Mass wedding celebration, courtesy Hamas
According to Hamas, marriage is like jihad not (necessarily) because it is full of “struggle,” violence, and perpetual animosity between the Dar al-Husband and the Dar al-Wife, but rather because it begets children, who become jihadis and “martyrs.” Hamas: always pragmatic.
“For war widows, Hamas recruits army of husbands,” by Taghreed El-Khodary for the International Herald Tribune, October 31, 2008 :
GAZA: The grooms were resplendent in white shirts while the brides all wore black. At a sports stadium one recent October evening, thousands of Palestinians “” 300 newly married couples along with relatives and friends “” gathered for a mass wedding celebration, the 10th here this year courtesy of Hamas.
Hamas, the militant Islamist group that controls Gaza, has been observing a truce with Israel since June, allowing its underground fighters to resurface but leaving them without much to do. At the same time, hundreds of the group’s women have been recently widowed, their husbands having been killed either in confrontations with Israel or in the fighting last year between Hamas and its secular rival, Fatah.
Taking advantage of the pause in violence, the Hamas leaders have turned to matchmaking, bringing together single fighters and widows, and providing dowries and wedding parties for the many here who cannot afford such trappings of matrimony.
“Marriage is the same as jihad,” or holy war, said Muhammad Yousef, one recently married member of the Qassam Brigades, the Hamas underground. “With marriage, you are producing another generation that believes in resistance.”…