Taqiuddin al-Nabhani
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Taqiuddin al-Nabhani (Full transliterated name: Sheikh Muhammad Taqiuddin bin Ibrahim bin Mustafah bin Ismail bin Yusuf al-Nabhani; Arabic: تقي الدين النبهاني; born in 1909 in Ijzim, Haifa, British Mandate of Palestine and died in 1977) was a Sunni Shafi'i Sufi Islamic jurist, scholar, and founder of the Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir organization. His maternal grandfather was the well known Ottoman era Sufi Shafi'i Islamic Scholar Sheikh Yusuf an-Nabhani, was a colleague of Sheikh Izz al-Din al-Qassam.
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[edit] Thought
[edit] Philosophy and theology
Nabhani in his books 'Thought' and 'System of Islam' [1] placed heavy emphasis on discussing modes and models of the psychology behind human thought, and concepts. He defined the thought process, and how it reaches the status of conviction or concepts. He discussed the internal working of thoughts, convictions, and concepts in shaping the Nafs or emotions and sentiments. Delving into the internal workings of how people reach conclusions & the psychology behind the process derives itself from Taqiuddin al-Nabhani's roots in non-Ascetic legalistic Sufism from his first teacher and maternal grandfather Yusuf al-Nabhani.
Al-Nabhani's definitions of thought have been used in the study of Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, and information processing research discussed in the Addison-Wesley published book Conceptual Structures: Information Processing in Mind and Machine (Systems Programming Series) (ISBN 0-201-14472-7) and used in London South Bank University's[2] information systems department.
After many philosophical discussions on the nature of thoughts and emotions, Nabhani concludes that the only way to bring about change is via discussion, refutation, and revival of the relevant thoughts and emotions. It is from this philosophical basis that he argued that force does not work to change peoples' ideas. He also argued that a decline in the Muslims' thought, emotions and concepts led to their decline & the eventual destruction of the Khilafah. He believed the first major step towards decline in the Muslims was confusion about, and dealing with new foreign ideas, mainly Greek, Persian & eastern philosophy. He argued the Islamic World didn't know how to tackle & contextualise these ideas because they became insular, and complacent of preserving & keeping relevant their own Islamic thoughts or philosophy to a world in flux. The heavy emphasis on pinpointing, defining and changing peoples thoughts, convictions, or emotions, via stronger thoughts, diagnosis, and refutation of the process an individual uses to reach their particular 'incorrect' view, is the method of Hizb ut-Tahrir's argumentation on almost every issue.
[edit] Faith versus rational belief
Nabhani claimed Islam is founded on rational belief not blind faith, being very similar to Ghazali's Kalam Argument. Although both Nabhani and Ghazali argued that after belief (Aqeeda) is established; divine laws in the Quran are beyond question due to the 'mind' of god being beyond human comprehension. Nabhani loosely affirmed rationalism (not that of the Mutazilah) but argued that it can establish belief in a God just like Ghazali and Ghazali's teacher al-Juwayni in his book [3], contrary to the common western notion of rationalism. He tried to outline materialist arguments and axioms to prove that one unlimited creator of the universe, god (Allah in Arabic) can be proven by rational deduction. He believed that the dependency of, and limited physical nature of every tangible thing within human perception point ultimately to an unlimited creator that is beyond need and dependency, an Absolute Infinite.
[edit] Politics
The political activities of Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabhani started very early. Before establishing Hizb ut-Tahrir he had no organised political activity, save for the period in his teens and twenties he had spent with the famous mujahid Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, whom he helped lay down plans for the well known revolutionary upheavals against British colonial rule, and against plans to set up the state of Israel for Jews. He also mixed with the Muslim Brotherhood, and exchanged views with Sayyid Qutb. Many of his early al-Azhar colleagues later bore witness to his tireless activity in attending political and Islamic study circles. They also praised his contribution to numerous political discussions during which he did not abstain from criticising the internal circumstances, which he believed had led to the political and intellectual downfall of both the Muslims and the Islamic Caliphate. In addition, he used to urge the Ulema at al-Azhar to give up the adopted lassitude vis-à-vis the Ummah and her affairs and appealed to them to seek the best way for revival.
On his return to Palestine, he became more and more aware of the Westernisation of the Islamic Ummah by colonial powers such as Britain and France. The loss of Palestine in 1948 together with the failure of a coup attempt by Abdullah al-Tall in Jordan to which al-Nabhani had been party convinced him that only a structured and deep intellectual work could bring the nation back to its glory and strength. Consequently he began preparations relating to the Party structure, literature and the like, as early as 1949 while he was still a judge at al-Quds. In his first written work, which appeared in January 1950 under the title Inqadh Filastin (Saving Palestine), he showed how deeply rooted Islam had been in Palestine since the seventh century. He also analysed the main cause for the set backs which had befallen the Arabs which, as he said, was due to nothing but the fact that the Ummah had resigned and submitted itself to the greedy colonial powers. In August 1950 he sent a long letter, published later as a book entitled Risalat al-Arab "The Message of the Arabs", to the members of the Culture Summit of the Arab League in Alexandria, Egypt. In his exposition of the matter, he stressed upon the point that the true and real message of the Arabs is Islam, on whose basis alone the intellectual, and hence, political revival of the Ummah could be achieved. As no reaction was forthcoming by the Summit members to this letter, Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabhani was now convinced, more than at any time before, that establishing a political party was essential.
