Noor Dahri – HAMAS: Islamic or a Kharijit (extremist renegades) movement
In the last few years of my discussions with pro-Palestinian Muslims who support Hamas, they knowingly or unknowingly don’t understand that Hamas does not represent Islam at all because of its un-Islamic terror activities. In this article, I will highlight from the Islamic perspective, that Hamas is not only involved in non-Islamic actions but has its affiliations with Kharijit (extremist renegades).
Here are some un-Islamic activities of Hamas:
- Murdering innocent people
- Terrorist activities against civilian
- Abducting innocent people
- Corruption & fraud
- Using women and children as human shields
The above listed are the main terrorist objectives which Hamas uses to achieve political ends. People might know that Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan ul-Muslimoon) of Egypt.
Hamas was born in 1987 just after the first Intifada (Uprising) by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin (at one time was my hero). Hamas is a branch of the Palestine Muslim brotherhood in Gaza and the West Bank. Before you understand Hamas, you must understand the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood. Before you understand the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, you must understand the Juhayman movement which hijacked the Ka’abah (House of Allah in Saudi Arabia) in 1979 which was then blamed for Iran. However, it was actually carried out by the Juhayman movement, the people within Saudi Arabia, along with students of Ka’abah- Makkah.
Juhayman movement was a Kharijit (extremist renegades) movement headed by Juhayman Al-Utaybi. There were many Juhayman’s who escaped from the Operation and or released from the Saudi prisons decades later. They sought refuge in Pakistan, India and Egypt and joined different extremist organisations.
In Pakistan, one of their renounced religious leaders then created an organisation which now is called Jamat-ul-Dawah (LeT), a world proclaimed declared terrorist organisation. In Egypt, they joined the Muslim Brotherhood
Juhayman himself, with his followers were beheaded in Saudi Arabia, but Juhayman’s influence remained alive in the world. One of the pilgrims who had watched the takeover in Mecca had taken a Juhayman leaflet (small booklet) home with him to Egypt. Yaroslav Trofimov, an author of the book, “The Siege of Makkah” describes him as sharing it with exciting tales of the Mecca events with his brother Khaled, a first lieutenant in the Egyptian army, who began an eighteen month “path to martyrdom.” It would be this brother, in 1981, who would fire several bullets into the “Pharaoh” Anwar Sadat, Egypt’s president, for making peace with the Jews.
One of those who had a “personal bond” with Juhayman’s movement was a Palestinian preacher, Isam al Barqawi, otherwise known as Abu Mohammed al Maqdisi.
He wrote that Juhayman had been wrong about the Mahdi but that this was, “nothing compared to the enormous crimes of the Saudi government.” He argued that by sending soldiers against Juhayman, the Saudi state was the first to violate Quranic prohibitions against waging warfare in “the holy precinct.” Trofimov writes that one of those influenced by Maqdisi was the person who planted the bomb, in November 1995 that destroyed the National Guard building in Riyadh killing seven people, including five Americans. Maqdisi at this time was behind bars in Jordan. His cell mate, “a co-conspirator and favoured pupil,” was Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the future leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.
Juhayman had close ties with Egypt’s Muslim brotherhood and Hamas is an offshoot of the Ikhwan movement in Egypt. The influence of Juhayman ideology remained strong within the Ikhwan movement which was then passed to Palestinian’s Hamas movement. These movements are against the Saudi Arabian monarchy system. This is why KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) did not intend to support the Muslim brotherhood and Hamas while Iran always did.
One of the Hamas’s main terror tactics is to launch suicide attacks against the Israeli civilians which is completely against the teachings of Islam. The grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, Shaykh Abd al-Aziz bin Abdallah Aal al-Shaykh, said in 2001, that Islam forbids suicide terrorist attacks. Ikhwan movement (Muslim brotherhood) which was deeply rooted in Al-Azhar University of Egypt, were taught in this religious institute. Many Al-Azhar scholars and even Muftis of Egypt were anti-Semitic with their speeches and fatwas against Israelis. They defended Hamas’ suicide terrorism against the Jewish state of Israel.
On one hand Saudi’s grand mufti issued a fatwa against suicide terrorism and on the other hand Al-Azhar (Egypt) mufti issued a fatwa in favour of Hamas’ suicide terrorism. This fatwa clearly indicated that Hamas was a direct religious and political cult of the Ikhwan. The fatwa of Egypt’s mufti was a challenge of the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) religious block. Shaykh Ali Abu al-Hasan, chairman of the committee of rulings in al-Azhar, stated, “fighting the enemy with any kind of defence is a duty.
He called the Palestinians to, “go on hitting Jewish targets and bring an earthquake under the feet of the traitors, the people of the virus state.” The general argument of various Islamist groups or individuals has been that, “all means are legitimate to fight the Jews,” as argued by Shaykh Sayyid Wafa, secretary-general of the Islamic research centre of al-Azhar in Egypt.
I see these Egyptian fatwas and their religious opinions different than the teachings of Islam. Allah says in the Quran: “… if someone kills another person – unless it is in retaliation for someone else or for causing corruption in the earth – it is as if he had murdered all mankind. And if anyone gives life to another person, it is as if he had given life to all mankind. …” This is the same message mentioned in the holy book of Torah.
Hamas kills innocent civilians and Al-Azhar, Egypt’s Islamic religious authority, defends Hamas’ killing and its bombing of people, which I see as un-Islamic acts according to the above verse of the holy Quran.
Allah/HaShem is most merciful to mankind. Why is it the Palestinian followers of Hamas became more ruthless and yet they claim that they are the true followers of Islam, even though they kill other people under the name of Islam? Allah says in Quran: “… God is All-Gentle, Most Merciful to mankind.” They have manipulated the true meaning of Jihad by killing innocent souls in the world. “Waging jihad” in Islam means to educate the other side, to teach moral virtue and to raise awareness to turn people away from evil. Those who murder in the name of jihad are not acting in the light of the Qur’an.
Islam never promoted slaughtering Jews but sheltered them when they needed. The Quranic rulings on wars and on general prospects are far different in reality. Some ignorant people and organisations such as Al-Qaeda, Taliban, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah and others manipulate the Quranic rulings of war positions and place them on the current general situation which is pure ignorance and nothing else. These organisations and their followers act against the teachings of Allah.
Allah does not like corruption on earth, and killing innocents and creating chaos within civilian population is a great corruption on earth. Allah says in the holy Quran: “Allah does not love corruption”.
The people who support Hamas have forgotten the teachings and ruling of the holy Quran. In Islam, even in wars you have to show mercy towards non-combatant civilians.
The Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (PBUH), sets some rules and regulation of wars, in which the Islamic army cannot kill innocents, women, elders, children, non-combatants and no military can destroy marketplaces, business and even worship places
I ask the question for those who think that Hamas is fighting an Islamic war against Jews and Israel. Can you justify Hamas attacks, according to the Islamic teachings which I mentioned above in the Islamic rules and regulations of wars? Can you justify killing women, children, elders, mutilating them through suicide terrorism in Israel? Can you justify destroying their places of worships, markets and business places by bombing them?
Hamas is not an Islamic organisation but a Kharijit (extremist renegades) by carrying out un-Islamic teachings within its jurisdiction (Gaza).They do not represent the true, peaceful and merciful message of Islam towards non-Muslims, especially to Jews.
Hamas abducts people, torture and execute their political prisoners, kills innocent women, children and elders. They create mischief on earth, steal lands, involved in corruption, use their own children and women as human shields. We cannot call them freedom fighters, Muslim defenders or the followers of Islam.
They are Ikhwan’s ideological ruthless cult and Juhayman (Kharijities) followers who attacked Ka’abah, the house of Allah in Makkah.
If you still think what Hamas does is an Islamic act and they are following the true Islamic teachings, then you are the most ignorant people on earth and I am free from your Islam. I would not follow the Islam that teaches us to kill innocent people, destroy their cities and to commit terrorist acts to achieve political ends. We must follow the real teachings of Islam, which teaches us to love our enemy, treat others with kindness and establish a peaceful environment in the world in that the followers of other religions live safe and secure with harmony.
The holy Quran says:
Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians and the Sabians, whoever believes in God and the Last Day, and does good, they have their reward with their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.
Noor Dahri is an independent researcher based in London, UK. He has studied Counter Terrorism from International Institute for Counter Terrorism ICT- Herzliya – Israel. He is a honorary member of the ZF-UK
