It is a definite matter that the media in all of its forms and branches undertakes an important fundamental role in respect to the domestic and foreign policies of states and hold a central position in relation to international policies and strategies just as they occupy a central position within any state from amongst the states. The significance of the role undertaken by the media within the life of the peoples is not hidden from anyone due to the direct and indirect influence they have over the people, with the spread of technology and the development of means and its speed of delivery.
The capability of the media to influence the life of the people has increased since the technological revolution that the world has been living through. That is as the media has become capable of addressing the peoples and individuals amongst them in a direct manner whilst the size of dependence upon media has increased in recent years due to what has accompanied that in terms of speed and development. This has had a major influence in respect to directing and shaping the world and local public opinion in issues which are of dispute between the states in addition to issues and matters that are of a local and international concern. That is whether these issues and matters are political, economic or intellectual, and particularly after the awakening of the Arab peoples after a long sleep. According to specialised research the size of expenditure upon the media in the Arab lands, for example, has reached $30 billion annually which includes government spending upon the media amounting to $11 billion. The media has affirmed its great ability to forge the will of the people, change facts and distort and hide them. Similarly, it has proven its ability for cultural and civilizational penetration, and to launch psychological wars in addition to planting beliefs, thoughts and concepts, all of which works in the interest and favour of goals, projects, thoughts and plans of the political entity backing the media institutions. It has become as clear as the sun in the peak of the day that the media messages of these institutions are not separate or contradict the political and intellectual objectives of the political entity backing or fostering them.
The media has proved its ability to make its means and outlets a platform for struggle in all of its forms and it has established its ability to remove awareness, direct the public opinion and to influence the cultures of the peoples and their concepts and values. So how great is the size and volume of thoughts that the media pumps into the people, and how many events and occurrences are the media able to turn the victim into the criminal, and how much have they demonized the people of truth, the people of rights and injustices, and how much have they beautified the ugly and made the beautiful or good appear to be ugly, and how much have they transformed lies into truths, and how much has the media enabled and facilitated the political regimes in respect to misleading its people in order for the regimes to gain public popular support and cover, in order to realise its objectives and filthy projects, be they political, economic or social, which would not have been accepted by the people had it not been for the role of the media in misleading and deceiving the people and taking away their awareness, to accept that which is unacceptable and doesn’t even make sense?!
O Brothers and Sisters working in the media:
Media cannot possibly be a media without the coming together of its elements represented in (the idea, the news, the persons and the means). So it is the people that present an idea and select the news in order to send it across the media means to the people. The people are the main element and most important in media due to what they carry in terms of thoughts, what they hold in terms of convictions and what they possess in terms of skills in terms of formulating the thoughts and news, to then after that present it to the people in a manner that serves the interests of the political body or direction that is backing or fostering the media means outlet.
O Brothers and Sisters working in the media:
We are addressing you due to the importance of your role and because you represent the main and most essential element in the media process and in respect to realising the completion of the media strength to influence individuals and peoples; that media strength that has become a fundamental element of power for the one in whose hand it lies, in the case where it assists him greatly to accomplish his goals and designs. So how can it be that this great media capability and power, in the hands of the political regimes, sells itself to Shaytan targeting to train the Muslims into accepting that which is in opposition to their Aqeedah, culture, convictions, values system and the Ahkaam (rulings) of their Deen. Whilst working hard to divert their thinking from the natural and correct path so as to bring them to complete surrender and acceptance of the contents of the dirty media messages of the political regimes and media institutions which have come to be within the embrace of the international and local forces of tyranny, so as to be platforms for the promotion of dirty international and local projects, whether political or intellectual, and in order to be tools in the struggle which are of no less significance than the other tools.
So O media workers and people of opinion in particular, we urge you by Allah to be alongside your Islam and to rotate with it wherever it rotates. That is because you see your Ummah about to get moving from a long sleep and you see how vicious the media campaigns against our Islam and its concepts are. Attacks that attack us from within the heart of our own land, burying poison for us to pull us away from that which had become deeply rooted in our minds in terms of our pure Islamic concepts, in the name of modernism and liberalism, a liberation from every moral restriction, so as to lead the people into a life which is nearer to that of the beasts than human beings. They expend huge amounts of wealth in this path in order to divert the human path towards their evils. For by Allah, O Media workers, each from his position, (Remember) Allah, Allah in respect to your Islam, and know that Allah is with you and that He it is who makes His Deen prevail and completes His light in spite of the plots of the plotters. So be, may Allah’s mercy be upon you, where Allah wishes for you to be, before their plotting gets even more out of control than that, where we ourselves call for the people of Palestine to leave from it to give comfort to the ape and pig brothers within it!
