>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ><http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/04/16/comparing-ahmadiyah-and-hizbut-tahrir.html>http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/04/16/comparing-ahmadiyah-and-hizbut-tahrir.html > >Comparing the Ahmadiyah and the Hizbut Tahrir > >Bramantyo Prijosusilo , Ngawi, East Java | Wed, 04/16/2008 12:31 PM | >Opinion > >Followers of Ahmadiyah believe their leaders are rightly guided Caliphs >and their congregations of faithfuls constitute a Caliphate. The Hizb ut >Tahrir al Islami (the Islamic Party of Liberation, HT for short) is also >preoccupied with the idea of a Caliphate, a State with its own >constitution, armed forces and geographical boundaries. > >Where as the Ahmadiyah seek to convert people into believing in the Ahmadi >version of Islam, which maintains Mirza Gulam Ahmad was the promised >Messiah, the HT also attempts to convert people into believing their own >version of Islam, which prescribes the struggle to establish a physical >Caliphate as a wajib, or fundamental obligation, for Muslims. > >Both peculiarities are unique to their groups and represent a 'deviation' >from the traditional mainstream Islamic thought. HT was founded in 1953 in >Jerusalem by Taqiuddin al-Nabhani, and is banned in many Islamic countries >but has supporters in high places in Jakarta. Ahmadiyah is also banned in >many countries and has no open supporters among the elite in Indonesia. > >Although Islamic traditions state the Messiah will descend sometime before >the end of the world, not many Muslims believe he has already arrived and >departed in the form of Mirza Gulam Ahmad in India before its partition. > >Similarly, although Islamic tradition does note early Muslims after the >death of the Prophet were organized under the banner of a Caliphate, most >Muslims also believe the establishing of a Caliphate is not a religious >duty, and that any form of State is fine as long as it promotes justice >and allows the practices of Islam and doesn't prosecute Muslims because of >their faith. > >Most modern Muslims believe secular democracy is better than any form of >government yet invented and refer to the process of electing Abu Bakar as >the first Caliph after the Prophet's death as the precedence for democracy >in Islam. > >Of course, there are some fundamental differences between the Ahmadiyah >and the HT. The main difference is the HT aims to establish a political >Caliphate. > >Everywhere the HT is active, it denounces democracy as a Western vice. A >glance through HT websites impresses upon the reader a hatred for Jews and >the West, who are portrayed as evil controllers of the world that can only >be dealt with through the establishment of a Caliphate. In contrast, the >Ahmadiyah websites proclaim their motto "Love for all, hatred for none" >and do not aim to overthrow any government or form any State whatsoever. > >Both the Ahmadiyah and the HT are prosecuted and banned in many countries, >but for different reasons. The HT is banned in many Middle Eastern >countries because it is hostile toward the governments and aims to >overthrow the State. In some European Union countries, the HT is banned >because it breeds anti-Semitic and extremist views, and several European >terrorists were found to have links to the HT and to possess substantial >amounts of HT literature. The Ahmadiyah are banned in some Islamic >countries because they are judged as deviating from 'true' Islam, >especially in their faith in Mirza Gulam Ahmad being the promised Messiah. > >In Indonesia, the MUI organization of clerics has called for the Ahmadiyah >to be banned, and several Islamic organizations have viciously attacked >and closed down Ahmadiyah mosques. The Indonesian chapter of the HT, in >contrast, enjoys tacit support from some ministers and overt support from >hard organizations. > >One might be tempted to ask, if Ahmadiyah preaches love for all and hatred >for no one, and HT preaches hatred for democracy and calls for the >overthrow of existing States, why is it that in Indonesia, the >establishment is more worried about Ahmadiyah than it is concerned about >the anti-democracy ideology of the HT? Why are there cabinet ministers who >overtly and tacitly support the anti-democracy, theocratic, ideology that >aims to overthrow the State to replace it with their version of a >Caliphate? Does that not sound like hypocrisy? > >Further more, one might want to examine whether HT's version of >establishing a Caliphate is truly as Islamic as they claim. Though HT >activists are taught their strategy is to follow the example of the >Prophet, many ex-activists, such as the British writer Ed Husain have >pointed out that HT has a lot to thank Lenin and Trotsky for. While >Muhammad taught a religion, HT seeks political power using Leninist >methods. The HT goes on and adopts a Trotskyist, internationalist vision. > >Maybe because Lenin's thoughts have for decades been banned here, no one >has actually pointed out the Leninism in HT's methods, because no one is >sure what Leninism is. The HT seeks, just like the Bolsheviks, to firstly >develop a core of firm believers that communicate clear and simple slogans >to the masses, and when the time ripens, one day seize power and establish >their Caliphate (Soviet). > >Then from that Caliphate, like falling dominoes, their ideology will >spread throughout Islamdom. Eventually the Caliphate will convert the >whole world through jihad and da'wah. Just because they wrap their >Leninist ideas in Islamic jargon it doesn't mean that Leninism isn't >there. The rank and file of the HT is unlikely to be aware of their debt >to Lenin but a debt there certainly is. > >Both the Ahmadiyah and HT seek to convert people to believing their >version of Islam, but while the first is concerned with the spiritual >aspect of life, the second is concerned with the political aspect. One >would be happy to see the Republic of Indonesia prosper and flourish, >while the other would succeed only once it had overthrown the Republic and >established a Caliphate in its place. Which is more dangerous for the >nation? > >The writer is an artist and former journalist. He can be reached at ><mailto:bramn4bi%40yahoo.com>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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