Speech of the Official Spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir / Wilayah Sudan at the Press Conference Titled:
“Return to the Ummah Its Usurped Authority Instead of Seeking Legitimacy From the Usurping Enemy”
(Translated)

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and prayers and peace be upon the one sent as a mercy to the worlds, the leader of the righteous, and commander of those with radiant faces and limbs, our master, beloved, and great one, Muhammad ibn Abdullah, and upon his family, companions, and those loyal to him.

Honorable brothers inside the hall, and those following through the live broadcast, peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you.

After his visit to the Vatican City and his meeting with Pope Leo XIV on 11 May of this year, Kamil Idris, Prime Minister of the Government of Sudan, headed to the United Kingdom to deliver two lectures at University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. This tour by Kamil Idris comes after Europe, especially United Kingdom, sought to strip legitimacy from Sudan’s military rulers led by General al-Burhan and the civilian government led by Kamil Idris. This became clearly evident at the Berlin Conference on Sudan held on 15 April last month, where the Sudanese government was not invited, while, in contrast, the invitation was extended to the “Sumoud Alliance,” led by former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, in an attempt to promote him as the representative of Sudan. Europe opened the way for him to hold meetings with officials who discussed the Sudanese crisis with him. Within this framework, Hamdok met, prior to the Berlin Conference, with the personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General, Beka Havisto, and discussed with him international efforts aimed at ending the war in Sudan. The Sudanese government understood what Europe was doing through attempts to withdraw legitimacy from it and give it to its civilian agents, especially the Sumoud Alliance.

Consequently, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry issued an official statement at the time condemning the holding of the Berlin Conference on Sudan without consulting or even inviting it, considering it a colonial guardianship approach that oversteps national sovereignty. It affirmed that ignoring the government and its official institutions establishes a dangerous precedent in international dealings.

The Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, General al-Burhan, also conducted intensive visits following the Berlin Conference to several countries, including Saudi Arabia on 20 April last month, from where he headed directly to Oman, and on Wednesday, 13 May of this year, he visited Bahrain. All these visits and others are aimed at proving that the Sudanese government, both its military and civilian wings, possesses legitimacy. Accordingly, General al-Burhan and Dr. Kamil Idris are received in the countries they visited.

The struggle over legitimacy between America’s agents from the military and Europe’s agents, especially Britain’s, from among the civilians, is an old and recurring struggle.

However, it became more apparent after the fall of the Salvation regime, when Europe, especially Britain, attempted to take power from the military. As is well known, the push and pull continued until the outbreak of the war, which was originally ignited in order to block the civilians from taking power from the military through the so-called Framework Agreement.

Thus, the struggle over legitimacy will remain intense so long as an ideological state is not established in Sudan, one that ends this international struggle in the interest of the Ummah, not in the interest of any colonialist party or those connected to it. For the colonialist disbeliever usurped the authority of the Ummah after demolishing the Uthmani Khilafah (Ottoman Caliphate) and ruled the lands of the Muslims directly or by proxy after dividing them into functional mini-states whose mission is to serve him, not to serve the Ummah.

The fundamental principle is that authority belongs to the Ummah. Since the Prophet (saw) established the first Islamic state in Medina, he took authority from the Muslims through the legitimate Bay‘ah (pledge of allegiance).

Likewise, all the Khulafaa Rashidun (Rightly Guided Caliphs) took authority from the Ummah through the legitimate Bay‘ah. Among the principles of governance in Islam is that “authority belongs to the Ummah.” Article 22 of The Draft Constitution or The Necessary Evidences for It prepared by Hizb ut Tahrir states the following:

“The ruling system is built upon four principles which are:

a. Sovereignty is for the Shar’ rather than fort the people

b. The authority is for the Ummah

c. To appoint a single Khalifah (Caliph) is an obligation upon the Muslims

d. The Khalifah alone has the right to adopt Shari’ah rules, so he is the one who enacts the constitution and the rest of the laws.”

What concerns us here is paragraph (b) of the article. The principle that “authority is for the Ummah” is derived from the fact that the Shariah made the appointment of the Khalifah dependent upon the Ummah and made the Khalifah take authority through this Bay‘ah. Ubada ibn al-Samit reported:

«بَايَعْنَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ عَلَى السَّمْعِ وَالطَّاعَةِ فِي الْمَنْشَطِ وَالْمَكْرَهِ» “We gave Bay‘ah to the Messenger of Allah (saw) upon hearing and obeying in ease and hardship” (Agreed upon (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)). And Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As said that he heard the Messenger of Allah (saw) say:

«وَمَنْ بَايَعَ إِمَاماً فَأَعْطَاهُ صَفْقَةَ يَدِهِ وَثَمَرَةَ قَلْبِهِ فَلْيُطِعْهُ إِنْ اسْتَطَاعَ، فَإِنْ جَاءَ آخَرُ يُنَازِعُهُ فَاضْرِبُوا عُنُقَ الْآخَرِ»

“Whoever gives Bay‘ah to an Imam, giving him the clasp of his hand and the fruit of his heart, then let him obey him as much as he can. If another comes disputing his authority, strike the neck of the latter” (Reported by Sahih Muslim).

Since we are Muslims, it is obligatory upon us, rulers and ruled alike, to adhere to the law of the Lord of the worlds, who says:

[فَلَا وَرَبِّكَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ حَتَّى يُحَكِّمُوكَ فِيمَا شَجَرَ بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَجِدُوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ حَرَجاً مِمَّا قَضَيْتَ وَيُسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيماً]

“But no, by your Lord, they will not [truly] believe until they make you, [O Muhammad], judge concerning that over which they dispute among themselves and then find within themselves no discomfort from what you have judged and submit in full submission” [Surah An-Nisa :65]. And He almighty says:

[وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلَا مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَى اللهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمْراً أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُمُ الْخِيَرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ]

“It is not for a believing man or a believing woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter, that they should [thereafter] have any choice about their affair” [Surah Al-Ahzab :36].

Therefore, rulers, both military and civilian, must return to the Ummah its usurped authority instead of seeking legitimacy from the usurping enemy, whether European or American, so that the Ummah may give Bay‘ah to a man who fulfills the conditions of the Khilafah’s establishment, pledging allegiance to him upon ruling by the Book of Allah (swt) and the Sunnah of His Messenger (saw) and what they guide to, so that the Ummah may once again become free and mighty, carrying goodness to all humanity, pleasing the Lord of the worlds, and freeing itself from the shackles of the disbelievers.

And peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you.

Ibrahim Othman (Abu Khalil)
Official Spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Sudan