O Muslims! Do not accept a substitute to the Islamic banner and flag

The following is the translation of an Arabic leaflet. 

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم O Muslims! Do not accept a substitute to the Islamic banner and flag; Even though that kills the disbelieving colonialists in their rage!

A number of flags and standards have come, and they are different in various Muslim countries, especially after the popular movements against the unjust tyrant rulers in Muslim countries. Some of them started raising the flag of "independence" or keep their existing flag, or raising their own flag...

And from them are those who hold good hope about one flag or another and think that they do not violate the Shara' ... there are others who mislead people and frighten them from provocating the disbelieving west and their anger if they raise the banner of Islam ...! Some of them make an effort intentionally and deliberately to hoist a flag that violates the Shara' as an invitation to a Secular civil State...and so on.

And in clarification and explanation to those who think that their Flags are not contradictory to the Shara' and if they knew the contradiction they would leave it and raise the flag of Islam..., And in the delusion of their death that the righteous people don't fear the provocation or the anger of the Disbelieving colonialist... And in censure to those secularists and their supporters who are fighting the Shari'ah banner openly in the day, we explain this matter.

{ لِيَهْلِكَ مَنْ هَلَكَ عَنْ بَيِّنَةٍ وَيَحْيَى مَنْ حَيَّ عَنْ بَيِّنَةٍ }

"So that those who were to be destroyed (for their rejecting the Faith) might be destroyed after a clear evidence, and those who were to live (i.e. believers) might live after a clear evidence." [TMQ Al Anfaal: 42]

The Islamic state "caliphate" has Flags (Liwa) and banners (raya), and that is in deducted from how it was during the first Islamic state which was established by the by the Messenger of Allah (saw) in Madina Al Munawwara, it is as follows:

1. The Flag (Liwa) and the Banner (Raya), in terms of language, it means the Flag/Sign. According to the Qamoos al Muheet (dictionary): (banner (raya) means the Sign, the plural of which banners (rayaat)), (the Flag (Liwa) means the sign, the plural of which is flags (Alwiya)), the Shara' gave both of these terms in terms of use, a Shari' meaning:

The Flag (Liwa) is White, and Laa Ilaha Illa Allah Muhammad Arrasullullah (there is no God But Allah and Muhammad is his messenger) is written on it in black, and it is held by the Ameer of the army or Army Commander. The Flag remains in its position on the pole and spins along with the pole. And the evidence of handing over the flag (liwa) to the Ameer of the Army.

"أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم دخل مكة ولواؤه أبي"

"The Prophet (saw) entered Makkah and his flag was white."Reported By Ibn Majah

And the Banner is black (raya), and Laa Ilaha Illa Allah Muhammad Arrasullullah (there is no God But Allah and Muhammad is his messenger) is written on it in White, it is assigned to the Army Corps commanders (battalions, companies, other army units), and the evidence is that that the prophet (saw) and he was the Army Commander in Khayber said:

(لأُعْطِيَنَّ الرَّايَةَ غَدًا رَجُلًا يُفْتَحُ عَلَى يَدَيْهِ، يُحِبُّ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ، وَيُحِبُّهُ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ... فأعطاها علياً رضي الله عنه ( متفق عليه

"I will give tomorrow the banner to a man that Allah opens it on his hands, he loves Allah and His Messenger, Allah and His Messenger love him ...And he gave it to Ali, may Allah be pleased with him"

So Ali (ra) was considered the commander of regiment or a battalion of the army.

And similarly in the hadith of Harith bin Hasan al Bakri, he said: «once we arrived in Madenah, and we found the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him standing on the platform and Bilal was standing next to the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him, and black flags, and asked what about these flags? They said: 'Amr ibn al-Aas came from the battlefield)) Extracted by Ahmad.

So the meaning of;) فإذا رايات سود and black flags) is that there were several banners (rayat) who were with the heads of the army and the heads of the battalions and its units while the Ameer of the army was one and he was Amru Bin Al Aas (ra) and he was assigned the Flag (Liwa), therefore the Flag is assigned is to nobody other than the Ameer of the Army and the Banners are assigned as standards to the Army.

