Abbas’ advisor urges Holy War in Israel’s city of Ashkelon
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “Your best Jihad is Ribat (i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic), and your best Ribat is Ashkelon. Where is Ashkelon? Ashkelon is a city in Palestine (sic., an Israeli coastal city), and the land of Palestine is a land of Ribat and Jihad until Judgement Day. His [Prophet Muhammad’s] dear followers came while carrying out Jihad for Allah to Palestine and Greater Syria, and they liberated it from the Byzantine occupation. Saladin liberated it from the Crusader occupation. And today it will be liberated [again], Allah willing. Palestine will return and be liberated, sooner or later.”
[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Aug. 9, 2024]
This statement was part of a Friday sermon Al-Habbash gave at the grand mosque in the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, Friday, Aug. 8, 2024.
The quote “Your best Jihad is Ribat, and your best Ribat is in Ashkelon” is from a Hadith from The Great Lexicon of Al-Tabarani, No. 11138.