If the Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) is not a terrorist group and professes non-violence, why is the United States concerned about it?
HT is a secretive, cell-based, transnational extremist organization with support among some Muslims in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, and with an organizational base in London. It has urged the overthrow of governments across the Islamic world and the establishment of a borderless, theocratic Islamic caliphate. HT was founded in the Middle East in the 1950s. It promotes a utopian view of political Islam under which social problems like corruption and poverty would be eradicated by the strict application of sharia (Islamic law). HT uses a mixture of local history, arguments about socio-economic and political conditions, and advocacy for international religious solidarity to promote its cause. HT is organized in secretive, five-member cells whose members later form their own groups or halkas. Only the leader of each halka has a connection to a higher halka. Public expression of its views usually is conducted through leaflets, and recruitment generally is conducted through friends and
