side government surveillance and arrests. Some
observers have remarked that it resembles the
Communist Party in organization more than other
Islamist movements, even though it is overtly
anticommunist and antisocialist in its ideology.
During the 1990s, increased Western military
presence in the Middle East, the fall of the Soviet
Union, the break up of Yugoslavia, and the Pal-
estinian-Israeli conflicts provided Hizb al-Tahrir
with opportunities to extend its reach into Europe,
Pakistan, Central Asia, malaysia, and indonesia. It
currently maintains a public relations office in
London, and its governing council is thought to
have headquarters in Lebanon. It disseminates its
ideas via numerous publications and Arabic- and
English-language Web sites. However, it is banned
as a terrorist organization in most Arab countries,
Germany, Russia, and all the Central Asian repub-
lics, where it has gained many followers in recent
years. British authorities have been monitoring it
carefully, especially after the London Metro bomb-
ings in July 2005. According to one estimate, Hizb
al-Tahrir has more than 20,000 members, includ-
ing recent converts to Islam. Another asserts
that it may have as many as 80,000 members in
Uzbekistan alone (Benard, 345).
The ideology of the party centers on the goal
of reuniting all Muslims into a single community
under an Islamic government called the caliph-
at e, which once ruled the early Islamicate empire.
This government is obligated to rule in accordance
with the sharia, the law of God. All other political
systems that govern Muslims are illegitimate and
must be overcome by winning public opinion.
Only by doing this will Muslims at last be free of
the burdens imposed by centuries of colonial rule.
Hizb al-Tahrir professes to be a nonviolent Islamic
activist movement. Its British branch, for example,
has joined with other Muslim community organi-
zations to raise funds for charity and to combat
drugs. However, police and security agencies sus-
pect that its members pose a terrorist threat. Its
publications purportedly equate prayer with Jihad
and terrorism, and it has allowed for the killing
of apostates, or “those who commit aggression
against the sanctities of the Muslims” (Benard,
347). It has also been condemned for being anti-
Semitic and supporting suicide attacks in Israel.
See also anti-semitism; commUnism; islamism;
reneWal and reForm movements.Further reading: Cheryl Benard, “Central Asia: ‘Apoca-
lypse Soon’ or ‘Eccentric Survival?’ ” In The Muslim
World after 9/11, edited by Angel M. Babasa, et al,
321–366 (Santa Monica, Calif.: Rand Corporation,
2004); Shereen Khairallah, “The Islamic Liberation
Party: Search for a Lost Ideal.” In Vision and Revision in
Arab Society, Center for the Study of the Modern Arab
World, 87–95, CEMAM Reports. Vol. 2 (Beirut: Dar
al-Mashreq, 1975); Ahmed Rashid, Jihad: The Rise of
Militant Islam in Central Asia (New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 2002).Hizbullah (Hezbollah)
Hizbullah is a Lebanese Shii Islamist party led
by Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah (b. 1960). Its name
means Party of God in English, a phrase from the
qUran describing those who will triumph over
disbelievers and enter paradise because of their
faith (Q 5:56; 58:22). The modern Lebanese Hiz-
bullah grew out of religiously based Shii militant
movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s
aimed at fighting Israeli incursions into lebanon.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, it led the armed
resistance to Israel’s invasion and occupation of
a significant portion of southern Lebanon and is
widely credited with forcing Israel’s withdrawal in
May 2000. The party is committed to the eventual
establishment of an Islamic state in Lebanon based
on the theory of Wilayat al-Faqih, or guardianship
of the religious jurist, developed and executed by
Ayatollah rUhollah khomeini in iran. However,
despite the theory’s theological implications that
all Muslims belong first and foremost to a transna-
tional umma (community of Muslims), Hizbullah
has in recent years taken great efforts to empha-
size its Lebanese and nationalist identity.K 304 Hizbullah