يُرِيدُونَ لِيُطْفِئُوا نُورَ اللَّهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ مُتِمُّ نُورِهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْكَافِرُونَ
“They desire to extinguish Allah’s Light with their mouths but Allah will perfect His Light, though the kafirun hate it.”
(As-Saff, 61:8)
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has renewed his call to outlaw Islamic extremism, once again targeting radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
In his latest comments to The Sunday Mail, Mr Abbott drew parallels between the group and overseas “fanatics”.
“We will clamp down on organisations that incite religious or racial hatred,” he said yesterday. “No one should make excuses for Islamist fanatics in the Middle East or indeed their imitators here in Australia.
“Organisations and individuals spreading discord and division, such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, should not be able to do so with impunity,” he said.
Mr Abbott’s comments come after The Sunday Mail obtained a document detailing “objectionable comments” from nine people linked to Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Among them is radical Australian Muslim cleric Ismail al-Wahwah who reportedly told Hizb ut-Tahrir followers late last year: “They send their troops to Iraq to bomb Iraq to spread democracy. We will send our troops to Australia, to France to Germany. We believe the world deserves another world order. We are ready to sacrifice everything for our concept.”
Hizb ut-Tahrir member Ismail al-Wahwah reportedly told followers that his group believes
Hizb ut-Tahrir member Ismail al-Wahwah reportedly told followers that his group believes the world needs “another world order”.
The material also revealed comments made by a Hizb ut-Tahrir member at a Sydney protest against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which published an image of the Islamic prophet Mohammed after jihadists murdered 12 staff members.
Sufyan Badar told the crowd of 800 people: “An attack on the prophet is indeed an attack on all Muslims. It is unacceptable for a Muslim to remain silent in the face of attacks on our beloved prophet. We need to defend him. Should we turn the other cheek?”
Mr Abbott has already flagged the Government’s intention to enforce “strengthened advocacy laws” to clamp down on outlaw groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir.
“Organisations such as this are creating the climate in which terrorism becomes attractive and we have to confront this,” he said.
“As I announced last month, the Government will be taking action against hate preachers. This includes enforcing our strengthened terrorism a’dvocacy laws and it will include stronger prohibitions on vilifying, intimidating or inciting hatred.”
A Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman hit back, accusing Mr Abbott of “playing tough to score cheap and opportunistic political points”.
“Mention of banning Hizb ut-Tahrir and further strengthening already overreaching anti-terror laws have little to do with security and much more to do with silencing dissent,” the spokesman said.
“The accusation of Hizb ut-Tahrir being somehow linked to terrorism is a tired and baseless claim that is unworthy of a serious response.
“Today Abbott is taking aim at Hizb ut-Tahrir, but tomorrow it could be any other Muslim or Islamic group.”