When the militant Muslim group Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday, October 7, 2023, it named the assault “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.”
While there are various political angles in this dreadful situation, we should pay close attention to the political and religious ideology that drives Hamas.
As a group, Hamas emerged in the 1980s from the larger Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood. Both organizations explicitly tie their militant actions to the Quran and Muhammad’s precedent as sources for legitimacy. This is why Hamas named their attack after the Al-Aqsa Mosque, due to its religious esteem.
Palestinian and Israeli media outlets announced that many Israeli soldiers were taken captive by the Hamas fighters. And videos of Israeli women and children captured by Muslim fighters were soon circulating on the internet. An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader “congratulated Palestinian fighters for launching the biggest attack on Israel in years.”
Jihad: What Drives Hamas?
While Israel is responding with a sequence of military retaliations, Hamas isn’t backing down. Despite the disastrous situation for civilians in Gaza, Hamas and its allies (especially Hezbollah in the north) don’t seem to care. They are clearly digging in their heels and calling for escalating the conflict.
A brazen announcement by a Hamas leader is setting the stage for escalated global conflict. In a recorded statement sent to Reuters, Khaled Meshaal, former Hamas chief who currently heads its diaspora office in Qatar, called for Muslims all over the Arab world to take to the streets on October 13, in support of Hamas. He instigated this call as he exhorted Muslims to “head to the squares and streets of the Arab and Islamic world” to propel the Muslim governments to join the war against Israel. Importantly, Meshaal frames his message in explicitly Islamic terms, as he calls Muslims “who teach jihad” to apply it right now because “this is a moment for the application.”
Meshaal’s statement is quite alarming. Not only does it show how Hamas is adamant about prolonging and escalating the war, but the statement itself serves as a global call for Muslims to wage jihad against Jews and anyone who would support them. His statement will likely lead to violence in many countries, including some beyond the Muslim-dominated world. Since the West supports Israel on many levels, the Islamic logic goes, it is a legitimate target of jihad.
There is no doubt that his use of “jihad” is very significant, especially for numerous Muslims who share and value Meshaal’s dispositions and opinions. The term jihad is cherished by all Muslims and points to explicit commands in the Quran and illustrations from Muhammad’s life. While modernist and liberal Muslims may attempt to paint jihad as striving for piety and godliness against one’s fleshly desires, the authoritative Muslim texts clearly designate jihad as waging armed warfare against non-Muslims.
What Does the Quran Say?
In the Quran, Muhammad is instructed to strive in jihad against non-Muslim unbelievers and be firm against them. Muslims are commanded to resist the infidels and struggle in jihad mightily with them. To encourage Muslims to wage jihad against unbelievers, the Quran states that true Muslims not only believe in Allah and Muhammad but strive in jihad with their possessions and their selves for Allah’s cause. This statement alone leads many to become suicide bombers, especially because the Quran insists that those who wage jihad are of a higher rank in eternity.
And the Quran is not alone. Muhammad’s statements are more explicit and full of clear exhortations for Muslims to obey Allah by waging armed jihad against non-Muslims.
When a Muslim man asked Muhammad, “Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward),” Muhammad answered, “I do not find such a deed.” This statement creates an intense urgency for jihad.
This is why Muhammad’s statements introduced an important Islamic term, mujahid, which refers to a Muslim who strives in jihad for Allah, a Muslim fighter (plural, mujahidin). To exhort Muslims for the eternal reward of jihad, Muhammad reportedly declared, “Know that Paradise is under the shades of swords.” Undoubtedly, the most honorable dream for any Muslim is to be identified as mujahid—a fighter, applying jihad for Allah’s cause.
Religious Warfare
Hamas uses this claim to encourage Muslims to fight the Jews, saying that if killed, Palestinians will receive the best eternal reward. Hamas also understands that the Israelis will hesitate to bomb buildings full of humans, and so the group uses these buildings to secure weaponry and launch attacks.
This emphasis on jihad appears in Meshaal’s statement which seems to be a clear call to apply violence in the form of religious activity—it’s a call to wage war under religious banners. Why does Hamas say Jews are the enemy? Because the Quran explicitly states that the “strongest in enmity” to the Muslims are “the Jews.” Notice the designation of a religious group as an enemy. This forms and fuels hatred against humans based on their religious loyalty.
For Hamas, the Islamic designation of the Jews as enemies doesn’t distinguish military commanders from civilians—all are in one basket, because of their adherence to Judaism. Hamas preachers say that attacking the Jews means following Muhammad’s example. In Muhammad’s biography, he fought “the three main Jewish tribes of Medina,” after calling them hypocrites and unbelievers of his religious message. The example is loaded with religious weight for those who want to follow Muhammad’s model. In one account, Muhammad seized the Jews, and “all adult males are executed, and the women and children are enslaved.” His followers can hardly escape yearning to imitate such a model.
So what about all those dead bodies? How does Hamas’ worldview interpret massacring people and enslaving women and children? Any sane human being would be horrified upon seeing such appalling scenes, but Hamas views them differently. They are acts of jihad for Allah’s cause.
The current political dilemma is indeed surprising and complex, but the ideological hatred towards a religious enemy is based on an ancient foundation. With such a foundation, the conflict between militant Muslims and Jews fighting back is unlikely to stop anytime soon. And when inhumane atrocities and insane brutality are sanctioned by religion, the world should be informed and alarmed.
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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published as two separate pieces (New Conflict, Old Hate; Hamas Wants Global Jihad) at https://wng.org. It has been republished here with permission.
