Hamas was launched in Gaza during 1988 at the time of the first intifada—or uprising— with a charter called the “Hamas Charter” or “Hamaz Covenant,” formally known in English as the Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement. The objective of the movement was as follows:

They are fighting against the false, defeating it and vanquishing it so that justice could prevail, homelands be retrieved and from its mosques would the voice of the mu’azen emerge declaring the establishment of the state of Islam, so that people and things would return each to their right places and Allah is our helper.

At the time, the main enemy of the Zionists was Yasser Arafat’s Fatah Party, which formed the main bulk of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). Fatah was secular, and he was heavily influenced by the Socialist Movements of the Cold War era. They were part of the guerilla movements waging insurgencies against American Imperialism elsewhere in the world.

Gaza used to be controlled by the secular-nationalist Egyptian government of Gamel Abdel Nasser. Egypt lost control of Gaza to Israel after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, which saw the Zionist state also seize the West Bank.

In 1966, Nasser had executed Sayyid Qutb, one of the Muslim Brotherhood’s leading intellectuals. Qutb’s followers in the Palestinian territories, including Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, became a significant counterweight to the socialist secularism of Arafat’s PLO.

Egypt’s loss of control over Gaza in 1967 paved the way towards the rise of an Islamic Movement that could actually pose a serious challenge to the Zionist supremacy. And we see the results of this today.

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The Rise of the Resistance

Sheikh Yassin quickly set up a wide network of schools, clinics, a library, and kindergartens. He also formed the group “Mujama al-Islamiya” in 1973, not long before the Islamic University of Gaza was established in 1978. Yassin’s Mujama would go on to become Hamas.

In 1984, after the discovery of hidden weapons in a mosque, Sheikh Yassin was imprisoned by the Zionist state and given a 12-year sentence. However, he was released just a year later.

After the 1993 Oslo accords, the Zionist state formally recognized the PLO, and what we now know as the “peace process” had begun. In return, the PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist and renounced armed resistance. Hamas refused to go along with these terms. Neither did they recognize the Zionist state nor did they renounce the right to armed struggle.

Following this, they became the leading Palestinian resistance movement against the Zionist occupation, which is also the reason behind them being so popular amongst the Palestinians. Sheikh Yassin was killed in 2004 in an airstrike carried out by the Zionist terror state of Israel.

In 2007, after Hamas legitimately secured a victory in the elections—something that greatly pained both the West and Fatah—, the movement assumed control over Gaza. This then led to strict Zionist blockades and the recurrent cycle of Zionist attacks on Gaza ever since.

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What now?

It is this blockade and the siege of Gaza that Hamas is now responding to—a siege that has been ongoing for more than 17 years. Hamas is calling their current operation “Al-Aqsa Flood,” as a “strategic track to respond to continued Israeli crimes.”

Whatever the outcome will be, it is no secret that the Muslim ummah is at a crossroads. Hamas has been a thorn in the eye of the Israeli occupation for many years. It is the last armed resistance capable of firing rockets into Israel, and Israel’s plans for a “Grand Israel” cannot succeed as long as there are people who continue to resist.

It is highly likely that Israel will use the Hamas attacks as an excuse to try and completely exterminate the group, once and for all. Whether they succeed or not, ultimately comes down to the mujahidin and ultimately the will of Allah. One thing, however, is for sure: you simply cannot destroy a popular movement with military force. The resistance against the Zionist occupation of Muslim lands is something that lives in all of us.

Israel has been banging the drums of war and desperately trying to control and manipulate the narrative in their favor in an attempt to arouse sympathy and support for Israel within Western populations. This is to curb the outrage that would otherwise undoubtedly be evoked by the full-blown ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Therefore, they have been planting numerous fake stories and accusing Hamas of all kinds of unfounded atrocities so as to stir the general masses up into a war frenzy.

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If they are able to completely dehumanize the Palestinian population and sufficiently desensitize the observers of their plight, then there will effectively be no outcry against the heinous crimes committed against them.

This is a time where Muslims must come together and unite against oppression. It is a battle between the oppressed and the oppressor. It is a battle between ahl al-iman (the people of faith) and ahl al-kufr (the people of unbelief). There is no in between.

If there were ever was a cause that Muslims could unify on and rally behind, this is it. If you do not feel for the Palestinian people, Masjid al-Aqsa, and our Holy sites, you really need to check your heart and your iman (faith).

May Allah make it easy for our Palestinian brothers and sisters, unite their hearts, and help them overcome the coming weeks, months, and years of struggle to purify the Holy Lands from Western occupation. Amin.

٤ فَإِنَّ مَعَ ٱلْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا ٥ إِنَّ مَعَ ٱلْعُسْرِ يُسْرًۭا ٦ فَإِذَا فَرَغْتَ فَٱنصَبْ ٧ وَإِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ فَٱرْغَب

 

So, indeed, with hardship comes ease. Indeed, with hardship, comes ease. So whenever you become free [from obligation], then stand [in Prayer], and to your Lord alone turn in hope. (Qur’an, 94:5–8)

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