Address by Dr. Nazreen Nawaz, Director of the Women’s Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
(Delivered outside the Bangladesh Embassy, London on 9th September 2017)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
As you know, the Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine state of Myanmar are currently facing a brutal genocide campaign by the murderous Myanmar regime, pursued under the false guise of fighting terrorism. The horrific ordeal that our Rohingya brothers and sisters are suffering is indescribable. For the past 2 weeks, Myanmar soldiers and armed Buddhist residents have engaged in a merciless killing spree against the Rohingya Muslims – firing indiscriminately at men, women and children, burning down homes and villages, and hacking to death innocent civilians with swords and machetes – all because they say “La-ilaha illallah….My God is none but Allah!”.
Hundreds of our brothers and sisters and their children have been killed. Gruesome videos of women and children being murdered in cold blood by these Buddhist butchers have been circulating on social media. Mosques and madrassahs have been burnt to the ground. And at least 270,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh to try and escape death (this is roughly a 1/3 of all Rohingya Muslims living in Myanmar) – 80% of whom are women and children according to UNICEF, and tens of thousands have been left stranded without food or shelter. Dozens of Rohingya women and children have also drowned while attempting to escape to Bangladesh by boat. A Bangladesh border guard sent CNN photos that show young children lying dead on the banks of the Naf River. La hawla wala quwatta illah billah!
Myanmar security forces have even been firing mortars and machine guns at fleeing civilians as they try and cross the border to Bangladesh to seek safety, and recently there have been reports of the Myanmar army laying fresh landmines along the border with Bangladesh to prevent Rohingya refugees from returning, which have severely injured some Rohingya children. Hasbunallah wa ni’mal wakeel!
The reports that have emerged from Myanmar of the massacres against our Rohingya Muslim brothers and sisters by these Buddhist terrorists are truly horrific. Muslim children being beheaded and others having their throats slit or being thrown into lakes, including a 6 month year old baby. Muslim men being rounded up, and placed in a bamboo hut which was then set alight, burning them to death.
And all this is just the latest of the massacres that the Rohingya Muslims have faced during decades of persecution in Myanmar, where our sisters have been gang-raped and watched their children being slaughtered in front of their eyes. Decades of living in apartheid squalid conditions and abject poverty, deprived of basic rights to education, healthcare and work, subjected to draconian marriage and child-bearing regulations to curb their numbers, and denied citizenship by the brutal Myanmar regime, rendering them stateless in a land that they have lived in for generations.
So I ask you brothers and sisters, WHO will stop this genocide against the Rohingya Muslims? Which state is there in the world today that will step in to end this bloodbath? Which state is there in the world today that has the moral conscience to stand up to the Myanmar regime and defend the Rohingya Muslims, putting human life up and above any political or economic interests? Which state is there in the world that truly represents the interests of the Muslims and that will strike fear into the hearts of the Myanmar military and Buddhist butchers such that they will not dare to harm a single Rohingya Muslim man, woman or child?
We know that there is NO such state, no such system, no international body in the world today which will do this because we have seen the massacres of Muslims in Syria…and the world did nothing; the massacres of Muslims in Central Africa…and the world did nothing; the mass killings of Muslims in Kashmir, Somalia, Afghanistan, and elsewhere…and yet the world did nothing!
Brothers and sisters, today, every government in the world sees these massacres, hears the screams of the innocent women and children, witnesses the grotesque injustices and indescribable levels of oppression….but just turns their eyes away, washing their hands of any duty to protect the lives of innocents…..for in their opinion…and according to their inhumane CAPITALIST Ideology….saving these lives has no political or economic gain. Yet they claim that DEMOCRACY is civilized while the Islamic Shariah which obliges the state that rules by it to protect humanity from such atrocities and the oppression of the oppressors, is barbaric! Subhaanallah!
The silence, infact denial of Aung San Suu Kyi, the de-facto leader of Myanmar, and golden-girl of democracy to this bloodbath and brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing of Muslims by her military…And the fact that it is simply business as usual for democratic governments across the world in their relationship with the murderous Myanmar regime…. just exposes once again the true face of the man-made democratic system where oppression and the slaughter of innocents is ignored when interests dictate.
And brothers and sisters, what about the response of the regimes and rulers of the Muslim world to this genocide against Muslims….what has this been? Well this has been sickening! The Hasina regime in Bangladesh, instead of welcoming these persecuted Muslims to its shores and providing them sanctuary has either ordered its border guards to push them away from its borders….leaving them to drown in their dilapidated boats or to return to Myanmar’s killing fields, or it has has placed them in squalid camps that lack basic needs, refusing to recognize them as refugees.
Thousands of Rohingya Muslims are now stranded in no-man’s land between Myanmar and Bangladesh. Earlier this year, the Hasina regime even suggested relocating all Rohingya refugees to a low-lying island in the Bay of Bengal that floods regularly and that has been labelled ‘uninhabitable’ by rights groups. Subhaanallah! But Hasina’s treachery has excelled even further, for her government has proposed a joint military operation with the murderous Myanmar regime to aid its so-called ‘anti-terrorism’ operation, ALIAS genocide campaign against the Rohingya. La hawla wala quwatta illah billah!
The traitorous Pakistan regime too has no qualms about bolstering the strength of the murderous Myanmar military and profiteering from the slaughter of its Muslim brothers and sisters. In 2015, it signed a contract to supply 16 JF-17 Thunder Warplanes to Myanmar’s army, despite the mass killings of Rohingya that occurred in 2012. The first of these planes are due to go into service with the Myanmar Airforce this year.
