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Gaza’s top Islamic scholar issues fatwa against October attack

Gaza’s top Islamic scholar issues fatwa against October attack

Gaza’s most prominent Islamic scholar has issued a rare and powerful fatwa condemning the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked a devastating war in the Palestinian territory.

Professor Dr Salman al-Dayya, former dean of the Faculty of Sharia and Law at the Hamas-affiliated Islamic University of Gaza, is one of the most respected religious authorities in the region, so his legal opinion carries considerable weight among Gaza’s two million people. predominantly Sunni Muslims.

A fatwa is a non-binding Islamic legal ruling by a respected religious scholar, usually based on the Qur’an or Sunnah – the sayings and practices of the Prophet Muhammad.

Dr Daya’s fatwa, which was published in a detailed six-page document, criticizes Hamas for what it calls “violations of Islamic principles governing jihad.”

Jihad in Arabic means “struggle”, and in Islam it can be a personal struggle for spiritual improvement or a military struggle against non-believers.

Dr. Daya adds: “If the basics, causes or conditions of jihad are not followed, it should be avoided so as not to destroy people’s lives. This is something that is easy for politicians in our country to guess, so the attack had to be avoided.”

For Hamas, the fatwa represents an embarrassing and potentially damaging criticism, especially because the group often justifies its attacks on Israel on religious grounds to win support from Arab and Muslim communities.

As a result of the October 7 attack, hundreds of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip invaded southern Israel. About 1,200 people were killed and another 251 taken hostage.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign to destroy Hamas, in which more than 43,400 people were killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Dr Daya argues that the significant civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip, as well as the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and humanitarian disaster that followed the October 7 attack, mean that it is in direct contradiction to the teachings of Islam.

Hamas, he said, had failed to fulfill its obligations to “keep militants away from the homes of defenseless (Palestinian) civilians and their safe havens, and to ensure safety and security as far as possible in various aspects of life… security, economics, health and education, and also accumulate enough supplies for them.”

Dr. Daya points to verses in the Qur’an and Sunnah that set strict conditions for waging jihad, including the need to avoid actions that provoke excessive and disproportionate reactions from the enemy.

His fatwa emphasizes that, according to Islamic law, a military raid should not provoke a reaction that exceeds the intended benefits of the action.

He also stresses that Muslim leaders have a responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of civilians, including by providing food, medicine and shelter to those not involved in the fighting.

“Human life is more precious to God than Mecca,” says Dr. Daya.

His opposition to the October 7 attack is particularly important given his deep influence in the Gaza Strip, where he is seen as a key cleric and an outspoken critic of Islamist movements including Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

His moderate Salafi beliefs place him in direct opposition to Hamas’s approach to armed resistance and its ties to Shiite-ruled Iran.

Salafis are fundamentalists who strive to follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad and the first generations that followed him.

Dr. Daya has consistently advocated the creation of an Islamic caliphate strictly adhering to Islamic law rather than the political party-based systems advocated by Hamas and other groups.

“Our role model is Prophet Muhammad, who founded a nation and did not create political parties that divide the nation. That’s why parties are prohibited in Islam,” he said in a sermon he delivered at a mosque several years ago.

It has also denounced extremism, speaking out against jihadist groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, and has used all of its platforms to issue fatwas on various social and political issues ranging from commercial deals to social disputes over marriage and divorce. and ending with the behavior of political violence.

The fatwa intensifies internal debate within the Gaza Strip and the wider Arab world over the moral and legal implications of Hamas’ actions and is likely to further divide Palestinian society over the use of armed resistance in the ongoing conflict with Israel.

Sheikh Ashraf Ahmed, one of Dr Daya’s students who was forced to leave his home in Gaza City last year and flee to south Gaza with his wife and nine children, told the BBC: “Our scientist (Dr Daya) refused to leave your home. homes in the northern Gaza Strip, despite fears of Israeli airstrikes. He decided to fulfill his religious duty by giving a legal opinion on the attack.”

Ahmed called the fatwa the most influential legal decision of the historical moment. “This is a carefully researched document that reflects Daya’s commitment to Islamic jurisprudence,” he said.