Political Comment - Events in Tunisia
Bismillah al-Rahman al-Raheem
The Political Comment
The Tunisian Prime Minister, Mohammed al-Ghanoushi, formed a new cabinet yesterday after he had inherited the interim throne vacated by the tyrant, Zein el-Abideen, who fled the Islamic lands of Tunisia for good. Zein al-Abideen and his surrogates from among the radical secularists who had embraced the banner of “drying up the sources of Islam”, subjected people to hunger, stripped them of their dignity and fought their Islam with all their might. Their impudence and hatred for Islam and the Muslims drove one of them, namely the minister of religious affairs in the government of Ben Ali, to declare in the Council of Advisors, the second chamber in Tunisia’s parliament, that the “Athan” amounted to “some form of noise pollution”.
Before delving into analysing what has occurred in Tunisia, the cradle of al-Qayrawan, it is fitting to mention that the Muslims of Tunisia have proven to their Islamic Ummah and to the world that the willpower of the masses and nations is superior to that of the tyrants, pharaohs and despots of this earth, and that the oppression of the rulers and the fear of their actions have forever vanished, thanks to the steadfast and heroic stance that the people of Tunisia demonstrated after they had decided to stand up to the tyrants and put an end to their despotism. The cost of their sacrifices was lower than the weekly toll of road accidents or the daily toll of the tyrants’ crimes.
The events that erupted spontaneously soon gathered momentum and spread throughout the country due to the fertile ground for a popular uprising against the humiliation, degradation, hunger and deep injustice that Ben Ali and his cronies inflicted mercilessly and callously upon the masses.
Ben Ali attempted to curb the masses’ rebellion through the use of force against the marches and demonstrations and he also attempted to meet their demands by lifting restrictions on the freedom of speech, promising tens of thousands of job opportunities and sacking some ministers from among the radical secularists including the information minister and the minister of religious affairs; he then sacked the interior minister. However, because America dreaded the possibility of events getting out of control, coupled at the same time with her desire to occasion a host of changes in Tunisia for which she had been preparing the ground assisted by Tunisian figures living domestically and abroad to pioneer immediately after the end of Ben Ali’s term of office in 2014, she hastened to set a number of pressing measures in motion to bring the situation under control and to work towards getting rid of Ben Ali whose shelf-life had prematurely expired. America, therefore, deemed it necessary to remove him before the expected date and replace him with a popular regime that fitted the required criteria laid down for the ruling systems within the Greater Middle-East Initiative.
It seems that the president, who had always served America, felt that he was thrust aside and that America gave no sign indicating that she wanted to hang on to him. It rather became clear to him that he was about to meet the same fate as that of the Shah of Iran, especially when the army remained neutral. The army commanders were instructed not to defend the icons of the regime that had to go, not to interfere with the masses during demonstrations and to content themselves with defending strategic sites in the country and protecting public properties. The army had to intervene from time to time to keep the police and the demonstrators apart and just before the departure of Ben Ali, police vehicles had been torched right under their noses and yet they did not even bat an eyelid. The army gave a good image of themselves by demonstrating their willingness to pursue the armed gangs who attacked some residential areas, thus making them suitable candidates in the minds of the masses to protect and defend the new regime.
It has become clear that Ben Ali has complied with America’s orders to leave the country, preserve his life and the lives of his family, and escape trial in exchange for relinquishing power and paving the way for the execution of the American reform plan. This was clearly reflected in his final speech, delivered one day before his flight. He announced the introduction of wide-ranging reforms, just like America had wanted, including dissolving the government, organising elections within months, lifting the censorship imposed on the internet, refraining from using live ammunition against the demonstrators and establishing freedom of speech.
No sooner Ben Ali fled Tunisia than a White House spokesperson announced: "We believe the Tunisian people have the right to choose their leaders.” US President Barack Obama hailed the "courage" and "dignity" of the Tunisian people. "I condemn and deplore the use of violence against citizens peacefully voicing their opinion in Tunisia," he said in a statement. "I urge all parties to maintain calm and avoid violence, and call on the Tunisian government to respect human rights, and to hold free and fair elections in the near future," he added.
Now that the technocrat prime minister, Mohammed al-Ghanoushi, has formed the six-month interim government whose task is to organise the presidential and parliamentary elections, he is expected to move together with his cabinet towards gaining the confidence of the Ummah’s children in Tunisia and seeking credibility through their actions. After declaring a general amnesty for all political prisoners and allowing political exiles to return, the government will track down the corrupt and criminal politicians and security officers affiliated to the former ruling party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD), to put them on trial. The government will also work towards alleviating people’s burdens of daily life. Hence, America will have bequeathed power to the new agents whom she expects will serve her and execute her plans. The return of Rashid al-Ghanoushi from exile is expected to be a pillar for the forthcoming regime, especially since he has pledged to assist in establishing a “liberal Islamic system.”
