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Hizb Ut-Tahrir Hizb ut-Tahrir A global Islamist movement in different national contexts L.R. Enthoven Student number 5685613 Thesis European Studies: Identity and Integration First reader: Dhr. prof. dr. M. Kemper Second reader: Dhr. dr. M.E. Spiering University of Amsterdam June 27th, 2014 Table of Contents Introduction 1 1. General overview of Hizb ut-Tahrir 4 2. Hizb ut-Tahrir in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands 14 3. A comparative analysis of the webpages 31 4. Conclusion 45 Attachments 47 Bibliography 61 Introduction The topic of this thesis forms Hizb ut-Tahrir, a globally active Islamist movement that strives to establish a Caliphate and unite all Muslims. Despite the fact that the movement states that the manner in which it wants to achieve it aims are strictly non-violent, it is banned in most Arab and Asian countries in which it has a presence. The movement is very active in the West and especially in the United Kingdom. In this thesis I will compare the movement's branches in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands in order to examine to what extend these national branches of Hizb ut-Tahrir and their strategies correspondent and where they not correspondent are formed by or adapted to the different national contexts. Furthermore based on this case study I will come to a statement on to which extend Hizb ut-Tahrir is a rigidly centralised organisation or more a movement a of loosely coordinated national branches. In order to come to a thesis regarding the Dutch branch (Hizb ut-Tahrir Netherlands) and the English branch (Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain) it is important to first give an understanding of Hizb ut-Tahrir. Therefor I shall discuss the live of Al-Nabhani, the founder of the Hizb ut- Tahrir; the history of the movement; the ideology of the movement and the structure of the movement in the first chapter. Furthermore in this chapter I shall analyse if Hizb ut-Tahrir has to be considered non-violent. The second chapter forms an account of Hizb ut-Tahir Netherlands and Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, in which I will discuss the number of members, the background of these members and how Hizb ut-Tahrir is confronted by policies of the English and Dutch authorities. Furthermore I shall give an interpretation and explanation of the similarities and differences encountered. The third chapter forms a comparative analysis of the online activities of the Dutch and the British branches of Hizb ut-Tahrir and the online media strategy of both branches. In this last chapter I will compare and analyse texts and articles that are on the respective websites of the Hizb ut-Tahir Netherlands and Hizb ut- Tahrir Britain. For my research I relied on various earlier studies on Hizb ut-Tahrir on which I will now first give a small overview. I will not discuss all articles used for my paper but limit the overview to the articles I deem most useful and informative. Probably the most well known researcher on Hizb ut-Tahrir is Suha Taji-Farouki. She is affiliated to the University of Exeter where she has a post at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies. Taji-Farouki's most important study on Hizb ut-Tahrir is A Fundamental Quest: Hizb Al-Tahrir and the Search for the Islamic Caliphate (1996). In this work Taji-Farouki as she stated herself 'examined the 1 history, ideology and organizational structure of the trans-national Islamist party Hizb al- Tahrir.'1 Up to this day A fundamental quest remains the most thorough general survey on Hizb ut-Tahrir and therefor is a very useful source. However as it was published over 15 year ago it gives no insight on more recent developments. A second researcher that has to be mentioned when discussing Hizb ut-Tahrir is Kirstine Sinclair. She is an assistant professor at the Centre for Contemporary Middle East Studies and the Department of History of the Syddansk Universitet (University of Southern Denmark). Sinclair has written several research-articles on Hizb ut-Tahrir among which Islam in Britain and Denmark. Deterritorialized Identity and Reterritorialized Agendas (2008) and The Calipate as Homeland. Hizb ut-Tahrir in Denmark and Britain (2010). Both articles discuss Hizb ut-Tahrir's activities in the United Kingdom and Denmark and focus on how Hizb ut-Tahrir members in both the United Kingdom identify themselves and what they consider as homeland: are they British/Danish and is the United Kingdom/Denmark their homeland or is it the hypothetical Caliphate?2 Besides the above named articles I have corresponded with Kirstine Sinclair by e-mail in February 2014 to ask her further questions regarding the English branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir.3 A further article that is of interest is