Abbas’ advisor: Islam’s religious war to destroy Israel has started

Abbas' advisor: Islam's religious war to destroy Israel has started

• Israel is the "culture of Satan"

• Conflict between Palestinians and Israel is:
  "Between Islam and the enemies of Islam"
  "Between the Muslims and the enemies of Muslims"
  "Between the Islamic culture and the culture of Satan"
  "Between good and evil"
  "Between Allah's project vs. Satan's project"
   
• PA Mufti: "The harming of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque (i.e., including the Temple Mount and the Western Wall) and the holy sites and the desecration of their sanctity will certainly lead us to ominous results... those who hold the beliefs will not be silent and will not accept them being harmed... We will not allow any harming of this noble belief, for which we are ready to die."

The most important religious figure in the Palestinian Authority and the closest to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, continues to tell Palestinians that the conflict with Israel is an uncompromising religious war for Islam against Israel and Jews. Mahmoud Al-Habbash, who was appointed by Abbas as his personal advisor on Islam and the PA's Supreme Shari'ah Judge, recently stated that conflict today with Israel is "The Battle of History between Islam and the enemies of Islam." Israelis/Jews are the "enemies of Islam," "enemies of Muslims," have a "culture of Satan," and represent "evil." Worse yet, Al-Habbash explained that the current battle is not just another battle on behalf of Islam. It is the ultimate battle described in the Quran as the "final promise," leading to great destruction for the "Children of Israel." It should be noted that Al-Habbash teaches this message of epic religious war to a very religious Palestinian Muslim population. Polls consistently find that 95% of Palestinians saying that religion is "important" for them.

While depicting the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis not as a political conflict but as one between Islam and "the culture of Satan," Al-Habbash referred to "the final promise." "The final promise" is mentioned in the Quran in Sura 17 where Allah addresses the Jews, referred to as "the Children of Israel," and can be seen as referring to either a battle of the past or a battle in the future in which Jews experience "[total] destruction". (See below).

In his talk, Al-Habbash explicitly said that he and others interpret this as referring to a battle yet to come, and the battle with Israel today over Jerusalem is "the spark of the battle," meaning, the beginning of this war of destruction:

As documented by Palestinian Media Watch, Al-Habbash has previously explained clearly that he views the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis as one between "good" and "evil, and that Israel represents "Satan's project":

Accordingly, when Israeli MPs recently were granted access to the Temple Mount, Al-Habbash described this as "defilement" of the Muslim holy sites.

Echoing this hate speech, the PA Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, called on Palestinians last month to come to Jerusalem "to stop the occupation and its settlers who are doing as they please at the Al-Aqsa Mosque." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 20, 2018]

The Mufti "warned" of "the outbreak of a religious war that is liable to annihilate the entire region," and stressed that "the Al-Aqsa Mosque is the sole right of the Muslims." Numerous times both Hussein and Al-Habbash have said that they include the Temple Mount and Western Wall when they refer to the Al-Aqsa Mosque as being "only for Muslims."

Two days later, the Mufti announced that Palestinians are "ready to die" for the Al-Aqsa Mosque:

Similarly, Mahmoud Abbas has stated more than once that Jews "defile" the Al-Aqsa Mosque and has called Palestinians to protect it against their "filthy feet."

At times, most often when speaking to foreign audiences, Al-Habbash will contradict himself and claim that the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel is political and not religious and then blames Israel for turning it into a religious war:

Or Al-Habbash will proclaim that Palestinians are "not against the Jewish religion" but only against "the occupation":

"We were never supporters of hatred, and were not enemies of peace. We did not exploit anyone, did not attack anyone, and did not deny anyone's right... and here - what we have said and are saying and will continue to say - we do not resist the occupation- we do not resist the occupiers because they are Jewish. No, we resist occupiers whatever their religion may be. You know, if the occupation was Muslim Arab we would resist. What more do you want? We are not against the Jewish religion."

However, these statements are in stark contrast to other statements by Al-Habbash.

About "the final promise" mentioned above:
The following text from the Quran, in a chapter dealing with "the Children of Israel" and the destruction of the Temples, the second half of verse 17:7 can be understood in two ways:

Due to the ambiguity of the Arabic "idha ja'a," it can be understood as either a past or future battle. It can mean either "when the final promise came," or "when the final promise will come." In addition, the word "al-ahera" could mean "the final promise" or "the other promise." Many religious scholars understand the verb as past tense referring to the destruction of the Second Temple in which case it refers to history and has no implications for the current conflict. Some understand it as future tense, meaning that the conflict with the Jews continues and refers to a future destruction of the Jews. As shown above, Abbas' advisor Al-Habbash is teaching Palestinians that the second interpretation is correct: That Islam's religious war against Jews continues, and in a final war, which has already started, Israel will experience "[total] destruction."

The following are longer excerpts of the PA Mufti's and Al-Habbash's statements:

2007 Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip - Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah won the 2005 Palestinian Authority Presidential election. However, Hamas won the 2006 parliamentary elections in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank, with a majority of 74 out of 132 seats, to Fatah's 45 seats. Fatah's rule of the PA Presidency and Hamas' rule of the PA government led to friction and eventually armed conflict between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas defeated Fatah militarily in the Gaza Strip in 2007, and since then Hamas has ruled in Gaza while the PA continues to rule the PA areas in the West Bank under Fatah.

Muhammad Hussein also holds the following roles: Palestinian Supreme Fatwa Council Chairman, and Deputy Secretary-General and acting Secretary-General of the PLO Popular National Conference of Jerusalem