KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 2 — Hardline Islamic movement Hizbut Tahrir Malaysia (HTM) today disagreed with the Selangor edict labelling it “deviant”, saying the state fatwa committee had unfairly and wrongly interpreted its teachings.
A spokesman for the group Abdul Hakim Othman told Malay Mail Online that HTM met with the Selangor religious authorities on at least two occasions previously to seek its explanation on the fatwa but failed to get it reversed.
“We initiated a meeting with the Selangor Mufti Department in September this year, but they ended the meeting before we could finish explaining how they have wrongly interpreted our stances,” he told Malay Mail Online when contacted.
In the fatwa in the Selangor government gazette on September 17 and published today as a notice in Malay-language daily Sinar Harian, Hizbut Tahrir was declared a “deviant” movement for several reasons, including its claim that MPs, rulers and Islamic scholars here are infidels for accepting and following a government system that it claims to be against God’s will.
Abdul Hakim, however, said this portrayal of the movement was untrue and not the formal position of HTM.
“Where, in any of our publications have we said this? They have made up their own conclusions,” he said.
“The fatwa also says that we have declared Islamic countries as infidels (kafir), which we have never said. Even in our publications, we only provide definitions to explain the differences between an Islamic country and one that is not,” he added.
Abdul Hakim also denied the fatwa’s claim that the movement rejects the term “al-Qadha’ wa al-Qadar” (the Divine Will and Decree) as well as hadiths sourced from the Quran, known as “hadith Ahad”.
He said that the only point that was close to the truth was HTM’s stand on prophets not being infallible in their lives before being made prophets, which he said even Islamic scholars here are debating.
“Yes, we have that stand, but it is an issue that is even debated among scholars. The way they have presented it in the fatwa will confuse the public,” he said.
Abdul Hakim said that no action has been taken against the group, although he has seen posters of the fatwa put up in mosques in Selangor.
He added that it was regrettable that HTM had not been given the opportunity to explain its beliefs and its agenda, adding that the group has yet to decide its next step.
HTM, which seeks to establish a global caliphate, has been vocal in its demands, most recently for declaring Malaysia’s welcoming of US president Barack Obama in November as “haram”.
It had also previously declared that Muslim men do not need their wives’ consent to have sex, and that it was not sinful even if it was by force.
