Analysis, Europe, Featured

“Do not give up and do not be downhearted. You shall be uppermost if you are believers.”

وَلَا تَهِنُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا وَأَنْتُمُ الْأَعْلَوْنَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ

“Do not give up and do not be downhearted. You shall be uppermost if you are believers.”

(Aal-Imran, 3:139-141)

On January 27, a meeting of the public association “Crimean Solidarity” in Sudak was invaded by the Russian security forces (OMON).  According to the security forces (siloviki), a call came that “there is a meeting with weapons at this address”.

Comment:

It is well known that after the annexation of the Crimea in 2014, the Muslims of Crimea, the Crimean Tatars again faced with the repressions from the descendants of tsarist and communistic regimes. After the annexation in the Crimea, the actual Russian authorities practice mass searches of the independent journalists, civil activists, activists of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, as well as the Crimean Muslims suspected of having links with the international political party “Hizb ut-Tahrir”, banned in Russia.

The last episode was an insignificant attempt by the Russian authorities to disrupt the monthly meeting of the public association “Crimean Solidarity”, which took place on January 27 in Sudak.

It should be recalled that “Crimean solidarity” unites the relatives of the Crimean detainees, lawyers, public activists and journalists. Over the past few years, this public association has become one of the most active platforms for a peaceful counteraction to Russian repression.

Undoubtedly, the attempt to disrupt an ordinary meeting of unarmed people by a huge number of heavily armed siloviki is a clear manifestation of the weakness of the Russian government. Despite the fact that in their understanding this is a demonstration of strength, in fact it is nothing more than a demonstration of their powerlessness.

In recent months, we have witnessed the numerous manifestations of this powerlessness. Remembering how, in April 2017 ‘superpower’ Russia attempted to hide the whereabouts of the arrested for so-called administrative offenses, trying in this way to prevent the situation when these people, after liberation, were met by dozens, if not hundreds, of people on the stairs of temporary detention facilities.

It was also seen how the nuclear power kept the wives of those arrested for Hizb ut Tahrir for hours without any reason after their return from the Kherson region to the Crimea on November 8, 2017.

Earlier, in an attempt to prevent the public coverage of the illegal searches and arrests, they began to involve those gathered in these searches and the arrests of indifferent Muslims to administrative responsibility for allegedly organizing an unauthorized rally. What did they get in the end? If earlier two dozen people came to similar arrests and searches, today hundreds come.

In October 2017, almost 100 Muslims went to the solitary pickets condemning the arbitrariness of the heirs of the tsar and the communists. The Russian authorities decided to bring them to an administrative responsibility (fines) for conducting an unauthorized public event. In its desire to deprive the fined people of protection in the courts, realizing that the number of sincere lawyers in the Crimea is limited, they appointed more than 70 court sessions for one day (December 18, 2017) in different cities of the Crimea. What did they get back? The defenders on this day were ordinary Muslims who agreed to defend their fellow believers for the first time in their lives without legal education.

And these are only some episodes, in fact, for 4 years since the annexation of the Crimea, there have been many such examples on the part of Russia.

All this is a sign of the ideological weakness of the Russian government, when on an ideological disagreement with the committed lawlessness and repression, it can not oppose anything except for even greater repressions, which in the end take such a ridiculous and insignificant appearance.

In fact, Russia’s attempts to make terrorists and extremists from Muslims in the Crimea failed miserably. For all in the Crimea and all over the world it became obvious that all the stories about terrorism have nothing to do with reality, because tens of hundreds of people do not come to the detention of the real terrorists and other people who are threatening security and society.

Such is Muhammad’s Ummah ﷺ, which is not indifferent to the sufferings of any Muslim in full accordance with the following words of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ:

«مَثَلُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فِي تَوَادِّهِمْ، وَتَرَاحُمِهِمْ، وَتَعَاطُفِهِمْ مَثَلُ الْجَسَدِ إِذَا اشْتَكَى مِنْهُ عُضْوٌ تَدَاعَى لَهُ سَائِرُ الْجَسَدِ بِالسَّهَرِ وَالْحُمَّى»

The parable of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.” (Bukhari and Muslim)

We ask Allah that He will multiply the unity of Muslims, convert the criminal Russian regime’s scheming against itself, we ask Allah that the Muslims of the Crimea consolidate even more around Islam, since Islam is the only right idea that fully corresponds to their ideological and cultural heritage. We ask Allah to establish the Second Righteous Khilafah (Caliphate) in the Islamic world by the method of Prophethood, so that the protection of a Muslim anywhere in the world is not mere slogan in the mouths of the so-called modern Muslim rulers, but will become the reality for Muslims realized by the Khaleefa with the help of political, military and economic levers of this state.

 

Fazil Amzaev

Head of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Ukraine