News:
On the 2nd of January, the TV-station CCTV America, brought a story with the title: “Denmark Police Say Islamic Extremists Recruiting Gang Members”.
The story claims that there was a confrontation between members of Hizb ut Tahrir and “anti-Islamists” outside a recent even with the title: “Sharia- The Pride of All Muslims”.
It further claims there is a close connection between Islamic groups, including Hizb ut Tahrir, and gang members. It goes even further and claims that Islamic groups use these gang members to enforce Sharia in areas with a large Muslim population.
Comment:
This article is a textbook example of how non-news become news, when journalists leave facts and with full knowledge and intension, brew stories that do not exist. The article is a selected mixture of new and old stories and statements, taken out of context and spiced with already exposed lies.
Therefore, it is important to notice the following:
The attempt to connect the confrontation between the two parties outside our meeting, to Hizb ut Tahrir, is low and shows lack of sincerity. Both parties are well known here. One party are known self-proclaimed “anti-Islamists”, who will do anything to provoke Muslims, degrade Islam and get attention. The other part is also known, as young Muslims, with no connection to Hizb ut Tahrir, but with strong feelings for Islam, which lead them to react emotionally when they see Islam under attack.
The claim that there is a special connection between gang members and Hizb ut Tahrir is also completely baseless. It has been known, for years, that we are very successful in calling young people, Muslims as well as non-Muslims to Islam. We do not discriminate, but call everybody regardless of social status or ethnicity. We are a part of the Muslim community and contact everyone we meet, including people who are leading un-Islamic lives. Danish police have been criticized for not having the same success and in a general Islamophobic atmosphere, they try to frighten people away from Islam.
The final claim of Islamic groups, including Hizb ut Tahrir, using gangs to enforce Sharia in Muslim areas is completely ridiculous. The mere contradiction between Islam and crime should be enough to dismiss this claim. The man claiming this, Mohammed Rafiq, was exposed as a liar, when the same story was published by a Danish tabloid paper, already on the 7th December 2014. The fact that it was a complete lie was confirmed by local police chiefs, and even the special department of anti-radicalization at the Danish Secret Service (PET), who added that the mentioned areas were not even regarded as exposed to radicalization. The journalist from CCTV was fully aware of this fact, but chose to bring the interview and claim anyway.
This story and the general lack of honesty and sincerity is however not surprising nor unique in this society. The media are a political tool, and are often used to slander those who pose an intellectual challenge you can no longer oppose. This is the nature of truth colliding with falsehood, but truth will always prevail. Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:
بَلْ نَقْذِفُ بِالْحَقِّ عَلَى الْبَاطِلِ فَيَدْمَغُهُ فَإِذَا هُوَ زَاهِقٌ
“Rather We hurl the truth against falsehood and it cuts right through it and it vanishes clean away!”
(21:18)
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Junes Kock
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Scandinavia