And what about the regimes of Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Egypt, and Jordan? Well they would rather unleash their military power to kill and starve the children of Yemen on the behest of their Western masters than use their armies to save the Muslim children of Myanmar!
And how about Turkey? Turkey which has the 7th largest army in the world and second largest in NATO…..what has been the response of its leadership to this crisis? Well its President, Erdogan simply chose to engage in light diplomacy with Myanmar’s leader Suu Kyi, including to seek her permission to deliver aid to the Rohingya affected by the violence. Subhaanallah! The leader of a land that was once the seat of the great Khilafah state, a world-superpower that would make the enemies of Islam shake with fear…..feels the need to seek the permission of a regime that murders Muslims to deliver aid to those who are fleeing slaughter by that very regime?!!! Subhaanallah! It demonstrates the sheer level of humiliation that the Muslim leaders of today have reached!
Meanwhile Turkey’s Foreign Minister called on Bangladesh to open its doors to the Rohingya fleeing the violence, stating that Turkey would pay all expenses for their needs…trying to cynically play the hero in this tragedy. Well we say to Erdogan and his regime….how about unshackling your army from servitude to the interests of Western governments in NATO and mobilizing it for its true purpose….to defend the blood of Muslims in Myanmar and across the world, to stand up to those who persecute the believers, to rescue them from their killers…and to PAY ALL EXPENSES FOR THIS???!! Erdogan stated, “Those who close their eyes to this genocide perpetuated under the cover of democracy are its collaborators.” – Well we say – yes Erdogan – this is true – which makes YOU and ALL the Muslim regimes collaborators to this horrendous crime …for you all sat idle while you could have put an end to this bloodbath with your armies!
What a HUGE gulf of difference there is between these despicable Muslim regimes and the honourable sons and daughters of this Ummah who came onto the streets in their masses in lands across the world, (from Indonesia to Pakistan, Bangladesh to Malaysia, and elsewhere, including here in Britain where today there will be a demonstration outside the Bangladesh Embassy in London to be attended by Muslims from across the UK). They came out to express their support for their Rohingya Muslim brothers and sisters and to demand the Muslim governments end their relationship with the murderous Myanmar regime and stop the bloodshed. These spineless regimes do not deserve to govern over this honourable Ummah for one second…They need to be uprooted…for this Ummah deserves a leadership that reflects its love for its Muslim brothers and sisters and for its Deen.
Dear brothers and sisters, there is NO state today that will stop this bloodbath against our Rohingya Muslim brothers and sisters…so it is down to us, the Ummah of Rasulillah ﷺ to END this genocide. To do this…it is not enough to feel pain and shed tears when we see what is happening to our brothers and sisters, or to just express anger, or to ONLY make dua for them. We must MATCH our pain and anger to a SOLUTION defined by our Deen that will truly bring their nightmare to an end!
And this SOLUTION is to work for the establishment of a state which has the moral conscience to stand up to such horrendous crimes against humanity; a state which truly represents the interests of the Muslims and our Deen; a state whose leader is obliged to be the guardian of this Ummah and its blood; a state whose army will embrace its true role as defenders of the Muslims; AND a state whose ISLAMIC SYSTEM will provide sanctuary, a dignified life and Islam’s full rights of citizenship to the oppressed believers no matter from where they come.
This state, brothers and sisters, is nothing other than the KHILAFAH (the Caliphate) based upon the method of the Prophethood, the System of Allah (swt), for indeed, the Messenger ﷺ said, «إِنَّمَا الْإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ يُقَاتَلُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ وَيُتَّقَى بِهِ» “The Imam is but a shield, behind whom the Muslims fight and by whom they are protected.”
So we CALL you dear brothers and sisters to exert your full efforts in carrying this dawah to establish this noble Khilafah state so that we can bring an end to the slaughter of our Ummah in Myanmar and across the world and return glory to the Believers and to our Deen. Work with us as Hizb ut Tahrir to establish this glorious state which will not rest until every oppressive regime is history and justice prevails in this world.
And to the sincere Muslim officers in the armies of the Muslim world, we call you to respond to the cries of your Rohingya Muslim brothers, sisters, and children who are pleading with you to come to their defence. Their salvation lies in your hands. Do not follow the path of your rulers who are destined for Jahannum for they have betrayed the Muslims and this Deen. Give your Nusrah (your material support) urgently to the brave leadership of Hizb ut Tahrir to establish the Khilafah state which will mobilise you immediately to defend the blood of your Ummah, making your legacy one that mirrors the great heroes of this Deen such as Salahuddin Ayubi and Muhammad ibn Qasim…and bringing you honour in this life and the greatest of rewards in the Hereafter.
And Allah (swt) says,
وَمَا لَكُمۡ لَا تُقَـٰتِلُونَ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ وَٱلۡمُسۡتَضۡعَفِينَ مِنَ ٱلرِّجَالِ وَٱلنِّسَآءِ وَٱلۡوِلۡدَٲنِ ٱلَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَآ أَخۡرِجۡنَا مِنۡ هَـٰذِهِ ٱلۡقَرۡيَةِ ٱلظَّالِمِ أَهۡلُهَا وَٱجۡعَل لَّنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ وَلِيًّ۬ا وَٱجۡعَل لَّنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ نَصِيرًا
“And what is [the matter] with you that you fight not in the cause of Allah and [for] the oppressed among men, women, and children who say, “Our Lord, take us out of this city of oppressive people and appoint for us from Yourself a protector and appoint for us from Yourself a helper?”
(An-Nisa: 75)
Dr. Nazreen Nawaz
Director of the Women’s Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir