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The Theology of Hamas

(Wall Street Journal) Ed Husain - Hamas isn't only a terrorist group, it is a religious organization, incubated by the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood, founded in 1928, departed from Islamic tradition and created Islamism, a totalitarian ideology to resist the pluralist West. The Brotherhood developed a new declaration of faith that includes: "Jihad is our method. Martyrdom is our aspiration." Theology is central to Hamas' charter, which declares that "Islam will destroy Israel" and that because "Palestine is an Islamic land," it is the "individual duty of every Muslim" to liberate it. Hamas envisages a future Palestine that is cleansed of Jews. Hamas calls its terror faction the al-Qassam Brigades, after the Syrian cleric Izzaddin al-Qassam, who attacked Jews living in kibbutzim in the 1930s. Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood aspire to create a region-wide Shariah state, an anti-Western confrontational caliphate in line with Iran's political model. That intention has led Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt to ban both groups from organizing within their borders. The writer is a professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.
2023-11-13 00:00:00
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