Tens of thousands of Islamists have gathered to push for the creation of a single state across the Muslim world. The dull roars of a football match, the twanging music of a youth group concert – from a distance it is not always easy to tell an Islamic conference from a holiday crowd. Inside Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno stadium the clues get easier. There are about 100,000 people inside, and everyone is in Islamic dress. The women’s section – by far the biggest – is a pitter-patter of ice-cream colours. On their parasols, one word is printed over and over again: Khilafah, caliphate. This is the reason why people have come here. To show their support for a single, unified, Islamic state. They have been invited by the international Islamist group, Hizb ut-Tahrir. Not everyone believed they would fill the stadium, but Hizb ut-Tahrir is good at bringing in supporters – and keeping them. Milling around outside the stadium we found 24-year-old Akbar. He was not a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, but he said: ‘This conference is not just for one group. In my opinion, if you support there being sharia law in Indonesia, […]