[edit] Encyclopedia quote
In the "Encyclopedia Of The Palestinians" by Michael. R. Fischbach, it says,
Born in Izjim, a village south of HAIFA, Taqyy al-Din al-Nabhani studied at al-Azhar University and Dar al-Uum in Egypt, after which he returned to Palestine and held administrative positions in the Islamic court system in Haifa, Hebron! Jaffa, and Jerusalem. Called by the title al-Shaykh, a religious scholar, he was later appointed as a judge in the Islamic courts of Baysan, Hebron, Ramla, and Lydda before fleeing Palestine for Beirut in 1948. Nabhani soon returned to the WEST BANK, where he served as an Islamic court judge in Jerusalem and a teacher in the Islamic College in Amman. He had joined the Muslim Brotherhood while in Egypt and was active in the movement on returning to Palestine. He also maintained ties with the Palestinian leader AL-HAJJ AMIN AL-HUSAYNI during the PALESTINE MANDATE. During the period of Jordanian rule in the West Bank, however, Nabhani grew critical of the Brotherhood's close links with the Jordanian regime because of its pro-Western leanings. In November 1952, Nabhani broke with the Brotherhood and established the Liberation Party in Jerusalem. Nabhani left Palestine for Syria in 1953 and moved to Lebanon in 1959. He died and was buried in Beirut in 1979.[4]
[edit] Hizb ut-Tahrir
While employed at the Ibrahimiyya School al-Nabhani contacted numerous individuals and personalities such as his colleagues As'ad and Rajab Bayyud Tamimi and Abdul Qadeem Zallum and other about the formation of a political party.
By the end of 1952, and early 1953, the whole matter was put into practice and Hizb ut-Tahrir was established in al-Quds Jerusalem. Taqiuddin an-Nabhani together with Dawud Hamdan, Ghanim Abduh, Munir Shuqayr and Dr. Adil al-Nablusi in accordance with the until then practiced Ottoman Law of Societies, sent a notice to the governor of Jerusalem and the Jordanian government, informing the authorities about the establishment of the Party. The Jordanian government however, reacted instantly, and issued a decree banning the Party, and declaring its activities illegal. Hizb ut-Tahrir, nevertheless, ignored this action and continued with its work in al-Quds, al-Khalil, Nablus and other towns and villages. Harsh reactions were to follow by the government against the Party members, and these continue until this day.
Consequently the "Preaching and Guiding Law" was issued in 1954, with the objective of banning Party members from giving talks in mosques. Despite harsh repression, the Party has been able to grow immensely, stretching its work throughout the Muslim world, and even reaching remote parts of the globe like Aceh.
After al-Nabhani left Jordan for a short trip to Damascus and Beirut sometime in 1955 the Jordanian government passed an edict effectively barring al-Nabhani ever returning to the kingdom. Consequently al-Nabhani re-located to Damascus and later Beirut from where he led the party.
During 1973 whilst on a trip to Iraq, al-Nabhani was imprisoned by Iraqi security services and severely tortured. He was spared only due to the Iraqi security services misidentifying him as a scribe of the party and not its leader. His release was secured soon after however, upon the intervention of a prominent Lebanese personality to whom al-Nabhani was related by marriage.
[edit] Death
Due to the continuous harassment and persecution by the Jordanian government al-Nabhani was forced into giving up his role in public life. He was not seen again in public until his death due to fear of assassination. Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabhani died in Beirut on 20 December 1977, and was buried at the al-Auza'i cemetery.
[edit] Books
- Saving Palestine - 1950
- The Message of the Arabs - 1950
- The System for Society - 1950
- The System of Islam - 1953
- The Ruling System in Islam - 1953
- The Economic System in Islam - 1953
- The Social System in Islam -1953
- The Party Structure -1953
- The Concepts of Hizb ut-Tahrir - 1953
- The Islamic State - 1953
- The Islamic Personality (in three volumes) - 1960
- Political Concepts of Hizb ut-Tahrir - 1969
- Political View of Hizb ut-Tahrir - 1972
- Introduction to the Constitution or the Reasons That Make it Obligatory - 1963
- The Khilafah - 1967
- Presence of Mind - 1976
- A Burning Call to the Muslims from Hizb ut-Tahrir - 1965
- Thinking - 1973
- The Jurisprudence of Prayer
Although the names of others appear as the author, it is widely thought al-Nabhani is also the author of the following:
- The Rules of Evidence - 1963
- How the Khilafah was Destroyed - 1962
- The Penal Code - 1965
- The Ideal Economic Policy - 1963
- Refutation of Marxist Socialism - 1963
- Islamic Thought - 1958