We, in Hizb ut Tahrir Wilayah Jordan, have launched a campaign “They will never put out the light of Allah” which was launched to stand against everyone whose affair is to distort or offend Islam and the Muslims, whether by a word, idea, article or statement, and in all means of communication and media, whether it is heard, read or televised, or related to legislation or the law or other than that. Whether that is intentional or unintentional, whether it emanates from the rulers of the lands or their polluted or shady political medium like the chameleon, or if it emanates from the Arab and foreign embassies, or from the sons of the Muslims or others, whether they are in the media or not in the media, and in all squares and spaces. And as the first and fundamental step in this blessed effort in this campaign, from which we seek the pleasure of Allah سبحانه وتعالى, we ask from you, O those working within the media and everyone who works or has a relationship to the media; writers, journalists, broadcasters, those who prepare programmes and others beside them, to completely take the side of the Ahkaam of Islam, its concepts and values, and to represent a preventative blocking force before its enemies, and to bind yourselves to and maintain your charter of honour and dignity, and the charter of your profession.
The Charter of the Muslim journalist or media worker:
– Islam is the great Deen of Allah, that He has chosen for humanity in its entirety, and His light that will never be extinguished however much the falsifiers, smitten and misguided attempt to do that. Allah Ta’Aalaa said:
الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا
“Today I have completed your Deen for you and perfected by favour upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your Deen”
(Al-Maa’idah: 3)
– The Ahkaam (rulings) of Islam and its thoughts emanate from the firm and deeply rooted Aqeedah of Islam, and they solve all of the various and different problems of human life. They agree to his Fitrah (nature) irrespective of the person’s colour, race or ethnic origin, as it is valid and suitable for every time and place. Allah Ta’Aalaa said:
فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُم مِّنِّي هُدًى فَمَنِ اتَّبَعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا يَضِلُّ وَلَا يَشْقَىٰ
“And if there should come to you guidance from Me – then whoever follows My guidance will neither go astray [in the world] nor suffer [in the Hereafter]”
(TaHa: 123)
– I am a Muslim who works within the media, my Aqeedah is Laa Ilaaha Illallah Muhammadur Rasoolullah. I am honoured by it, I covet it and the soul, wealth, offspring, pleasures of life and my job are insignificant before it, in the path of Allah and in the path of defending my Deen and my Aqeedah (belief):
قُلْ إِن كَانَ آبَاؤُكُمْ وَأَبْنَاؤُكُمْ وَإِخْوَانُكُمْ وَأَزْوَاجُكُمْ وَعَشِيرَتُكُمْ وَأَمْوَالٌ اقْتَرَفْتُمُوهَا وَتِجَارَةٌ تَخْشَوْنَ كَسَادَهَا وَمَسَاكِنُ تَرْضَوْنَهَا أَحَبَّ إِلَيْكُم مِّنَ اللَّـهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَجِهَادٍ فِي سَبِيلِهِ فَتَرَبَّصُوا حَتَّىٰ يَأْتِيَ اللَّـهُ بِأَمْرِهِ ۗ وَاللَّـهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْفَاسِقِينَ
“Say, [O Muhammad]: “If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your relatives, wealth which you have obtained, commerce wherein you fear decline, and dwellings with which you are pleased are more beloved to you than Allah and His Messenger and jihad in His cause, then wait until Allah executes His command. And Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people””
(At-Taubah: 24)
– I fully comprehend the gravity of my responsibility and I understand that I am upon a frontier from the frontiers of Islam and they will not come to Islam (i.e. to attack) through me. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
«كُلُّ رَجُلٍ مِنَ المُسلِمِين على ثَغْرةٍ من ثُغَرِ الإسلام، اللهَ اللهَ لاَ يُؤتَى الإسلام من قِبَلِك».
“Every man from the Muslims is upon a Thugrah (frontier) of the frontiers of Islam, Allah, Allah, Islam will not be come at (attacked) through you”.
– I fully comprehend the size of the conspiracy falling upon Islam and the Ummah of Islam and the of plots which are being hatched and the threads woven day and night, and that the Shayateen (devils) of the East and the West are participating together in it, in addition to every spiteful of the Deen of Allah سبحانه وتعالى.