It has become clear that certain figures from within and outside the regime, headed by Munsif al-Marzouki, Ahmed Najib al-Shabi and Rashid al-Ghanoushi, have been ordered and supported by America to prepare themselves to assist in executing the policy of discarding the radical secularists (Attaturkists), who champion the theory of “drying up the sources of Islam” within and outside the regime, in order to generate a common ground that would allow for the venting of political, intellectual and media resentment, anger and frustration that people in Tunisia have been enduring. The aim of this policy is to hand the reins of power to the new American agents once the term of the interim government formed by Prime Minister Mohammed al-Ghanoushi on the orders of the interim Head of State and former Speaker of Parliament, Fuad Mebazaa, has elapsed. The policy is also designed to put a spanner in the works of the efforts designed to generate radical change to the realities of the state and society and to replace it by containing and integrating the so-called “Islamic moderates” with the non-radical secularist movement, similar to what has occurred in more than one region of the Islamic lands in line with the American wishes.
Dear Muslims in Tunisia the cradle of al-Qayrawan...
Despite the plotting of the Kuffar and their exploitation of the cheap tools to deceive you and tame your courageous stance in the face of the oppressor, the opportunity is still accessible to get rid of the new collaborators that America is preparing to establish as rulers of the country. You should pay no heed to the constitutional or legal obstacles used as a weapon by those who work towards deceiving you from among the collaborators who wear the cloak of Islam or those who discarded it and cut themselves off from their Ummah and her Islam which Allah has ordered her to convey. Hence, just like you toppled the head of treason and Kufr, you can continue the process and topple the laws and systems of Kufr. The Tunisian constitution is not a revealed Qur’an and the laws in Tunisia are not Shari’ah rules, but rather western Kufr rules. Your children in the armed forces are the people of power and protection; it would be inconceivable for your brethren and children in the army to obey the secular Kuffar and to protect the tools of the Kuffar in our lands, sacrificing their lives to protect them, and to forsake the protecting of Islam and the ruling by the Shari’ah of their Lord. So urge them to be on your side in toppling everyone who objects to the implementation of the Shari’ah of Allah and exhort them to achieve the aspiration of the Ummah, which practically all her children agree upon, namely the implementation of Islam. Only then will Allah be pleased with us and help us, and our pride and dignity will be restored.
Dear Muslims...
The time is now ripe for America to proceed with her scheme known as the Greater Middle East Initiative, which necessitates generating political reforms that involve replacing some of the regimes in the region with more popular ones to serve her interests. This explains the fear that her agents are experiencing as they witness with their own eyes what has befallen their likes from among the slaves of America, even if she spares their lives as she did with Ben Ali and the shah of Iran.
The American Greater Middle East Initiative focuses on granting the masses a role in the process of change in order to mislead them further by turning what America wants to execute into a popular aspiration. Hence, she is eager to hijack the sacrifices of the Muslims in Tunisia and to ride the wave of change and steer it towards executing what she has been scheming. This explains the statement of the Democrat Senator, John Kerry, Head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who said: “The flight of Ben Ali will resonate far beyond Tunisia’s borders. Middle Eastern countries have some of the world's youngest populations, who yearn for a future free of political repression, corruption and economic stagnation." So will the knock-on effect of Tunisia’s events resonate beyond its borders in favour of the Ummah or in favour of America and the Kafir West?
Dear Muslims...
What is really heart-breaking is to have individuals supposedly in the camp of Islam, like the leaders of al-Nahda Movement, participating in the attempt to deceive the Muslims and pushing them to sacrifice their lives for the sake of executing the plans of the Kuffar, such as their attempt to dilute the wholesome Islam with the squalor of Kufr by calling for the so-called “liberal Islam”. Nevertheless, what is heart-warming and promising for the Ummah is for the public addresses to be delivered and to have banners in the streets of the Tunisian capital during the marches saying “no to capitalism and no to democracy, yes to al-Khilafah”. This proves that the Ummah has progressed in her thought and her aspirations; it has now become clear that the call for al-Khilafah is not the project of a specific political party but rather the project of the Ummah as a whole, in its quality as a Shari’ah rule and an obligation which only those performing it would be absolved of sin. The lives and properties that people sacrifice should be for a legitimate cause, which is for the sake of Allah, to make His Aqeedah supreme and to implement His Shari’ah.
“O you who have believed if you help the cause of Allah He will help you and plant your feet firmly” T.M.Q. [47-7]
Hizb ut-Tahrir
14 Safar 1432h
18 January 2011
www.hizbuttahrir.org