The varied performance of Hizb ut-Tahrir. Success in Britain and Uzbekistan and stalemate in Egypt and Turkey (2010) that was published in Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. The author of the article is Ihsan Yilmaz. Yilmaz is a professor at the Political Science and Public Administration of the Fatih University. Islamic Movements in general and Hizb ut-Tahrir in specific is part of his research interests.4 In the article Yilmaz describes and explains why Hizb ut-Tahrir thrives, as the title suggests, in Britain and Uzbekistan but is not able to create a solid base of support in Egypt and Turkey. While there is ample research and media coverage of the British branch of Hizb ut- Tahrir, the sources on the Dutch branch are far more limited. The main source on the Dutch branch forms the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD). As I do not count the AIVD as an independent source, I have scrutinised the information provided by the service thoroughly. In order to gather further information on Hizb ut-Tahrir Netherlands and 1 Suha Taji-Farouki, 'Biography', http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/iais/staff/taji-farouki/biography/, last consulted on 14-04-2014. 2 General information on Kirstine Sinclair, http://findresearcher.sdu.dk:8080/portal/en/persons/kirstine- sinclair(146c3251-eb5b-4861-b830-653ef824801a).html, last consulted on 14-04-2014. 3 Correspondence by e-mail with Kirstine Sinclair between 12-02-2014 and 17-02-2014. See attachments. 4 General information on İhsan Yilmaz, http://iibf.fatih.edu.tr/?cv,9309&language=EN, last consulted on 14-04- 2014. 2 to verify the information provided by the AIVD I have contacted various Dutch professors, who do research in the field of Islamism or political Islam. Most professors however replied that Hizb ut-Tahrir Netherlands really has to be considered as a fringe organisation, about which they knew very little, and that they could not further help me. One professor even stated that there are no Dutch experts on Hizb ut-Tahrir at all. The only researcher who has given valuable feedback on my questions regarding Hizb ut-Tahrir is Martijn de Koning, an anthropologist at the Radboud University Nijmegen who does research into amongst others Islamism and who can be regarded as an authority in the field of Salafism and Islamic identity (in the Netherlands). I have interviewed Martijn de Koning at his offices at the Radboud University on February 25th 2014. The account of the interview is in Dutch and can be found in the attachments to this thesis.5 Finally I have interviewed Okay Pala a man of around forty years who has a Turkish background but fluently and eloquently speaks Dutch and has attended the Islamic University of Rotterdam. Okay Pala is the spokesman of the Dutch branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir and I assume its leader, as I shall discuss later. I met Okay Pala on March 18th 2014 at the central train station of Breda. As he apparently had no office or he did not want to reveal his address to me, the interview took place in the nearby Park Valkenberg.6 Similarly to the interview with Martijn de Koning the account of the interview is in Dutch and can be found in the attachments to this thesis. 5 Interview with Martijn de Koning, 25-02-2014, Nijmegen. See attachments. 6 Interview with Okay Pala, 18-03-2014, Breda. See attachments. 3 1. General overview of Hizb ut-Tahrir This chapter gives a detailed background of Hizb ut-Tahrir. As stated in the introduction this is necessary in order to better understand the two more analytical chapters that follow. The most important source about the background of Hizb ut-Tahrir is the earlier mentioned A Fundamental Quest: Hizb Al-Tahrir and the Search for the Islamic Caliphate (1996) written by Suha Taji-Farouki. Almost all later articles that discuss the background of Hizb ut-Tahrir refer to A Fundamental Quest. The first paragraph will elaborate on the life of Al-Nabhani, the founder of Hizb ut-Tahrir and the establishment of the movement. In the second paragraph I will give a short survey on the ideology of Hizb ut-Tahrir and the method in which the movement wants to implement its ideology. Finally the last paragraph of this chapter will elaborate on the structure of the movement. 1.1 Al-Nabhani and the founding of Hizb ut-Tahrir Taqi al-Dun Al-Nabhani, the founder of Hizb ut-Tahrir, was born in 1909 in Northern Palestine, 'into a family distinguished by its tradition of scholarship in the Islamic sciences'.7 Through his family he became acquainted with Islamic jurisprudence and local politics. He further increased his knowledge of Islam and Islamic law when he attended al-Azhar University in 1928. Al-Azhar, which is located at Cairo, is the best renowned centre for Islamic learning.
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