CTN 07/10/2009

Dalia Mogahed, a high-profile member of President Barack Obama’s Faith Advisory Council, has taken part in a Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) run televised discussion programme on the UK-based Islam Channel alongside two members of HT. HT is a global Islamist organisation which aims to set up a totalitarian global caliphate which will impose a hard-line interpretation of sharia, persecute religious minorities and wage aggressive jihad against non-Muslim countries.

On 4 October 2009, the Islam Channel, whose Tunisian CEO is a convicted terrorist wanted by Interpol, aired the latest episode of its HT-run regular discussion programme ‘Muslimah Dilemma’ featuring Dalia Mogahed. The episode featured Mogahed, Ibtihal Bsis Ismail, the programme’s host who is also an HT member, and Nazreen Nawaz, HT’s national women’s media representative who is also a frequent guest on the programme. The regular producer of the ‘Muslimah Dilemma’ show is Casa Sharif, another HT member. A recording of the programme is available on the front-page of HT’s website – indicating that the group perceives the discussion programme to be a significant propaganda coup.

During the 45-minute discussion programme, in which Mogahed took part via phone, she did not challenge the two HT’s members’ overt advocacy of the Caliphate or their wider interpretation of Islam and likewise she did not attempt to promote democratic, pluralist and secular values. During the programme, HT members openly:

-    Called for the re-creation of “Islamic Khilafah state” in which they said that women are “not permitted to hold a position of leadership in government”.
-    Called for Sharia law to be “the source of legislation”  and for “strict regulation in terms of social laws” (saying that “men and women cannot socialize” and “they cannot be alone together”).
-    Attacked secular “man-made law” and the west’s “lethal cocktail” of “liberty” and “capitalism” which they blamed for “promiscuity”, “pornography”, “teenage pregnancies” and “adultery”.

During the 45-minute debate, Dalia Mogahed did not directly challenge the HT members on any of these issues.

A spokesman for Counter-Terrorism News, said:

“HT is a group that advocates creating a non-democratic apartheid state based on institutional discrimination on the basis of religion and gender. It also has a record, in the UK and elsewhere, of inspiring individuals to commit terrorist violence. It is vital that prominent political figures not empower such Islamist organisations through engaging with them uncritically. Engagement for engagement’s sake risks empowering such extremists rather than isolating them. Dalia Mogahed has given Hizb ut-Tahrir a propaganda coup.”

A complete transcript of the programme is available here.

A recording of the programme is available (on HT’s website) here.