On June 7, 2016, the day before the shooting attack in Tel Aviv in which four were killed and several wounded, Hamas's military wing, the 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, published an article on its website encouraging jihad and martyrdom during the month of Ramadan, which began this week. The article, titled "Ramadan - The Month of Jihad, Fighting and Victory over the Enemies," noted that throughout the ages Ramadan had been the time of the greatest Muslim victories, beginning from the days of the Prophet Muhammad. Allah, it said, had commanded, and urged, the Muslims to wage jihad, for it is the pinnacle of Islam. The article stressed that Muslims' sad situation today is due to their abandonment of jihad, and called on them to follow the example set out in their glorious, jihad-saturated history.
The following are excerpts from the article:[1]
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that accompanied the article
"Ramadan is the month of jihad, fighting, and fasting. Therefore, after the jihad fighter dedicates himself to the study of Islam by day he sets forth to defend his homeland, Palestine, by night. This month has seen the actualization of exceptional Islamic victories. Today, the ummah is bleeding in many countries, and none care about the deep wound of Palestine and the oppressive siege on the Gaza Strip.
"About a year ago, the Palestinian resistance, chiefly the Al-Qassam Brigades, fought the most impressive battles of heroism and martyrdom. Al-Qassam's jihad fighters, as they were fasting, dealt the enemy fatal blows in the eastern parts of the Gaza Strip, as part of Operation Eaten Straw [the 2015 Gaza war], and Allah helped them achieve such a great number of victories that they [shattered] the myth of the undefeatable [Israeli] army, expelling it, defeated, from the Gaza Strip.
"Jihad for the sake of Allah is the pinnacle of Islam. By this means, honor is acquired in this world and in the world to come. It is one of the best and most noble deeds. The Muslims became inferior only when they abandoned jihad and pinned their hopes on this world [and not on the world to come]; that is when the enemies fell upon them...'
"The mention of jihad during this blessed month is a mention of a glorious past, whose [example] we must follow in order to emerge from a crisis that has lasted so long that we now lag behind all nations, and despite our large number, have become as worthless as scum upon water. Allah removed our enemies' fear [of us] and placed weakness in our hearts [that is embodied by] a love of this world and a hatred of death.
"Mentioning the past should lead [us] to learn its lessons and benefit from it as we create our present and outline a glorious course for our future. This is because Allah the Almighty commanded us to wage jihad, urged us to do so, and wanted it so much that he named anyone sacrificing their life for Him as having sold their soul to Allah - and what a pleasant transaction this is[2] ...
"The blessed month of Ramadan is the month of jihad, and saw the two most important battles in the life of the Prophet [Muhammad]. The first is the great Battle of Badr [624 CE], which was the divine proof by means of which Allah distinguished truth from lie, and which led to Muslim honor and steadfastness. The second is the Conquest of Mecca, by virtue of which the first renunciation of Islam was defeated, the banners of paganism in the holy city [of Mecca] fell, and Islam became invincible throughout in the Arabian Peninsula.
"However, [despite] the life of humiliation that our Arab world is living today, since it abandoned jihad, there is still hope. [As a hadith attributed to the Prophet Muhammad states:] 'A group from among my ummah still fights and stands for truth until the Day of Judgement.'
"Likewise, Ramadan is a way station for educating and comprehensively training and preparing the soul to enter the vortex of jihad. For the jihad fighters excel during this month, and make [this month] a school and a way station in order to fill in the cracks in their weakness and reinforce their means, so as to become closer to Allah and heed the calls of jihad."
Endnotes:
[1] Alqassam.ps, June 7, 2016.
[2] Allusion to Koran 9:111: "Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their properties [in exchange] for that they will have Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah , so they kill and are killed. [It is] a true promise [binding] upon Him in the Torah and the Gospel and the Qur'an. And who is truer to his covenant than Allah ? So rejoice in your transaction which you have contracted. And it is that which is the great attainment."
