Women’s Rights Cannot be subject to Cancel Culture in the Khilafah

News:

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell Foundation has ended its relationship with a US-based Muslim organisation after its founder used the slogan: “From the river to the sea” and described ‘Israel’ as an “apartheid state”.

The Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition (MMWC), which received two grants totalling nearly £42,000 from the foundation, was informed it would no longer receive support following an inquiry by US broadcaster NewsNation.

In 2024, a representative of the Muslim group, Mr Najeeb wrote: “Israel’s 75-year occupation of Palestine and the genocide in Gaza are a grave injustice. We demand a permanent ceasefire, an end to arming the apartheid state of Israel and the liberation of Palestine. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. From the sea to the river, Palestine will live forever!”

In a letter addressed to Najeeb, Archewell executives James Holt and Shauna Nep said, “Janan, we’ve recently been notified of a blog post you wrote that goes against the foundation's values. As a foundation, we celebrate different perspectives and backgrounds, but we have zero tolerance for hateful words, actions, or propaganda.”

“When we started the welcome project, we did so to support Afghan women in finding community, and we are proud of the work we have done to support women in Milwaukee. We remain committed to fostering partnerships that reflect and reinforce our foundation's values.”

Comment:

The Archewell Foundation was founded in 2020 to “uplift and unite communities” through philanthropy and advocacy, was supporting Afghan women to find community in the USA.

Whilst this work was done, there was an expectation that Muslims would somehow only stick to the Western version of single-issue politics according to the secular agenda of the West. This is of course impossible as Muslims do not have their entire ideology based on charity or fixing singular social problems.

The Prophet (saw) came to deliver the complete message to mankind as a solution to the oppression of the powerful deciding for the weak. laws and rules made from the intellect and bias of personal opinion has always caused chaos and suffering for every nation that has subscribed to it.

Allah (swt) says in the Quran that;

[إِنَّ فِي هَذَا لَبَلَاغًا لِّقَوْمٍ عَابِدِينَ * وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ]

“˹Quran˺ is sufficient ˹as a reminder˺ for those devoted to worship. We have sent you ˹O Prophet˺ only as a mercy for the whole world.” [TMQ 21;106-107].

This silence of the Muslim should not be bought with a few dollars. We are obliged to speak out and call for every aspect of the affairs of the Ummah. There is no obligation that can be left. This idea that we can be loyal to both non-Islamic and Islamic principles is a betrayal of Allah (swt) and His Messenger (saw). The Sahaba (ra) never accepted such compromises and always made the dominance of Islam a non-negotiable matter. It was not possible to come to any agreements with the non-Muslims having a dominant authority.

Speaking out on the Jewish entity's crimes against the believers is not a shameful act and it is the Muslim leaders who abandoned their duty to protect the lives and honour of the Muslims, that carry the shame.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Imrana Mohammad
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir