In an October 20, 2023 article in the Qatari daily Al-Arab, journalist Mansour Al-Mutlaq wrote that “what is happening in Palestine” (i.e., Hamas’ October 7, 2023 large-scale terrorist attack on Israel and the war that broke out in its wake) is the fulfillment of Allah’s words in Surah 17 of the Quran, reports MEMRI.
Some Muslims interpret certain verses in this surah as conveying a divine promise regarding Palestine: the Jews will come from all over the world to settle in Palestine, and will sow corruption there and gain power, but will ultimately be defeated by the servants of Allah who will humiliate them and recapture the Al-Aqsa mosque. Based on this interpretation, Hamas officials have envisioned a war against Israel called “the Promise of the Hereafter”, involving the Palestinians and other Arab countries and organizations, who will together eliminate Israel. Al-Mutlaq expresses hope that Allah’s promise for the defeat of the Jews in Palestine will come to pass in the near future.
It should be noted that Qatar has for years financed Hamas’ military buildup and harbored its leaders. Qatar is also enabling Hamas’ current war against Israel. Hamas’ leaders are managing this war from Doha and conveying their messages via Qatar’s Al-Jazeera television channel, while the Qatari media expresses unreserved support for Hamas and its terrorist actions.
The following are translated excerpts from Al-Mutlaq’s article:
“The Arabs are stricken with sorrow about what is happening in Palestine, [but] at the same time hope has been revived, for the words of Allah, may He be exalted, have come true: ‘And We decreed for the Children of Israel in the Book: You will surely work corruption in the land twice, and you will ascend to great heights. So, when it was time to fulfil the promise for the first of these, We sent against you some servants of Ours possessed of great might in war, and they penetrated the innermost parts of your dwellings, and it was a promise fulfilled. Then We gave you a turn against them, and aided you with wealth and children, and made you larger in numbers (Quran 17:4-6)’.
“According to my understanding of these verses, and on the basis of what religious scholars say, the past and the present events are nothing but divine wisdom that Allah articulated [there], in Surat Al-Israh [Surah 17 of the Quran]. If the promise regarding the first time has already been fulfilled, as the verse states (‘it was a promise fulfilled’), then the promise regarding the second and last time is ‘the other promise,’ which Allah explains in detail [in the next verse of the surah]: ‘Now, if you do good, it is for the sake of your own souls; and if you commit evil, it will only harm yourselves. So, when the time comes for the other promise, they will cover your faces with shame and they will enter the Mosque as they entered it the first time, and they will utterly destroy all that they conquered (Quran 17:7)’.
“This means that the Muslims will enter the temple in Jerusalem [i.e., Al-Aqsa] again, and the loftiness of this sinful entity [Israel] that worked corruption in the land will come to an end. This is a divine promise which will inevitably be fulfilled.
“In spite of the tragedies and the deep grief for the martyrs of Palestine, I am hopeful, because I realize that we are in the last phase of the gradual divine plan that threatens those who work corruption in the land. For Allah says in His Book, ‘And when the promise of the Hereafter comes to pass, We shall bring you all together’ (Quran 17:104).
“Everyone knows that the Children of Israel were scattered among many nations on earth and lived in many countries across the world. There was almost no country without a Jewish neighborhood or a Jewish colony until the so-called Balfour Declaration, which promised to establish a national home for the Jews.
“This is a fulfilment of His words, ‘and when the promise of the Hereafter comes to pass, We shall bring you all together.’ This is what we now see in the land of Palestine, since ‘We shall bring you all together’ means as a mixed assembly, a blend of all sorts: Jews from Arab countries, from Europe, from Asia and from other places.
“What now remains [to be seen] is the timing of this promise, which, I hope, will be soon, for Allah never breaks His promise”.
Meanwhile, according to MEMRI, on a December 12, 2022 show on Al-Masirah TV, which is run by Iranian proxy Yemeni Houthis, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, senior official of mega-terror outfit Hamas said that Hamas has reached a “phase of deterrence” in which it can “defend” occupied Palestine. He also added that after the “Battle of the Promise of the Hereafter”, there will be no oppression, no Zionism, and no “treacherous Christianity”.
Al-Zahar said, “the entire 510 million square kilometers of Planet Earth will come under [a system] where there is no injustice, no oppression, no treachery, no Zionism, no treacherous Christianity, and no killings and crimes, like those being committed against the Palestinians, and against the Arabs in all the Arab countries – in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and other countries”.
Al Qaeda says jihad against Israel is Muslim obligation
On November 3, 2023, Al-Sahab, the media arm of Al-Qaeda Central Command, released an article addressing Islamic scholars and urging them to issue a ruling (fatwa) to incite Muslims to join the fighting against Israel, reports MEMRI.
In the past few days, the same media outlets released several articles calling for lone-wolf attacks in support of Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza.
Titled, “O Muslim Scholars – Join The Caravan”, author Assim Al-Mughrabi cited prominent figures such as the Palestinian Abdullah Azzam, jihadi leader and ideologue who deemed jihad to restore “Palestine and Andalusia” as a religious obligation that falls on every Muslim.
The article further claimed that recent statements issued by Cairo-based Al-Azhar Fatwa Center echoed the same sentiment.
The article welcomed statements made by some Muslim clerics around the world who called the fight against Israel and in support of Hamas’s operation, codenamed “Al-Aqsa Flood”, as a duty upon Muslims. The article praised fatwas issued by Islamic scholars in Tunisia’s Al-Zaytona University, and others in Morocco, Mauritania, Pakistani “subcontinent” and east Asia.
The piece also praised a statement from Egypt’s Al-Azhar Fatwa Center, issued on October 18, in which the Center stated that its considered the Hamas attack on October 7 on Israeli civilian a justified attack, saying Israeli civilians are “occupiers”.
The Cairo-based Al-Azhar, a leading center of religious learning and the supreme source of religious authority in the Sunni Muslim world, has issued a statement congratulating Hamas and the other Gazan factions on their October 7 attack, in which hundreds of armed militants raided Israeli territory, murdered 1,400 people, kidnapped over 100, and wounded over 2,000.
The article also claimed that the Al-Azhar statement urged the Islamic nation to re-assess its relations with the “arrogant” western powers, Europe, and the US, and to follow the footsteps of the mujahideen in Somalia and Afghanistan:
“We also praise the statement of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, which summed up the call of this jihadi caravan that set out to confront the tyrants of the East and West forty years ago. Al-Azhar Al-Sharif urged the Islamic nation to make a radical review of its relationship with the West, the arrogant Euro-American, and confront them, repel their attack and to follow the model of the Mujahideen in Somalia and Afghanistan”, said the article.
It continued: “Catching up with the jihad convoy in Palestine and every Muslim frontline is the destiny of this enlightened nation, and for this reason, the one [who] gets the divine honor to join this caravan should call upon his nation with wisdom and good action and pray for their success and guidance”.
