Who was Izz ad-Din al-Qassam?

Preacher and fighter in Syria

According to Yaron Friedman, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam was born in 1882 in the town of Jableh on the Syrian coast, to a family of clerics. In his youth, he was sent to study for about ten years at Al-Azhar University in Egypt, where he specialized in Islamic law and the Arabic language. When he returned to Syria, he became a well-known preacher. He did not only deal with religious matters, but also called for jihad against European colonialism, for example against the Italians who invaded Libya. Friedman explains that his motivation was a combination of pan-Islamism and Arab nationalism. During World War I, he enlisted in the Ottoman army and gained military experience. After the war, with the establishment of the French Mandate in Syria, he rebelled against the French, organized gangs, and carried out attacks against them. The French issued a death sentence against him, and around 1920 he fled his country.

The move to Haifa

Al-Qassam fled to Palestine and settled in Haifa. According to Friedman, he was appointed imam of the Al-Istiqlal Mosque, which was then being built in the lower city. The Supreme Muslim Council, headed by Hajj Amin al-Husseini, supported his appointment, possibly to keep a potential religious rival away from Jerusalem. In Haifa, al-Qassam continued to preach against Western imperialism, now in the form of the British Mandate, and added a new enemy, the Zionist movement. In parallel with his work as an imam, he worked as a teacher and was appointed registrar of marriages and divorces for the Waqf. This role, Friedman explains, allowed him to visit villages and neighborhoods, build personal connections, and recruit young men for his cause.

Forming terror cells

Friedman describes how in the late 1920s, al-Qassam began to form clandestine cells in the Haifa area. He mainly recruited poor laborers, unemployed men, and peasants who had lost their lands after they were sold by landowners to the Zionist movement. He gave them a religious education while inciting them to violent struggle. His cells, known as “al-Kaff al-Aswad” (the Black Hand), carried out murders and attacks against Jews and damaged infrastructure in areas like Yagur, Nahalal, and Atlit. However, Friedman emphasizes that his activities were not very successful, and he only managed to recruit a few dozen fighters.

The move to Samaria and his death

Al-Qassam aspired to organize a nationwide revolt, but failed to gain support from the Palestinian leadership. Hajj Amin al-Husseini, who saw him as a rival, feared a harsh British response and avoided cooperation. Consequently, al-Qassam moved his activities to the Samaria region, mainly to Jenin. In 1935, after one of his men murdered a Jewish policeman in the British police service, the British launched a large-scale manhunt. They located him and his men in the village of Ya’bad, west of Jenin. In the ensuing battle, al-Qassam and several of his men were killed. He was buried in a Muslim cemetery in Nesher, near Haifa.

Why did Hamas choose al-Qassam?

Friedman explains that al-Qassam’s death turned him into a martyr and a symbol. David Ben-Gurion even compared him to the Palestinians’ Trumpeldor. However, his memory was almost forgotten until Hamas revived it with the organization’s founding in 1987. Why did Hamas choose him and not a more central figure like Hajj Amin al-Husseini? According to Friedman, al-Husseini’s image was tainted by his collaboration with Nazi Germany. Al-Qassam, in contrast, provided a “purer” model: a cleric who took up arms, combined religious faith with armed struggle, and died as a hero in battle against the British and the Zionists. His figure was a perfect fit for the ideology of Hamas, which combines nationalism and jihad.