AP Enterprise: Global Islamic group rising in Asia

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_INDONESIA_GLOBAL_CALIPHATE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-10-01-08-01-43

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- The chanting crowd at the radical Muslim protest in Indonesia stood out for its normalcy: smartly dressed businessmen, engineers, lawyers, smiling mothers, scampering children.

At a time when al-Qaida seems to be faltering, the recruitment of such an educated, somewhat mainstream following is raising fears that Hizbut Tahrir, an enigmatic global movement, could prove more effective at radicalizing the Islamic world than outright terrorist groups.

Active in 45 countries, Hizbut is now expanding in Asia, spreading its radical message from Indonesia to China. It wants to unite all Muslim countries in a globe-spanning bloc ruled by strict sharia law. It targets university students and professionals, working within countries to try to persuade people to overthrow their governments.

The movement's appeal to an often influential part of society worries experts. Its goal of an Islamic state may be far-fetched, but it could still undercut efforts to control extremism and develop democracy in countries such as Indonesia, which the U.S. hopes will be a vital regional partner and a global model for moderate Islam.


*** i had to look it up:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hizb_ut-Tahrir

HIZB UT-TAHRIR

Hizb ut-Tahrir (Arabic: حِزْبُ التَحْرِير‎ Ḥizb at-Taḥrīr; English: Party of Liberation) is an international pan-Islamic political organisation whose goal is for all Muslim countries to unify as an Islamic state or caliphate ruled by Islamic law and with a caliph head of state elected by Muslims.<2>

The organization was founded in 1953 in Jerusalem by Taqiuddin al-Nabhani, an Islamic scholar and appeals court judge (Qadi)<3> from the Palestinian village of Ijzim. Since then Hizb ut-Tahrir has spread to more than 40 countries, and by one estimate has about one million members.<4> Hizb ut-Tahrir is very active in the west, particularly in the United Kingdom, and is also active in several Arab and Central Asian countries, despite being banned by some governments.

Hizb ut-Tahrir believes a caliphate would provide stability and security to both Muslims and Non-Muslims in the predominantly Muslim regions of the world.<5> The party promotes a detailed program for institution of a caliphate that would establish Shariah and carry "the Da'wah of Islam" to the world.<6><7> It believes this political transformation would provide honest leadership, protecting and caring for its citizens, and fighting against the "colonial foreign policies" of the United States and other Western nations that have led to "U.S. interventions, energy inspired wars, puppet (Muslim) governments and western values forced by the barrel of a gun."<8> Hizb ut-Tahrir is also strongly anti-Zionist and calls for Israel, which it calls an "illegal entity," to be dismantled.<9>

Some observers believe Hizb ut-Tahrir is the victim of false allegations of connections to terrorism, pointing out that the organization explicitly commits itself to non-violence.<10> Other right wing thinkers postulate that the group's opposition to violence is tactical and temporary,<11> and that it works to create a politically charged atmosphere possiby conducive to violence.<12><13><14>