Why did Hamas Attack on Israel despite knowing the strong reaction of the enemy?
Palestinian Scholar Allama Muhammad al-Astal explains Hamas attack on Israel, delving into reasons despite expecting a strong enemy response.
Allama Muhammad bin Muhammad al-Astal (Palestinian Islamic Scholar)
I’m not one of those people who come on to ground to respond every controversial conversation that breaks out on social media, because I consider it important to respect academic status and position, and I believe that time should be saved from unhelpful or limited benefits.
A couple of days ago, I was asked by some friends: What is your response to the opinion of the person who says that there is no need to tease the Zionist enemy so that it could not get a chance to attack with a strong reaction.
I will place my feelings on the edge of my silence. In the current situation, there is no peace of mind to answer in detail.
Let me give you only four reasons in this regard.
The first reason:
The enemy is moving much faster than in the past on its agenda of desecrating the Al-Aqsa Mosque, giving it a Jewish identity, and building a temple. To fulfill this agenda, what he used to do in two or three years in the past, he is now completing all that in two to three weeks. At the same time, the humiliation, and harassment of Muslims and imprisonment of the religious scholars of Al-Quds City continues.
Not only this, the activities of Israel have increased so much that now it is preventing people from praying in the Aqsa Mosque, due to these obstacles, Muslims cannot reach the mosque for prayers. About 50 academic circles used to be held inside the mosque, but now they have also been banned for years.
A few days before the Mujahideen operation, about 5,000 Zionists entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque and desecrated it. This has been going on for many days. Such incidents of desecration of the mosque had not been reported in the last 20 years. In response to the desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the growing acts of giving it a Jewish color, the Mujahideen carried out their operation. The name of the battle “Toofan al-Aqsa” shows its purpose.
The second reason:
The enemy has been working on its plan to slowly push us to death for the last 15 years. There is a whole generation of young people among us who have opened their eyes in the midst of this crisis. Most of the young people in their 20s and 30s are living a life with lack of employment, away from every walk of life, they cannot complete their education, they cannot get married, they cannot build a house and they do not get any employment. The result of all this is that all kinds of social problems have spread in society, there is unemployment has been increasing, and the process of marriage has stopped, so understand now that there are endless social and economic problems.
In the past, tens of thousands of young people tried to migrate to Western countries in the hope that they would get some employment opportunities there to live. They wanted to move from one difficulty to another, but in the sea route, not tens, but hundreds of such young people faced death at sea and by fish.
The third reason
The attitude of Israel towards our people who are in the captivity of the enemy is brutal, they are facing such severe torture that it is as if they are entering the jaws of death many times every day.
Imagine, some of them who have been imprisoned in a one-and-a-half-meter cell for 13 years, some prisoners are put in a cell covered with dirt and dirt. They are hit by pain and suffering; the prisoner suffering starts from psychological torture which takes two or three days to clean it, so that the prisoner can stay in it after that. During this time, one’s clothes are removed, and one is also beaten. Then, when the cell is cleaned, the prisoner is transferred to another similar dirty cell so that the same series of torture starts again.
In the recent past, the torturous treatment of prisoners has gone beyond the limits of tolerance. They are beginning to feel that the Ummah has forgotten them, no one is worried about their suffering and their circumstances, and no one even knows what is happening to them.
Under the leadership of Bin Ghafir and others like him within the Zionist regime, the life of the prisoners has been made hell in such a way that it has become practically unbearable for them.
For the past few months, the voices have been increasing that the struggle is necessary for the release of these prisoners and their freedom from this hell.
Add to this misery the suffering of our captive sisters. I don’t want to go into the details of the way our sisters are being humiliated, their religion, their pride, and their dignity.
In such a phase, the Mujahideen carried out an operation to stop this endless series of atrocities.
The fourth reason:
It has been clarified by the resistance circles that in the light of the intelligence they had obtained, it was revealed that the enemy was preparing a full-scale attack against Gaza to destroy it. Therefore, the resistance force decided that the enemy should not be allowed to attack suddenly, this is the only way to prevent Israel’s goals as it wants to achieve it by attacking suddenly, that action should start suddenly from the (Palestinian) resistance force itself, not from the enemy.
Therefore, the Mujahideen took full action keeping in mind many objectives and goals at the same time.
We have passed through similar experiences back in 2014. Even then, when the resistance force realized that the enemy was preparing an attack to destroy Gaza, they targeted the enemy with tens of missiles within two days without formally declaring war so they were forced to enter the war before their plan, and suddenly attack the enemy that wanted to fulfil its goals (like killing of important leaders or arresting hundreds of mujahideen in the midst of their training exercises), could not be accomplished.
I have described these four reasons in a hurry between the blast sounds by warships and missiles.
Then, I would also like to say that those standing against the enemy are better aware of their situations, whoever is not aware of these situations should find out the correct situation before forming any opinion. That’s what wisdom requires. And there is no restriction on the person who is away from the country but he cannot give a fatwa (decree) on the country’s affairs, it is necessary that first he should use the possible resources of information because this is a necessary condition for the fatwa.
I am writing these lines with great suffocation. When there is a conflict, we should increase cooperation and not shoot arrows of criticism and accountability. Those who believe that the narrative of the oppressive rulers who rely on the Zionist narrative is correct, they cannot be satisfied with these explanations, but they will be ready to reject anyone who tries to satisfy them so that his point is considered correct. So there is no great point in engaging in such debates.
Over the years, we have seen such onlookers of whom Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) had already told us about them. We have also been apprised in the Islamic teachings that those who stand on the front will not be harmed by their opponents on the command of Allah, nor will those who watch and leave them helpless.
I am well aware that some people do not feel sad that the entire nation is in the quagmire of disgrace, humiliation, poverty, and oppression, they are chained to imprisonment, the sanctity of the Aqsa Mosque is being violated, our prisoners are being treated brutally. According to them, these are all natural and normal things, one should learn to live with them all. I don’t know where the falsehood is that will allow you to try to overthrow it, and then remain silent on it, and treat you with love and kindness apparently.
The only supplication to Allah is that we are weak, help us, we are needy and seek Your bounty, have mercy on us, we are humble, give us dominance and strength, we are two or two from disgrace, give us honor and power, save us from the favor of those who run away from us and any rumor monger.
Allah is going to prevail over His affairs, but most people do not know this fact. (Al Quran – Yousuf: 21)
Sunday 30-Rabi-ul-Awwal-1445 AH,
Al-Muwafaq 15-10-2023
Toofan Al-Aqsa – The Ninth Day
Translated by Nasir Taimoori
Profile
Muhammad bin Muhammad al-Astal is a Palestinian Islamic Scholar, and author of several Arabic books like Ribāṭ wa-aḥkāmuhu fī al-fiqh al-Islāmī, dirāsah fiqhīyah muqāranah, (The Ribāṭ and Its Regulations in Islamic Jurisprudence: A Comparative Jurisprudential Study), Mun Aasha Aala Shai-in Mata Alai-he (Whoever Lives On Something, Dies On It), Siraj-ul Ghurba Ela Manazil-e-Suoda-I (The Lamp of Strangers to the Homes of the Happy)
