The Many Faces Of Islam

Sunday, Dec. 08, 2002

KEEP IN TOUCH Swedish convert Anne Sofie Roald says that Muslims' temptation to segregate themselves is "destructive"

ANDRE DE LOISTED/GALBE.COM FOR TIME

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Assem admits that Hizb ut-Tahrir's goals are incompatible with European political institutions, but insists the organization has no intention of making trouble. "People who say there is a conflict between Shari'a and Christianity don't understand Shari'a," he says. "But people who say there is a conflict between Shari'a and Western democracy are right."

The problem in Assem's view is that "all men are not created equal, and democracy eventually lets the fortunate over-run the less fortunate." So Hizb ut-Tahrir members don't vote or run for office in secular elections, but have no plans for revolution. "This is a different system here, and our members respect that," he says. "The idea of a caliphate is only now beginning to take hold in the Arab world. Europe won't come around until our example is there to follow."

The caliphate would operate under Shari'a law, the system of ethical and legal conduct derived from the Koran and the teachings of the Prophet. Assem says the economic principles of Shari'a would ensure a fairer distribution of wealth. Shari'a prohibits interest payments on loans, for example (see next article), which Hizb ut-Tahrir claims prevents exploitation, while the ban on free-flowing currency would protect countries like Indonesia from the destabilizing effects of globalization. "Shari'a presents a logical framework for sustainable development," says Assem. "It's not utopian like socialism, and it isn't all about exploitation and profit like capitalism. It's all-encompassing. The more you learn, the more sense it makes."

In the social realm, Assem grants that Shari'a is more restrictive than Western norms and lifestyles. "Women are to be admired, not used for cigarette advertisements," he says. But he blames later traditions not derived from Shari'a for the extreme subjugation of women in the Islamic world — and his wife, Sana, agrees.

Though the U.S. bears the brunt of the criticism in the party magazine, explizit , Assem argues that Hizb ut-Tahrir doesn't blame the Americans for everything that goes wrong in the Islamic world. "Our message is that America has an exploitative value system," Assem explains, "but we should blame ourselves for losing our way and leaving ourselves vulnerable to this kind of exploitation." As for terrorism, he thinks Sept. 11 "gave the secular governments of the Islamic world carte blanche to crack down on Islamists. It also gave Bush a pretext to grab Afghanistan and its access to the Caspian Sea."

Assem was drawn to Hizb ut-Tahrir 16 years ago, as a 22-year-old lost soul in Vienna. "I'd grown up in Egypt, where my father was from, and then moved to Austria, where my mother is from," he says. "I didn't really fit in with a lot of the Austrians I met, but I couldn't feel comfortable with those guys you see at European mosques either — the ones with the long beards and robes but nothing going on upstairs."

After a brief flirtation with Scientology, he re-embraced Islam just as someone told him about Hizb ut-Tahrir. The Hizb ut-Tahrir members "were educated and self-sufficient and open to the world around them," Assem recalls. "It wasn't all about beards and robes and prayer, but about logic."

For him, the economics of Shari'a is its biggest selling point, but adds that you can't buy into the economic theory without accepting the caliphate as well. "Islam can fill the vacuum left by the collapse of socialism," he says. "But we also recognize that the caliphate can only be implemented if people want it." Assem believes Europeans will join the caliphate, but only once they see its advantages. And he admits that day is a long way off. — By STEVE ZWICK/Duisberg

THE CRITIC

Ayaan Hirsi Ali,
33, the Netherlands
Islam is "an extremely backward religion," according to an important new voice on the Dutch political scene. These words clearly echo those of slain right-wing leader Pim Fortuyn, who also used the word backward in reference to Islam. But the speaker today is Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali refugee and former Muslim who's a sure bet to become an M.P. for the liberal VVD party in January's elections. "Millions of Muslim women all over the world are oppressed in the name of Islam," she says from VVD party headquarters in the Hague, as her bodyguards wait outside. The bodyguards are needed because Hirsi Ali has been threatened by Islamic fundamentalists ever since she first openly criticized Islam on a local TV station in March. After death threats in October, she went into hiding in the U.S., returning two weeks ago.