Press Release

The United States (US) army is in Malaysia (in the State of Kelantan and Terengganu) for the 2014/18 Keris Strike Series Exercise with the Malaysian army. Keris Strike Exercise is a series of combined training held each year involving the formation of 8 brigades under the Army’s 2nd division. The exercise will be carried out from 13 until 26 September around Kem Pengkalan Chepa and Kem Desa Pahlawan in Kelantan. The Malaysian Defense Ministry in a statement said that the army personnel are from the United States Army Pacific Command (USARPAC) based in Hawaii. “The primary objective of the bilateral exercise is to increase the knowledge and experience of participants in managing natural disasters and implementing the United Nations Peacekeeping Operation”. A total of 540 USARPAC and 638 Malaysian army personnel are involved in this Keris Strike Exercise.

Hizb ut Tahrir / Malaysia hereby strongly reminds and urges the Malaysian government in general and the Malaysian Armed Forces in particular to immediately stop this exercise and any military alliance with the US as it is a kafir harbiy state (disbelieving state which is at war with Islam) and the US is the real enemy of Islam. What kind of peacekeeping operation are they talking about when it is the US who is the very culprit, the axis of evil, the troublemaker and the perpetrator of war and instability in the Muslim world, especially in the Middle East? What kind of peacekeeping operation are they talking about when it is the US who is endlessly terrorizing Muslims all over the world? Has the Malaysian government not taken heed of this? Apart from being haram, having a bilateral military training with the US places Malaysia in a dangerous and compromising position as a significant part of the country’s military strength will be exposed to the enemy. The military strength is supposed to be deployed against the enemy, not with the enemy by having a joint military exercise with them! The long term military relation between Malaysia and US is a transgression of divine rule (Shariah) and is clearly prohibited (haram) in Islam. US is a disbelieving state that is currently at war with Muslims. US is killing our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen and with its lending hand, thousands of Muslims are killed in Palestine, Syria and in some other Muslim lands. The ongoing war on terror led by US is an open secret war on Islam. The only relationship allowed by Shariah for the Muslim countries to have with the US is none other than the relation of war!

Islam prohibits seeking military assistance from the disbelievers, as an entity,

as Rasulullah (saw) had said,

«لا تَسْتَضِيئُوا بِنَارِ الْمُشْرِكِينَ» “

Do not seek light with the fire of polytheists”.

This matter is also indicated in the hadith of Adh-Dhihak (ra) as reported by Imam As-Sarkhasi in Kitaab As-Sayr:

أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ  خَرَجَ يَوْمَ أُحُدٍ، فَإِذَا كَتِيبَةٌ حَسْنَاءُ، أَوْ قَالَ: خَشْنَاءُ، فَقَالَ: مَنْ هَؤُلَاءِ؟ قَالُوا: يَهُودُ كَذَا وَكَذَا، فَقَالَ: »لَا نَسْتَعِينُ بِالْكُفَّارِ«

“…that the Messenger of Allah (saw) went out on the day of Uhud when there was a squadron (kateeba) of good (hasna) or harsh (khashna) so he said: ‘Who are these?’ They said: ‘The Jews so and so.’ So he said: ‘We do not seek the assistance of disbelievers.’”

In another narration, Al-Hafidh Abu Abdullah who backed his chain to Abu Hamid As-Sa’idi, said that,

خرج رسول الله  حتى إذا خلَّف ثنيَّة الوداع إذا كتيبة قال: من هؤلاء؟ قالوا بني قينقاع وهو رهط عبد الله بن سلام قال: وأسلموا؟ قالوا: لا، بل هم على دينهم، قال: »قولوا لهم فليرجعوا، فإنّا لا نستعين بالمشركين«

“The Messenger of Allah (saw) went out until he passed Thaniyya al-Wada’ when there was a squadron. He said: ‘Who are these?’ They said: ‘Banu Qaynuqa and they are the company of Abdullah bin Salam.’ He said: ‘Have they embraced Islam?’ They said: ‘Rather they are on their deen.’ He said: ‘Tell them to return for we do not seek assistance from the polytheists.”

It is very clear that any military alliance with disbelieving states is haram in the eyes of shara’. Thus, the Malaysian-US military alliances of any kind and the current bilateral exercise must be stopped immediately and unconditionally.