The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
On January 10, 2024, a website published the will of a Hamas commander known as Abu Usamah Al-Ghazzi [the Gazan], who led a battalion in the dawn prayer "on the morning of the Al-Aqsa Flood." Al-Ghazzi wrote the will on January 10 and requested that it be published, in order to "reach the largest possible number of members of the ummah [Islamic nation]." The website did not clarify if Al-Ghazzi was still alive.
In his will, written in a language characteristic of Salafi-jihadis, Al-Ghazzi states that the Hamas war against Israel is part of a struggle to implement shari'a law, and declares that Arab rulers who cooperate with Israel are apostates from Islam. He further lashes out at Iran, disavowing it and the groups it backs, such as Lebanese Hizbullah, insisting that charges of Hamas collaboration with Iran are unfair and that most of the Gaza-based group's fighters hate the Shi'ite state. He also denies that Hamas weapons are provided by Iran, insisting that most of them are produced in the Gaza Strip.
Following is a translation of excerpts from Al-Ghazzi's will:
"We have received the order to prepare for fighting, as the battle is a few hours away. We prepared ourselves and our equipment and said goodbye to our families […]
"The mujahideen renewed their intentions and dedicated them to Allah alone, wrote their wills, and ended their [last] minutes with acts of worship. We prayed the dawn prayer in a group, commanders and soldiers, then set out, wanting only that Allah take us when He is pleased with us or to return having brought victory to the religion and its adherents […]
"The Al-Aqsa Flood battle began [with the purpose of] putting the first wedge in the disappearing throne of the sons of Zion, the throne of every corrupt ruler and every oppressive tyrant, and to defeat the most corrupt scum that has ever existed on the face of the earth. [It came] so that the mujahideen can defend Allah's religion […] and revive a hope that had died in the hearts of many sons of the ummah […] and to slap governments which normalized relations with their Lord's enemy, allied with Allah's enemies, and waged war on His friends. And [it came] to remind the ummah that it has Muslim brothers and sisters in the prisons of […] the Arab and Jewish Zionists, in occupied Palestine, Syria, and Guantánamo, and in filthy prisons in the Arabian Peninsula which swallowed up scholars who signed [statements] for Allah […]"
Al-Ghazzi's will contains 14 messages addressed to various groups:
Praise For Gazans And Mujahideen, Call For Them To Continue Jihad
"First: Our people in Gaza – […] Patiently endure, persevere, stand on guard, and be mindful of Allah, so you may be successful (Quran 3:200). Know that today you are at the forefront of the Islamic ummah and its spearhead. Do not falter or grieve, for you will have the upper hand, if you are believers (Quran 3:139). We console our lives and you with the hadith […] 'Never is a believer stricken with discomfort, illness, anxiety, grief, or mental worry, or even the pricking of a thorn, but that Allah will expiate his sins on account of his patience.' You have a good example in the Messenger of Allah, for he lived as an orphan, was persecuted, insulted, suffered hunger, and was expelled from his home, and his sons and wives – but for a few – died in his lifetime. You have resembled your prophet in affliction, so emulate his patience […] There are people who saw you on the screens and entered Islam because of your steadfastness […] We write these words only after being stricken with fear, hunger, distance [from loved ones], and loss as you have been afflicted.
"Second: Our brothers the mujahideen in the field – you have turned the world upside down […] You have changed equations and ideologies of many people from bad to good and from evil to goodness. When the world learned of your great concern for defending great Islam, the forces of unbelief and hypocrisy gathered against you. You are not fighting the Jews alone, rather you are fighting all the polytheists, so renew your intentions for Allah alone […] and disavow to Allah every enemy of Allah and His Messenger, whether he is an unbeliever, hypocrite, or Rafidite [a pejorative term for Shi'ites] who wages war on the Muslims and speaks against their beliefs."
"Third: To our commanders the unique mujahideen – may Allah accept our and your [deeds], write your reward, guide you, and enrage your enemies through you. We remain faithful to you as long as you obey Allah the great […] We have listened to you, obeyed you, and put our lives in our hands for nothing other than to defend the religion and its adherents and to accept the rule of [Allah's] shari'a. So do not let our jihad […] go to waste by remaining silent to what some politicians do by showing friendship to the lackeys of Iran, for we are more powerful, firmer, stronger, and closer to victory by [following] the path of Allah's Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet, and by doing the opposite we will have the opposite.
"Fourth: To the pious youth of Gaza – preachers, students of religious knowledge, and influential people – who have not joined the caravan of jihad, do you not love Allah and His Messenger? […] Do you not seek Paradise? It has opened its gates, so catch up to the march, as the vessel of Islam will continue with or without you. Either you will be among the mujahideen or among those who refrain from jihad […]
Jihad In Gaza Is Based On Islam's Call To Fight All Unbelievers
"Fifth: Free Muslims over the world – our jihad in Gaza is not a jihad for land or borders (whether those of '67 or '48), but a jihad derived from a great Islamic belief […] We, as mujahideen in Gaza, carry the concern of the Islamic ummah […] so you must gain from the Al-Aqsa Flood battle, exploit it, and carry the concern which we have carried […] on all levels, beginning with personal faith-based education and culminating in a rightly-guided Islamic caliphate according to the prophetic methodology […]
"Remember what Allah said: (Quran 9:36) 'And fight all the polytheists as they fight all of you.' By Allah, we have seen that the forces of unbelief have amassed against us near and far, from the forces of the Arab Bedouin, to the criminal Zionists, to Indian, Ukrainian, French, and American soldiers, and others.
