tahrir, or Party of Liberation, an Islamic group with members in many European countries. Its overriding objective - if far-fetched - is to unite the entire Muslim world under a single caliph, or supreme theocratic leader, reviving a system that has not existed since the early decades of Islamic history. While the group freely operates in several European countries, with its largest membership, its supporters say, in Britain, it was banned two years ago in Germany by the interior minister, Otto Schily, who accused it of "spreading violent propaganda and anti-Jewish agitation." The group is seeking to overturn that ban in Federal Administrative Court in the eastern German city of Leipzig, which reviews decisions by government ministries. But whether it succeeds or not - and some officials in Germany concede that it may be able to make a strong legal case - the case illustrates a vexing aspect of the struggle against Islamic terrorism in Europe. There are certainly groups in Europe that see Osama bin Laden as a hero, and support jihad, or holy war, against Christians, Jews and Western civilization. But Hizb ut-Tahrir's members say that they disapprove of Al Qaeda and its methods, that their goals concern only Islamic countries, not European ones, and that they are largely intellectuals who do not resort to violence and take care not to violate the laws of their host countries. In other words, Hizb ut-Tahrir claims to be very different from, say, the radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, who was arrested in Britain a few months ago. Mr. Masri's fiery sermons at the Finsbury Park Mosque in London are said to have attracted many Muslims - including Richard C. Reid, who was sentenced to life in prison for trying to blow up a plane with explosive-laden sneakers - to take part in a holy war against the West. But Hizb ut-Tahrir and groups like it fall into a gray area, which leads to the question: should they be taken at their word, given the benefit of the doubt, or should they be seen as German intelligence sees them, as hiding jihadist goals behind an apparently legal facade? "The British government obviously accepted that al-Masri was a threat, that he was inciting violence," Gary Saymore, a terrorism expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said in a telephone interview. "But the European countries that have large Muslim communities face a challenge because they have to monitor what these guys are saying and make a difficult determination whether what they say goes over the line from religion to criminality." Germany, the country that unwittingly provided a base for the lead figures in the Sept. 11 plot, has been especially vigilant against the possibility that other groups here could foment new attacks or recruit for terror operations. To that end, the authorities have been waging a continuing campaign against Hizb ut-Tahrir and a couple of similar Islamic organizations believed to harbor jihadist sympathies or encourage hatred of Jews. The only person known to have been expelled for ties to militant Islam, Nizar al-Saqeb, a Yemeni engineering student, was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, and he was believed by the German authorities to have had contacts with Ramzi bin al-Shibh, one of the main Sept. 11 planners. The Germans have served expulsion orders on several other Hizb ut-Tahrir members, who so far have all managed to stay in Germany by claiming political asylum, a method that normally gives them a great deal of time before their cases are decided. The German police have also raided homes and offices of people suspected of being members, carrying away computer files. But even some German police and intelligence officials acknowledge that the raids have failed to turn up clear, unambiguously incriminating material on the group, though they say they have little doubt that its beliefs and aims do constitute a threat. Moreover, since the ban, some intelligence officials say, the group has become more careful in what it says publicly, which could present a problem for the German authorities in the coming case in court. Two members of the group, interviewed in Germany in recent months, denied any links to terrorism or to anti-Semitism, or to any illegal activity. "We appreciate that we can live here," a leading member of the group, who was willing to be identified only as Shakar A., said in an interview in the western German city of Duisburg, "so we accept the laws and we reject doing anything illegal and we have no intention of overthrowing any Western government." In the case of Hizb ut-Tahrir, Mr. Schily imposed his ban after receiving reports that leading members of a neo-Nazi group, the German National Party, took part in a meeting with Hizb ut-Tahrir at the end of 2001. Shaker A. said that the meeting attended by two well-known members of the neo-Nazi group was an open event and that Hizb ut-Tahrir did not control who attended it. "We didn't invite these men," he said. But one German intelligence official said the meeting was, as he put it, "the straw that broke the camel's back, politically." He added, "The politicians were afraid that right-wing groups would start working together with Islamists, and so they wanted to send a signal." But, at the same time, the official said, the ban may have hampered efforts to collect information on Hizb ut-Tahrir itself, because, by serving notice on it, the government has now encouraged it to operate even more underground. Hizb ut-Tahrir members contend that their group's goal of re-establishing the caliphate is aimed only at Muslim countries and that they have no interest in changing the political systems of Western democracies. Shakar A. added that the group rejected Al Qaeda and terrorism. "The unity of Muslims is something that is holy," he said, "so we don't accept dividing the Islamic world into 44 countries. But this is intellectual work. We don't use material force, because we are convinced that every change must first be established in the minds of people, and once the people are convinced, they will accept the caliphate." Asked his views of Al Qaeda, he said, "We say clearly that their way to bring about changes is wrong." Still, the group supports what it considers to be the Islamic struggle against what it deems the American occupiers of Iraq, and it calls for unremitting war against Israel, without condemning suicide bombers or attacks on Israeli civilians. Another member of the group, Muhammad Shaqura, a Palestinian from Gaza who has lived in Germany for 14 years and recently earned a Ph.D. in pharmacology, said, as Shakar A. did, that his group did not engage in violence. But it supports others who do, he said, if they are fighting the "enemies of Islam," which include, he indicated, the United States and Israel. _________________ The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about It." -Albert Einstein [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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