The Canadian branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a global Islamist group, recently convened its annual conference, promoting a political project that sought the destruction of Western democracies and their replacement with a transnational Islamic caliphate. Themed “Khilafah Is Imminent: What Have You Prepared For It?,” the January 17, 2026, event was conducted online in a likely attempt to minimize scrutiny.
We, the Ummah, must restore the Khilafah and view it as our most pressing Islamic obligation.
The nearly three-hour broadcast underscored Hizb ut-Tahrir’s global reach and Canadian footprint. Ata bin Khalil Abu al-Rashtah, a Palestinian national who heads the organization internationally, and Mazin Abdul-Adhim, a Canadian imam and group member, delivered the messages.
In response to mounting concern last year, then–Public Safety Minister David McGuinty stated that his department was reviewing whether Hizb ut-Tahrir should be designated a terrorist entity under Canadian law. The status of that assessment is currently unknown.
Hizb ut-Tahrir’s Agenda
The khilafah—Arabic for “caliphate”—is Hizb ut-Tahrir’s longstanding, ambitious political model. Rooted in the seventh century, when an elected caliph ruled large parts of the Middle East under sharia, the caliphate represents a governing system the group openly seeks to resurrect.
A splinter of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hizb ut-Tahrir envisions a borderless theocratic empire extending across the Middle East, North Africa, and large portions of Central and Southeast Asia.
‘A New Phase’
The group’s aspirations were on full display at the conference. In his opening remarks, the unidentified event emcee announced that the conference theme was “not chosen for rhetoric or emotion” but rather because “the Muslim world is entering a new phase.” He further claimed that “the failures of imposed (Western) systems are clearer than ever, and the call for Islam as a comprehensive way of life grows stronger across the globe.”
In a video played after the opening remarks, the unnamed narrator urges, “We, the Ummah, must restore the Khilafah and view it as our most pressing Islamic obligation; this work must be our most urgent mission.” Ummah refers to the global Muslim community.
Throughout the conference, speakers systematically attacked the legitimacy of ideals such as democracy, nationalism, and secularism, referring to them as “unIslamic concepts.”
The emcee claimed, “For decades the Ummah was told that nationalism would solve her problems, that Western political models would bring stability, and that secularism would modernize her societies; but today we see those very ideas collapsing under their own contradictions. They have brought division instead of unity, dependency instead of strength, and oppression instead of justice.”
A speaker identified as Ustad Abu Rahman said, “In democracy, people legislate … whereas in Islam, Allah is the legislator. He is the one that legislates the laws.”
Rahman accused Muslim-majority countries of adopting liberal values such as freedom and human rights to promote lifestyles incompatible with Islam. “Instead of upholding Islamic values, they promote a life that directly contradicts Islam. Under the banners of ‘freedom’ and ‘human rights’ they urge women to abandon the hijab. They allow sexual content to flood our screens. They push gender-mixing, dating and relationships outside of marriage,” he asserted.
Rejecting Reform and Moderation
Criticizing Saudi Arabia for reforming its school textbooks, Rahman said, “Regimes also work to weaken Islamic knowledge of society. Islamic content is gradually removed from school curriculums … These included altering the meaning of jihad to only mean ‘self‑struggle’; removing content critical of Jews and Christians; removing statements that women must obey their husbands; removing significant amount of what they term ‘homophobic’ content; toning down negative portrayals of infidels and polytheists ... and not presenting Zionism as a product of European colonialism.”
By rejecting terms such as “political Islam,” “moderate Islam,” and “extremist Islam” as “foreign concepts,” Rahman argued, “They corrupt our understanding of Islam with many concepts that are foreign to Islam.
The way to fight back is to restore the Khilafah and through it build strong military forces and implement harsh political and economic measures.
“‘Political Islam’ is a phrase that has no place in Islam,” he stated. “It never existed and it is an invention, because the right phrase is ‘Islamic politics’ because politics is part of Islam. It is not a type of Islam… Another phrase is ‘moderate Islam’ versus ‘extremist Islam.’ Again, an invention they created. ‘Moderate Islam’ which is a phrase used for apolitical Islam—Islam that is just confined to rituals and some beliefs. This is foreign. This contradicts Islam because Islam is a comprehensive way of life that includes politics, ruling, and everything.”
The message is ominous: Hizb-ut-Tahrir leaves no room for ideological moderation or pluralism in a khilafah.
Framing the World as ‘Islam vs. the West’
The conference repeatedly depicted Muslims as a besieged global collective facing oppression from secular democracies, Muslim regimes, and Zionism. Grievances—including Gaza and Islamophobia—were cited as evidence that democratic systems are beyond reform and must be dismantled.
Citing the U.S.’s disastrous war in Afghanistan, a speaker identified as Abu Ammar said, “One hundred seventy thousand of our brothers and sisters were murdered and the largest non‑nuclear weapon was deployed to break the Ummah in Afghanistan.”
Another speaker named Abu Musa claimed, “Our commitment to this rules‑based order prevents us from uniting our alliances and resources to make a powerful and prosperous Ummah. They tell us it is a sign of being civilized to follow these laws. It is actually a sign of us being enslaved.”
He also presented Western leaders and Muslim rulers alike as obstacles to the khilafah’s return, citing U.S. President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper as examples.
From Indoctrination to Mobilization
The prescriptions offered were confrontational rather than conciliatory. Jihad was framed positively and as a necessity. In a video played at the conference, the narrator is heard saying, “When an entire nation (Pakistan) with a nuclear‑armed military was ready—and willing—to wage jihad in India, the traitor rulers stepped in, stopped the brave soldiers of this Ummah, and handed victory to the enemies of Islam.”
Another video claimed that Western powers fear the khilafah as their “greatest ideological threat” and warned Muslims they would continue to face persecution—such as bans on hijabs and public prayer—without it. The narrator suggests, “The way to fight back is to restore the Khilafah and through it build strong military forces and implement harsh political and economic measures. This is how Rasul’Allah (SAW) eliminated enemies of Islam.”
A Question of Political Will
The Khilafah Conference offers further evidence of how Islamist groups in Canada continue to thrive largely unopposed through academic discourse, charitable activity, or online programming.
This permissive environment has come at a cost. Canada is experiencing rising radicalization and terrorism-related arrests. Intelligence services warn that young people are being drawn into extremist online ecosystems. Allowing an organization committed to dismantling democracy to recruit and indoctrinate—even virtually—crosses established benchmarks for extremist ideology and subversive activity.
Hizb ut-Tahrir’s worldview is openly anti-democratic and supremacist. Its objectives are incompatible with the Charter, the Constitution, and the rule of law.
The provocative conference theme alone should trigger alarm. The issue no longer centers on whether Hizb ut-Tahrir represents a threat. It is whether Canada’s Liberal government is prepared to confront it.
