Press Release
The Tragedy of Gabes, a Victim of the Choices of the Modern State
(Translated)

[وَإِذَا تَوَلَّى سَعَى فِي الْأَرْضِ لِيُفْسِدَ فِيهَا وَيُهْلِكَ الْحَرْثَ وَالنَّسْلَ وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْفَسَادَ]

“And when he goes away, he strives throughout the land to cause corruption therein and destroy crops and animals. And Allah does not like corruption.” [Al-Baqara:205]

The protests of the people of Gabes in the south of Tunisia continue because of the poisons emitted from the chemical complex, which has turned the city into an environmentally and health-stricken area, directly affecting the health of the inhabitants of Gabes and its natural resources. Cancer and respiratory diseases have spread, and the matter has even reached successive cases of suffocation among students. Decades of false promises and deliberate neglect have made Gabes a symbol of marginalization and pollution, as the phosphate wealth has turned from a blessing into a curse due to the policies of the modern state, which chose quick profit and the interests of large companies at the expense of people's health and their right to a decent life.

O People of the beautiful city of Gabes: Your city, under the rule of Islam, at the time of the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate), was a beautiful oasis where life was pleasant and vibrant. It has turned under the filthy capitalist system into a stricken city and a scene of suffocation and slow death. Therefore, do not wait for the solution to your problems from those who caused them, and take the initiative to solve them yourselves, by returning to the method of your Lord, and working to demolish the capitalist system that your enemy imposed on you, and establishing the system of Islam, which unifies the lands of the Muslims in one strong state that takes care of them by the law of their Lord, who has clarified in detail what belongs to the state and what is upon it, and what belongs to the subjects and what is upon them, as He has made corruption on earth an abominable crime. Allah the Almighty said:

[وَإِذَا تَوَلَّى سَعَى فِي الْأَرْضِ لِيُفْسِدَ فِيهَا وَيُهْلِكَ الْحَرْثَ وَالنَّسْلَ وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْفَسَادَ]

“And when he goes away, he strives throughout the land to cause corruption therein and destroy crops and animals. And Allah does not like corruption.” [Al-Baqara:205]. And His noble Messenger (saw) forbade causing harm to oneself and to others. He (saw) said: «لَا ضَرَرَ وَلَا ضِرَارَ»“There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm.” And he (saw) said:

«لا يَبولَنَّ أحَدُكُمْ في الْمَاءِ الدَّائِمِ الذي لا يَجْرِي، ثُمَّ يَغْتَسِلُ فِيه»

“None of you should urinate in stagnant water that does not flow, then wash in it.” And the Islamic legal principle is that “the means to the unlawful is unlawful.” Accordingly, polluting the environment in a harmful way, or in a way that leads to harm, or leads to the unlawful during the process of manufacturing, economic development, and exploitation of natural resources, is forbidden (haram) by Sharia, regardless of the costs that result from avoiding it.

O People of the beautiful city of Gabes: The environmental problem cannot be solved through capitalist solutions that weigh all matters by benefit and profit. Nothing will curb the excesses of the capitalist companies that have destroyed crops and animals except the rule of Islam under the Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate) on the method of the Prophethood. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said:

«فَالإِمَامُ رَاعٍ وهو مَسْؤُولٌ عن رَعِيَّتِهِ»

“The Imam is a shepherd and he is responsible for his flock.” The treatment of this problem in the Islamic State would be to designate industrial zones far from residential areas for polluting industries, monitor industrial and agricultural facilities and any other sources of pollution, and oblige these facilities and sources to follow clean production methods and systems, such as industrial waste treatment units, and not allow pollutants to leak into the surrounding environment.

The Khilafah State also gives attention to establishing factories for reprocessing permissible industrial waste and reusing it as new forms of matter and energy, which is called recycling, to reduce the amount of industrial waste. What remains of this waste that cannot be exploited or recycled is disposed of by burial in remote areas.

The protests of the heroic people of Gabes must be a starting point to overthrow the savage capitalist system and establish righteous rule on the basis of Islam under the Khilafah Rashidah on the method of the Prophethood. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said:

«ثُمَّ تَكُونُ خِلَافةً عَلَى مِنْهَاجِ النُّبُوَّةِ»

“Then there will be a Caliphate upon the method of the Prophethood.”

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
in Wilayah Tunisia