A.S. Ibrahim: New conflict, old hate

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, October 10th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Paul Butler.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Up next: World Opinions Commentator A.S. Ibrahim explains the worldview of violence that drives Hamas.

A.S. IBRAHIM, COMMENTATOR: When the militant Muslim group Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday, 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.”

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.

Whether Hamas and its militias actually care about Islam and its advancement is not the issue, as they use its ideological claims to advance their political agenda. This is evident in the way Hamas persuades Muslims to serve as suicide bombers and human shields, by encouraging them to wage jihad against the Jewish enemy, Israel.

In Islam, jihad is chiefly an armed fighting with religious meaning. Jihad is the most commendable of actions and martyrs are promised immediate admittance to paradise. 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.

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.

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.

I am A. S. Ibrahim.

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