a lobby still works within the system. should we not work to change the system first?

Justice Council Political Analysis

Muslims hold no route that changes the system before working inside it. Hizb ut-Tahrir has sought army backing since 1961 and has established no state. Armies tied to rulers and outside patrons control who holds power. Organised pressure from inside the system has, on the record, moved outcomes, but lobbying alone leaves the rulers' authority in place.

No. The record gives no way to change the system before working within it, and Expert Opinions argue that lobbying alone leaves rulers' authority intact. On the record, Muslims have to do both at once: - Organised pressure from inside the system has already changed political outcomes. - Building institutions from the bottom up moves real authority into Muslim hands. - Lobbying international bodies can change the rules those bodies apply. - The 'system first' route of seeking army backing has not produced a state since 1961.

The levers

  1. Organised voting and pressure blocs Held by Muslim voters and their organisers. In the UK and Australia they withdrew support from governing parties over Gaza and cost them votes. The cost is a running dispute over whether to punish mainstream parties or engage them strategically.
  2. Build parallel community institutions Held by mosques, scholars and donors. It means city councils coordinating zakat, education and arbitration, plus endowments such as the planned redress waqf, so that authority grows from the bottom up. These coordinated councils have not been set up, and building them needs long-term funding and agreement across the schools of law.
  3. Lobby institutions to change their own rules Held by an advocacy secretariat that takes drafted proposals to the OIC, the Islamic Development Bank and the New Development Bank: riba-free finance, local-currency settlement, and applying international law equally to all. This changes the system's rules from inside, but it depends on the consent of states, which these bodies have not yet given.
  4. Seizing power by force through army backing Hizb ut-Tahrir has pursued it since 1965 and has won no state. States have answered by banning the group: Germany and Russia in 2003, and the UK proscribed it in January 2024. This shut down the legal space the group's other work relied on.

Sources