This article is indignant about this plan to have jihadis preach the Friday sermons in mosques, but that indignation is unlikely to stop the plan. And in any case, the indignation is tardy and misplaced. The mosques in Gaza have been preaching jihad terrorism and hatred for Israel for years now; the only difference this will really make is the identity of the speaker. “Hamas soldiers to preach in Gaza’s mosques,” by Orouba Othman for al-Akhbar, April 3:
Gaza – Gaza had been inundated with a flood of disciplinary campaigns initiated by the resigned [Hamas] government. But this time, it has planned a special type of campaign. In the past, the government had employed its security apparatus to chase after individuals wearing baggy pants, or with unusual haircuts. Today, the security apparatus is intruding on something else that is supposed to be sacred and kept away from militarism and security matters.
Recently, the Political and Moral Guidance Committee of the Ministry of Interior and National Security launched a campaign titled “Officers on the Podiums of God’s Messenger.” According to the campaign, officers and soldiers will deliver the Friday sermons from mosque podiums in their military uniforms.
This is a peculiar and extraordinary situation, especially since so many are vocalizing the need for sheikhs to stop intervening in the political and personal sphere. But the Interior Ministry came up with this campaign, which creates a confusing role for the military, and opens the door to its blatant involvement in religious affairs. Unarmed soldiers will replace religious preachers inside mosques and will take up arms outside of them to provide protection and security.Unarmed soldiers will replace religious preachers inside mosques and will take up arms outside of them to provide protection and security.
The Political and Moral Guidance Committee’s justification centers on breaking the barrier between the people and the security forces and improving their image. This is assuming that fear of the security apparatus could be broken by a sermon in a mosque.“Interior [Ministry] officers are part of the clergy and part of the security regime and intellectual security,” explained Khalil Abu Julaidan, the committee’s director in Rafah. “The police and security cadre’s work is not limited to policing the homeland. It also extends to intellectual and moral protection and controlling the prevalent culture inside society.” Abu Julaidan’s comments hint that the security regime will be given more powers to permeate holy places, which should safe from the security treatment and political control.
Surprisingly, community groups are not yet aware of the significance of the dangerous course taken by Gaza’s Interior Ministry. Even human rights activists, who sounded the alarm when al-Aqsa University imposed “sharia dress” on its female students and banned women from smoking hookah in public, were not disturbed by the issue and have not yet adopted a clear position.
Speaking to Al-Akhbar, Issam Younis, the head of the Mizan Human Rights Center, justified not releasing any statement on the issue by saying he receives a large number of cases and complaints related to Hamas imposing their religious views on people’s personal lives. The latest such undertaking was when the Health Ministry issued a circular obliging women employees to wear a head cover, but its implementation was hindered by rights groups. Younis pointed out that human rights organizations have not yet received any complaints about the new campaign, saying that people have not yet grasped its serious repercussions.
A few Palestinians, however, got the message and delved into its content and implementation. “It seems we are in the process of going back to before modern civilization,” some said. “We are trying to take away the control that sheikhs have on our modern civil life, which is the civil state established by the Prophet. How can we accept a soldier becoming a mosque preacher? Shouldn’t the preachers correct the politicians? Or should it be the other way around?”
But it is unlikely for the campaign to give rise to the militarization of mosques, writer and analyst Akram Atallah opined. “The campaign aims to instil the ideology of Hamas in all aspects of life,” he said, “especially since Gaza’s ruling movement believes security is its lifeblood.” He maintained that Hamas associates all its actions with a religious dimension, leading it to muddle the issues and fail to separate between preaching and security. Atallah rejected linking religious work with security, especially in light of calls to separate religious organizations from civil life….
duh_swami says
None of that matters much. Those people have been completely and utterly brained washed with Islamic hate soap. The problem with that is, they can’t rinse it off. There are only two ways to remove it, a wire brush, or apostasy. I don’t expect the pious ‘Palestinian’ to do either any time soon. So, according to experts on the subject. ‘if you like your hate, you can keep your hate’. ‘Period’.
‘if you like your Imam, you can keep your Imam’. ‘Period’. Well, it is better than the wire brush, isn’t it?
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
I guess when Prez Dubya said a tiny minority of extremists hijacked Islam which is a religion of peace… he meant Moslems living under the colonial yoke of the Israeli Jews.
This mujahadin-as-preacher program at least connects the dots between the scriptures and the murderers. That’ll be a real eye opener to the average Infidel. No, wait a minute, this won’t be reported to the masses, that would be in poor taste and could cause anger and riots.
marc says
Some years ago i see a Docu. where the muslims prayed outside because they don´t wanted to hear politics in the mosque,also this days i saw a docu. where a 16 year old girl sayed that when the hamas go nobody will wear a burqua anymore(but i think she forget the salafist groups…).They hate it that everything is forbidden,the same you can see in Iran,the mosques are empty.
Jay Boo says
Just what the world needs
Jihadists – Imams – and a mosque filled with bunch of Muslims putting on a DISPLAY
Veracious_one says
“Unarmed soldiers will replace religious preachers inside mosques and will take up arms outside of them to provide protection and security.”
to protect themselves from other Muslims…..
elisheva14 says
Anyone who believes that this “peaceful” religion was hijacked by extremists can see how Hamas views their Religion and Jihad as equivalent. They are open about their violent intentions. Only a fool would believe anything else ever.