The economic-political concept of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia: reflection on the early Islamic thoughts

Hizbut Tahrir(The Party of Liberation) is an international pan-Islamic politica l organization. Its goal is to unify all Muslim countries as an Islamic state (caliphate) ruled by shariah. They argued that caliphate and Islamic law should not be separated. Without a caliphate, the sharia application will never be totally accomplished. Factually, these grand themes constitute the global discourse applied by Hizbut Tahrir movements around the world. It becomes the main idea that links their global ideological ground and commonality. Hizbut Tahrir (HT) entered into Indonesia in 1982, through M. Mustofa and Abdurrahman al-Baghdadi. As in another countries, HT got repression from the government. Using a momentum of the reformation era, Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) begin to socialize its ideas openly. Even in 2000, they have registered its organization at the Ministry of Domestic Affairs. This study aims to scrutinize the ideas of HTI thinking about political economy, which is devoted to the theory about the relationship between religion, state and economy, as well as the construction of public finances. This study is intended as a historical study of Islamic economic thought. The discourse of the study focuses on three questions. First,how does HTI grow in Indonesia, and why does they flourish? Second, what are the relationship between the religion, the state and the economy according to them? Finally, how is the structure of HTI’s public finances? This qualitative study was an exploratory-analysis. It was intended to analyze key concepts in a plantation of thought that has been documented, both from primary and secondary sources. It is a library research. The sources of the research are in the form of HTI’s works which have been well documented in a large numbers, including in the Pdf formats. The study found that HTI tended to see every current economic problem by reflecting it into the cultural heritage of the past. Related to this, the slogan that they have always been shouted was “Sharia is the only solution.” From this philosophy it can be estimated that HTI’s thoughts of Islamic public finance, will face the problem of contextualization.