– Commanding the Ma’rouf (right) and forbidding the Munkar (wrong/evil) is a Fard and Waajib (obligation and duty) upon every male and female Muslim and we will be held to account for that before Allah سبحانه وتعالى in accordance to what Allah سبحانه وتعالى has said:
كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّـهِ
“You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah”
(Aali ‘Imraan: 110)
– I refuse to promote any thought, news, article or anything else that is disdains my Deen or seeks to distort and offend it. And I refuse to be used as a pickaxe from amongst the pickaxes to demolish Islam.
– The word is a trust (Amaanah) and a responsibility that I will be asked about before Allah سبحانه وتعالى and so I will never write a letter, article or promote an idea that is contrary to my Deen and my Aqeedah.
– I am a Muslim journalist. My obligation is to investigate the truth precisely and accurately and it is a trust (Amaanah) in respect to transmitting the news and to not promote or propagate any thought or news that assists in the fragmentation and division of the unity of the Islamic Ummah or insults any thought from amongst the thoughts of Islam and its Ahkam (rulings).
– Promoting the ideas of the West and its projects (plans) represents treachery to Allah and to His Messenger. That is because secularism and calling to it in any of its forms is a brazen challenge to Allah and His Messenger in addition to representing disbelief in the Aqeedah of Islam.
– I am a journalist. I am a Muslim. I call so that Islam with its clear and pure Aqeedah and its Ahkam emanating from and built upon it, and which encompasses all aspects of life, is applied in its state; the state of justice, the Khilafah state (Caliphate) upon the methodology of the Prophethood. The state that protects and supports its subjects, liberates the Muslim lands and its holy sanctities, removes and sweeps away the oppression and hostility whilst supporting the one in need and lifting the oppression from the oppressed to the utmost of its ability.
– I am a Muslim journalist. I place my pen, my tongue, my position and the area of the media that I work in, as much as I can, in the service of Islam and in defence of its thoughts and Ahkaam, and in defence of the oppressed and afflicted from amongst the sons of the Islamic Ummah.
– I am a Muslim journalist who does not separate my belief and the rulings of my Deen from my life or from my profession and I will regulate it according to the rulings of my Deen.
– I am a Muslim journalist. I will never have two faces; one of them official according to the ruling of the profession and another personal representing my conviction. I will never be a model of a split personality.
– I am a Muslim journalist, I will never take a neutral position before those that speak against my Deen and target my Aqeedah (belief).
– I am a Muslim journalist and will be by mind, effort and as a tool an assistance to the perfecting of the light of my Rabb (Lord) in the face of whoever wants to extinguish His light Subhaanahu.
يُرِيدُونَ أَن يُطْفِئُوا نُورَ اللَّـهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَيَأْبَى اللَّـهُ إِلَّا أَن يُتِمَّ نُورَهُ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْكَافِرُونَ * هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَىٰ وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ
“They want to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah refuses except to perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it. It is He who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the Deen of truth to manifest it over all (other) Deen(s), although they who associate others with Allah dislike it”
(At-Taubah 32-33)
يُرِيدُونَ لِيُطْفِئُوا نُورَ اللَّـهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَاللَّـهُ مُتِمُّ نُورِهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْكَافِرُونَ * هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَىٰ وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ
“They want to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah will perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it. It is He who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to manifest it over all religion, although those who associate others with Allah dislike it”
(As-Saff: 8-9)
O Brothers and Sisters working in the media:
Verily, all goodness lies in Islam as an Aqeedah and in its Ahkaam (rulings) whilst evil and bad manifests in everything other than it. So Islam calls for the good of people extending to all of the people. Good in its viewpoint is all the actions that please Allah. That is whilst evil, bad and its leaders invite the people to their evil, where evil in their viewpoint is all that which doesn’t not realise their interests in respect to enslaving the people according to the views that they have set down as a lie and fabrication against Allah and His creation, in order to reach their aim.
O brothers and sisters working in the media, O followers of Muhammad. Be as you would like your Prophet ﷺ to view you as and rotate wherever the Qur’an rotates, as he upon whom are the best prayers and peace said:
«سيفترق السلطان والقرآن فدورا حيث دار القرآن»
“The authority and the Qur’an will separate so rotate wherever the Qur’an rotates”.
O Allah, bless us in every one of our sincere efforts which please you from us, and return us to your Deen beautifully. And show us and our media workers the Haqq (truth) as the Haqq and bestow upon us its following, and show us and them the Baatil (falsehood) as falsehood and bestow upon us its avoidance. And our final Du’aa is Al-Hamdu Lillahi Rabbil ‘Aalameen.
Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Jordan
Sunday, 29th Sha’ban 1437 AH
05/06/2016 CE
No: 26/37