Press Release
Voting Within the Secular System Leads to Assimilation

More and more often, imams, councils, and religious leaders call on Muslims in The Netherlands to vote en masse and to participate in the political game of a secular system. A system that, from its origin and essence, opposes Islam, marginalizes it, and tries to reduce it to something confined to the mosque or the living room.

Secularism is not a neutral framework but an ideology that has been violently imposed on Muslims worldwide. The disastrous situation in which the Ummah finds itself is largely due to these secular foundations upon which the Muslim lands were built. These structures have led to decline, humiliation, and alienation from Islam. Gaza is the most painful example of this: two billion Muslims look on while regimes remain loyal to Western agendas, their own interests, and the protection of the secular foundation.

The fact that even fiqh and fatwa councils in some cases have given “permission” for participation is telling, since for something that is clearly halal, no fatwa is required. This is because the ruling is essentially haram; the deviation is the permission. It is therefore dishonest to present that deviation as absolute legitimacy, without critical reflection or recognition that errors may be made. Elevating something that is originally absolutely haram to halal is an extremely risky step.

Yet some imams present participation in the secular system through voting simply as halal, without placing any critical note. This is misleading. It is also presented as something progressive and supposedly in the interest of the Muslim community in The Netherlands. The opposite is true. Participation in this system inevitably leads to assimilation and the loss of identity. By taking part, the focus shifts from obedience to the legislation of Islam to pragmatism and compromises. Muslims cling to the very source that caused the downfall of the Islamic civilization: secularism. How can one expect that participation in this foundation will ever lead to dignity or advancement?

The concessions being made are not signs of progress but of submission. When Muslims limit their vision to temporary solutions within the secular framework, they reduce themselves to a community content with crumbs. The real problem is the absence of a greater goal. There is no vision to replace the secularism that grips the Muslim world with Islam. As long as this is missing, one remains stuck in pragmatism and superficial adjustments that bring no real change.

This is why the call to vote is so problematic. It leads Muslims to reduce their ambitions to temporary interests, while their true mission is much greater. It is about restoring Islam in its entirety and working towards the return of an Islamic system that will elevate the Ummah and restore its position in the world.

Whoever loses sight of this greater goal and clings to the temporary will inevitably drown in conformity and see their identity eroded. While the true mission of the Muslims should be to replace secularism with Islam, not to entangle themselves in secularism.

We say this not out of hostility but as a sincere piece of advice. Because we care for the Muslims and are concerned for the future of the coming generations. It must also be asked honestly: have the fatwa councils and scholars who gave permission ever spoken out as strongly against secularism, and have they committed themselves publicly to replacing it with Islam? As long as this is absent, their ruling remains one-sided and problematic.

The true importance does not lie in recognition within secularism, but in holding firmly to the principles of Islam and working for the liberation of the Ummah from this imposed system, by replacing it with the system of Islam. Only those who embrace this greater goal truly work for the future and the elevation of the Muslims.

Okay Pala
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir
in The Netherlands