Clerics Who Issued Fatwas Supporting Palestinian Jihad Served As Inspiration
"Sixth: To the notables who signed [statements] for Allah – Free Godly scholars: Your rightful fatwas and stances of support for us in Gaza reach us as soon as they are issued and provide us comfort on the path of jihad and defense of the religion. So continue your support of us […] We would have wanted to mention each of you by name and title, but we know that you are [under the power of] rulers who do not honor the bonds of kinship or treaties with the believers (Quran 9:10) and that they do not fear Allah's majesty (Quran 71:13).
"Seventh: To the notables who signed [statements] for Allah, who were swallowed up by prisons of oppression and tyranny in Arab and foreign countries […] we send greetings to you. We wish that we could release you in a prisoner exchange with the Arab Zionists just like with the Jews, but we cannot […] You are the lamp [illuminating] the path we have taken and the pillars of knowledge which has brought us to a place where we can defend the religion and its adherents […] Perhaps Allah will unite us with you soon […]
Arab Rulers Who Ally With "Enemies Of Islam" Are Apostates And Prevent The Spread Of Islam; They Will Soon Be Deposed
"Eighth: To the so-called Muslim Arab rulers who ally with the enemies of the religion – know that your alliance with the enemies of the religion is blatant unbelief […] and know that you are partners in the killing of children and women in Gaza and you are an obstacle to the spread of Islam and the acceptance of the Lord of the Worlds' shari'a. Your taghout [un-Islamic rulers] thrones will collapse soon – Allah willing – and you will soon have a day of Flood which will swallow the people of loneliness and vileness […]
Bodies Promoting Gender Equality, Feminism, Have No Place In Gaza
"Ninth: To the institutions of corruption – the dreams you built in Gaza of propagating mixing of the sexes, gender studies, homosexuality, equality, feminism, and other imposed ideas have been destroyed by the Al-Aqsa Flood battle – thanks to Allah. You will have no place among us ever. If you return you will have a day of a great Flood. Once the war broke out we did not see among you a single human rights activist, feminist, or one claiming humanism.
Disavowal Of Iran And Groups It Backs, Condemnation Of Those Who Accuse Hamas Of Apostasy Or Preach Human Rights
"Tenth: To Iran and its Shi'izing lackeys – your affiliation with the resistance in Gaza on the path to Al-Aqsa will not purify your filth or wash from you the blood of Sunnis in Syria, Iraq, and other countries. Cowardly mouse of Lebanon [i.e. Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah]: The blood of our people in Syria which you shed has not dried. We disavow to Allah the slain [IRGC Quds Force leader Qasem] Soleimani, [senior IRGC commander Reza] Mousavi, and the so-called [senior Al-Nujaba Movement official] Abu Taqwa [Al-Sa'idi] and [senior Hizbullah commander] Wisam Al-Taweel. We are not part of you and you are not part of us at all. We will sacrifice ourselves for the honor of Allah's Messenger and the Mothers of the Believers [i.e. the Prophet Muhammad's wives].
"Eleventh: To the hypocrites and ideologically deviant of our nation in Palestine in general and in Bayt Al-Maqdis [Jerusalem] and its environs – even if you slander and discredit us, we have reached the battlefield and this has not harmed us at all. You who rejoiced when Allah chose a group of the commanders of jihad [to be martyrs] and called them terrorists, it is enough for us to congratulate you on your fate which you deserve, as Allah said about the hypocrites (Quran 4:145): 'Surely the hypocrites will be in the lowest depths of Hellfire.'
"Similarly, our message to the ideologically deviant who rush to declare takfir [label as apostates] on the mujahideen for the smallest doubt and charge everyone with the sin of a few – remember that the Prophet described the deviants as 'dogs of Hellfire' […] So hurry and extricate yourselves from [impugning] the honor of the mujahideen, and do not make them your adversaries on Judgment Day […]
"Twelfth: To those who preach international law and human rights – we reproached you long ago and of late that your so-called humanism is not true, and that only Islam is the true religion and destroyer of falsehood, the true religion of humanity and mercy. If only we had a Muslim caliph according to the prophetic methodology, what happened to us would not have happened […]
"Thirteenth: To every free, noble person who has striven to support us in Gaza by any method and expended efforts for that, whether by crowding social media to support us and explain our cause, by boycotting the economy of the oppressive killers, by [serving as] a military analyst seeking our good, by demonstrating in the streets and squares, […] or by praying in the middle of the night for Allah to support us – by Allah, we thank you each by name. May Allah reward you with good for [what you have done] for us.
Hamas Weapons Are Locally Made, Not From Iran; Hamas Fighters Hate Iran
"Fourteenth: To all those who accuse us of ties with Iran – judge us favorably […] If what you say about us were true, Allah would not have given the mujahideen success in achieving the good outcomes that you see […] Do not help Satan against us […] Instead of accusing us of false charges, show us your support by any means, or at least be silent. If you hear a deviant word here or there, it goes back to whoever said it and does not represent us […]
"To everyone who asks: 'Are the weapons we use to fight in Gaza from Iran?' Answer your own question. Have you ever seen any active foreign weapon in all the documentation of the battles? The Yasin rocket launchers are a local Qassam production, the Shawaz IEDs are a local Qassam production, the rockets – from Qassam-1 to 'Ayyash-250 are a local Qassam production, the Al-Ghoul sniper rifle is a local Qassam production, as are the hand grenades, and the personal handguns are a local Qassam production. If there are other [weapons], they are few and received from any party for their price […]
"I hereby absolve my brothers in Al-Qassam of the charge of affiliation with Iran. I testify before Allah that I have seen their hatred for Iran and its lackeys and loyalty with the Sunnah and its adherents. I will not mention what one of the other factions, which I will not name, has fallen into […]"
The full text of this post is available to subscribers.
Please login or register to request subscription information from MEMRI