2.The Flag is assigned to the Ameer of the army, and it's a sign that is put at his headquarters. As for the battle, the Commander of the battle, whether the Ameer of the Army or another Commander appointed by the Amir,he carries the banner (raya) during the fighting on the ground, and therefore it is called the ‘mother of the war" because it is carried by the Battle Commander in the field ... Al-Bukhari narrated from Anas that the Prophet (saw) announced the death of Zayd (ra) , Ja'far (ra) and ibn Rawaha (ra) to the people before their news reached the people and said:

أخذ)) الراية زيد فأصيب ثم أخذ جعفر فأصيب ثم أخذ ابن رواحة فأصيب))

"Zayd took the banner and was struck, then Ja'far took (it) and was struck, then ibn Rawaha took (it) and was struck."

Also, in the event of a war with the enemy, if the Army Commander in the field is the Caliph himself, the Flag (Liwa) may be raised in the battle, and not the banner (raya) only . It has been reported in the Seerah of Ibn Hisham in the discussion about the batter of badr that the Flag and the banner were raised in the battle ... In peace, or after the battle, the banners are prevalent in the army and are raised by the army departments and its and its brigades and units ... As stated in the hadith of Harith Ibn Hassan Al-Bakri regarding the army of Amr Ibn al-‘aas.

3. The Flag (Liwa) is spread on a side of a spear and curved on it and is given to the Army Commander depending on the number of armies, So it is assigned to the Army commander of the first army , second army, and third army ... Or it is assigned to the Commander of the army of Sham and Iraq and Palestine ... Or the Commander of the army of Homs and Aleppo and Beirut ... And so on based on the names of the armies. In origin the Flag is wrapped on the spear end and is not unwrapped unless needed, for example, it is hoisted over the Dar AL khilafah to emphasise the importance of the Dar, because the Caliph is the Commander of the Army in Islam. Similarly the Flag (Liwa) is also hoisted over the headquarters of the Army commanders during times of peace so that the Ummah sees the mightiness of the Flags of its Army. But if this requirement contradicts with the Security aspect and if there is fear that the enemy will come to know the headquarters of the Army commanders, the Flag (Liwa) returns to its original and it is not hoisted and remains unwrapped.

As for the banner (raya) it is left open to swirl along with the wind similar to the Flags today, therefore they are placed on the building of the State, its institutions and the security departments, and it is hoisted only on these, with the exception of Dar Al Khilafah , the Flag (Liwa) is hoisted there because he is the Ameer of the Army, the Banner (raya) is also hoisted along with the Flag (Liwa) as the Dar Al khilafah is the head of the departments and institutions of the state. Also, private institutions and ordinary people can raise the banner (raya) and hoist it at their homes specially during the festive occasions and victory and so on..

O Muslims: in your movements You must raise this banner (raya) without fear from any one other than Allah (Swt), and do not be infuenced by the allegations propogated by the deceitful among You saying that this banner (raya) symbolizes the Khilafah, and this will provoke the disbelieving West! Provoke them and break their back, for this is the price for their war against Islam and Muslims which provokes every sincere Muslim ... The origin is that we perish the colonialists with their anger and not accept them provoking us, let alone harass us, and then we are afraid that we provoke them! Rather it is our right to react and respond to them, tell them openly { قُلْ مُوتُوا بِغَيْظِكُ }"Say: Perish in your rage" [TMQ Aal Imraan: 119]

We realize that the disbelieving colonialists do not tolerate hearing the word Khilafah, how about if they feel that it is coming soon knocking on their doors like what happened to their people that came before them? 

وَظَنُّوا أَنَّهُمْ مَانِعَتُهُمْ حُصُونُهُمْ مِنَ اللَّهِ فَأَتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَمْ يَحْتَسِبُوا وَقَذَفَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمُ الرُّعْبَ يُخْرِبُونَ بُيُوتَهُمْ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ وَأَيْدِي الْمُؤْمِنِينَفَاعْتَبِرُوا يَا أُولِي الْأَبْصَارِ

"And they thought that their fortresses would defend them from Allâh! But Allâh's (torment) reached them from a place whereof they expected it not, and He cast terror into their hearts so that they destroyed their own dwellings with their own hands and the hands of the believers. Then take admonition, O you with eyes (to see)."  [TMQ Alhashr: 2]

Hizb ut-Tahrir

24 Jumada II 1433
2012/05/15

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