Hamas Delenda Est
Islamic Leaders Must Help Destroy Hamas
On October 7, the world witnessed scenes of Jews being murdered in the most horrific ways since the Holocaust: innocents tortured or burned alive, and infants beheaded. Incredibly, demonstrators at American universities and around the world are protesting in favor of Hamas, the perpetrator of these crimes. Perhaps they’re just following the lead of Biden Administration official, Robert Malley, who recommended engaging with Hamas, claiming it “may do things that we consider to belong to a different realm of rationality, but within their own system it’s often very logical.”
Hamas is an organization founded on anti-Semitic myths, which are as bizarre as they are poisonous. Its original “covenant” claims Jews have maliciously manipulated the course of world history through secret organizations like the Freemasons and…wait for it…the Rotary Club and the Lions! The covenant also denounces peaceful solutions, looking forward to when Islam will “obliterate” Israel.
If that isn’t enough to dissuade pro-Hamas protestors, this might be: Hamas was already condemned by Islamic clerics in March 2023 for its violation of Islamic principles. The Islamic Fatwa Council, which includes senior clerics from all the major branches of Islam, condemned Hamas because of “atrocities” committed against its own people. It issued a fatwa (a religious-legal ruling) accusing Hamas of torture and other human rights abuses, “violating the laws of the Holy Quran.” As a result, it declared that it is “prohibited to pray for, join, support, finance, or fight on behalf of Hamas.” That’s right: progressive protestors are supporting an organization that was not only founded in antisemitism but has also been denounced by Islamic clerics for un-Islamic human rights violations.
The Islamic Fatwa Council should re-iterate its condemnation of Hamas in light of Hamas’s recent atrocities. The Quran provides ample support for such a condemnation; it clearly prohibits killing non-combatants. For example, Quran 2:190 proclaims: “Fight in the cause of Allah only against those who fight you, but do not transgress. Verily, Allah does not like transgressors.”[i] Sayings (hadiths) attributed to the Prophet Muhammad also forbid attacking non-combatants. According to one of these sayings, Muhammad decreed: “Verily, the worst of people in insolence are those who strike at whoever did not strike them, a man who kills those who did not fight him.”
Hamas has repeatedly violated Islamic principles. A key Islamic tenet, known as hisbah, compels Muslims to “enjoin what is good” and correct what is wrong. It is time for the Islamic leaders to step up and do that, by helping Israel destroy Hamas.
Jens Heycke is a scholar of early Islamic history and author of “Out of the Melting Pot, Into the Fire”
[i] A more precise translation of the Arabic word for “transgress” in this verse is: “exceeding the limits in aggression” or “committing brutal excesses,” i.e., exactly the sort of war crimes Hamas recently committed.
I had never heard of the Islamic Fatwa Council and surprised that they prohibit supporting Hamas. Heartening. Glad I read this. I will do further research.