The roots of Hamas theology go back to the Islamic theological revolution in the 1930s associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. Islamic ideas were languishing in a pre-modern world mindset. Younger Muslims had started to place Islam on the shelf as a heritage memory that one could celebrate on holidays. Further, the West dominated the Middle East politically and intellectually.
The heritage of Islamic empire building that had led to the ouster of the Jews and Christians had become splintered into nationalistic forms of Islam or even mutated into secularist movements for independence from the European colonial powers.
The Muslim Brotherhood response was a revival of Quran reading and application, a rejection of Western ideologies and politics, and a rising emotional fierceness in religious belief and geopolitics.
The question of Palestine’s character became acute after the Ottoman Empire, which controlled Palestine, fought on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary against the Allies and lost. The British took over control of Palestine and then released its hold into the hands of local Arabic and Jewish hands. The remnants of the Jews and the Arabs in Palestine were joined by a massive influx of new settlers. The Jews came fleeing from Europe and the Palestinians returned from various other Arabic lands. The Arabs were mainly Muslim but also included Christians Druze, and others. In 1948, the Arabs, who rejected the formation of Israel, attacked the Jews, but they lost. Many of them fled or were pushed from Israel into the Palestinian areas like the Gaza Strip. Small towns that had a few hundred people, 90% Arabs and 10% Jews, ballooned up into towns of tens of thousands, almost all Arabs. A small number of Jews fled or were pushed out.
This short, potted history is disputed in almost every way by the various sides of the dispute. Each side presents its “authentic view,” wherein the allegedly definitive facts are outlined. Doubt is treasonous. We are not going to referee this argument.
The Palestinian Arabs have divided between proponents of a secular nationalism like that of the Palestinian Authority that controls the West Bank of the Jordan River (and most Christians out of self-interest lean in this direction) and groups like Hamas which emphasize Islamic nationalism. In Gaza, the Islamists beat the secularists. Hamas is the dominant power there.
You can read for yourself Hamas’ Islamic thinking as contained in their 1988 Covenant. Not all Gazans nor all adherents to Hamas still agree with this covenant. Hamas leaders published a revised charter in 2017 that is a little more secular and flexible. However, no faction in Hamas has gained enough power to repudiate the 1988 declaration. The morally-ordained sensual emotional complex of Hamas adherents seems best represented by the 1988 declaration, even though not all continue to agree on every detail.
So, we are providing an excerpt of the 1988 Covenant for your own reading and understanding of the theological and political sensibilities of Hamas adherents.
Hamas Covenant 1988 (excerpts)
The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement
18 August 1988
In The Name Of The Most Merciful Allah (Introduction)
“Ye are the best nation that hath been raised up unto mankind: ye command that which is just, and ye forbid that which is unjust, and ye believe in Allah.
transgressors. …are smitten with vileness wheresoever they are found; unless they obtain security by entering into a treaty with Allah…” (Al-Imran – verses 109-111).
Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it” (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).
“The Islamic world is on fire. Each of us should pour some water, no matter how little, to extinguish whatever one can without waiting for the others.” (Sheikh Amjad al-Zahawi, of blessed memory).
This Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS), clarifies its picture, reveals its identity…Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious, …until the enemy is vanquished and Allah’s victory is realized.
“Say to them, …praise be unto Allah! I am not an idolator.” (Joseph – verse 107).
Hamas (means) strength and bravery -(according to) Al-Mua’jam al-Wasit: c1. [it is also an acronym Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, which means Islamic Resistance Movement.]
Definition of the Movement
Ideological Starting-Points (Article 1)
The Islamic Resistance Movement: The Movement’s program is Islam. From it, it draws its ideas, ways of thinking and understanding of the universe, life and man. It resorts to it for judgment in all its conduct, and it is inspired by it for guidance of its steps.
The Universality of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Article 7)
The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the links in the chain of the struggle against the Zionist invaders. It goes back to 1939, to the emergence of the martyr Izz al-Din al Kissam and his brethren the fighters, and members of Moslem Brotherhood.
“The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.” (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).
The Slogan of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Article 8)
Allah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Koran its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes.
Strategies and Methods
Strategies of the Islamic Resistance Movement: Palestine Is an Islamic waqf [endowment] (Article 11)
The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf {endowment or gift] consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up.
Peaceful Solutions, Initiatives and International Conferences (Article 13)
Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. …
There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad.
The Role of the Moslem Woman (Article 17)
The Moslem woman has a role no less important than that of the Moslem man in the battle of liberation. She is the maker of men. Her role in guiding and educating the new generations is great.
Woman in the home of the fighting family, rearing the children and embuing them with moral values and thoughts derived from Islam. She has to teach them to perform the religious duties in preparation for the role of fighting awaiting them.
The Role of Islamic Art in the Battle of Liberation (Article 19)
Art has regulations and measures by which it can be determined whether it is Islamic or pre-Islamic (Jahili) art.
The book, the article, the bulletin, the sermon, the thesis, the popular poem, the poetic ode, the song, the play and others, contain the characteristics of Islamic art, then these are among the requirements of ideological mobilization, renewed food for the journey and recreation for the soul.
Article Twenty-Two:
For a long time, the enemies have been planning, skillfully and with precision, for the achievement of what they have attained. They took into consideration the causes affecting the current of events.
With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others.
With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. …With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests.
“O true believers, contract not an intimate friendship with any besides yourselves: they will not fail to corrupt you. They wish for that which may cause you to perish: their hatred hath already appeared from out of their mouths; but what their breasts conceal is yet more inveterate. We have already shown you signs of their ill will towards you, if ye understand.” (The Family of Imran – verse 118).
Our Attitudes Towards:
The Palestinian Liberation Organization (Article 27)
The Palestinian Liberation Organization is the closest to the heart of the Islamic Resistance Movement. [But] Secularism completely contradicts religious ideology. Attitudes, conduct and decisions stem from ideologies.
Followers of Other Religions (Article 31)
The Islamic Resistance Movement is a humanistic movement. It takes care of human rights and is guided by Islamic tolerance when dealing with the followers of other religions. It does not antagonize anyone of them except if it is antagonized by it or stands in its way to hamper its moves and waste its efforts.
Under the wing of Islam, it is possible for the followers of the three religions – Islam, Christianity and Judaism – to coexist in peace and quiet with each other.
It is the duty of the followers of other religions to stop disputing the sovereignty of Islam in this region, because the day these followers should take over there will be nothing but carnage, displacement and terror.
Leaving the circle of struggle with Zionism is high treason, and cursed be he who does that.
The last of our prayers will be praise to Allah, the Master of the Universe.
Source: The Avalon Project, Yale University Law School Library
