Hamas Founder Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Yassin

Sheikh Mujahid Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin “Abu Muhammad” was born in Palestine, in the village of Al-Joura, Ashkelon district, in June 1936, and grew up in a well-to-do religious family working in agriculture and fishing, his father died when he did not exceed five years of age.

The Sheikh was subjected to a painful accident at the age of sixteen, which led to his physical paralysis, as he was practicing gymnastics on the shore of the Gaza Sea with his peers in mid-July of 1952 when he fell on his neck, which broke vertebrae of the spine, to keep Yassin struggling with this paralysis until his martyrdom.

Study and work

Yassin began his school life in the village of Al-Joura, studying until the fourth grade of primary school, then dropped out of school for three consecutive years, due to the extreme poverty that affected his family after emigration, which prompted him to work to contribute to supporting his family with his older brothers.

He then completed his primary education at Imam Al-Shafi’i School in Gaza, preparatory school at Al-Rimal School, which is known today as Al-Carmel School, and then secondary school at Palestine School, from which he obtained his high school diploma in June 1958.

He was appointed as a teacher of Arabic language and Islamic education in government schools on the fourth of October in the year in which he obtained the high school diploma after his success in the test held for more than one thousand five hundred applicants for the teaching job, and after the governor’s adviser Mahmoud Shehab refused to appoint him because of his physical weakness, the ruler insisted on appointing him, reasoning that he had a strong determination to complete his studies, does he not deserve to be appointed as a teacher.

Yassin studied high school again in 1964 to join Ain Shams University in the English Department in Egypt, but he spent only one year there, because he was prevented from entering Egyptian territory under the pretext of his Islamic activity, as a result of which the Egyptian authorities arrested him in the midst of the arrests to which the Muslim Brotherhood was subjected in 1965.

Family life

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin married in 1961, he had two sons, but they died quickly, and then God blessed him with three sons and eight daughters.

Yassin lived with his family in the Beach Camp in Gaza City after several movements between Gaza and Al-Wusta, to settle in the Al-Sabra area near the Islamic Complex Mosque in Gaza until his death.

Features

Sheikh Yassin was distinguished by many features that accompanied him throughout his life despite the different conditions he lived inside and outside the Zionist prisons, most notably:

• Noble morals, the most important of which are: the capacity of the chest in his good reception of people and the pursuit of meeting their needs and solving their problems, and asceticism in the world despite the offers of the world that were made to him to improve the construction of his simple house, and a sense of humor, and spending for the sake of God despite his limited income.

• The strong will and determination represented in his determination to complete the study, resist the occupier, call to God Almighty, and live for others despite the many diseases that befell him, especially quadriplegia.

• Wisdom in managing the Islamic organization and missing opportunities for its enemies for the sake of the Palestinian cause, which requires national unity in the face of the Zionist occupation.

• Sharpness of insight in reading the course of matters concerning the Palestinian cause at all levels, and dealing with it in a balanced manner, which enabled it to achieve many successes for the benefit of the Palestinian people and their just cause.

• The firmness of the position in order to win the approval of God Almighty by calling for His righteous approach, not giving up an inch of the soil of dear Palestine, and fighting corruption and corrupters on earth, whatever the consequences and consequences of that.

Culture

The culture of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin has emerged in many scientific fields, the most important of which are:

• Islamic culture: He finished memorizing the Holy Quran in 1990 inside the occupation prisons, and reviewed many books of interpretations, Islamic doctrine, hadiths of the Prophet, jurisprudence and its origins, in addition to many intellectual and educational advocacy books.

• Linguistic culture: He mastered the Arabic language, which is the basis of rhetoric in calling to God Almighty, so he worked as a teacher for it, in addition to the remedial lessons that he gave free of charge after school.

• Historical culture: Interested in reading history books from their original sources because of their great importance to the present and future of peoples.

• Organizational culture: He excelled in organizing Islamic blocs, establishing educational guidance institutions, equipping security and military groups to resist the Zionist occupation, and how to deal with organizations to achieve successes in the Palestinian cause.

Milestones in his life

Sheikh Yassin has dedicated himself for the sake of his religion and his country, so his whole life was important positions and stations, most notably:

• He was arrested for a month by the Egyptian authorities in December 1965 on charges of Islamic activity and possession of the book The Creation of the Muslim.

• He was arrested by the Zionist occupation forces in 1984 on charges of possessing weapons, and sentenced to 13 years in prison, of which only eleven months have passed, as he was released as part of a prisoner exchange deal that took place between the entity and the Popular Front for the Investigation of Palestine – General Command on 20/5/1985.

• He founded with his brothers the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, and announced its launch on December 14, 1987 with the aim of resisting the Zionist occupation and liberating the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

• Arrested on the eighteenth of May 1989 as part of a campaign of mass arrests of Hamas leaders for carrying out military operations against the Zionist occupation.

• Sentenced to life imprisonment and fifteen years for establishing Hamas’ military wing responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Zionist soldiers.

• He was released on the first of October 1997 through a deal concluded between King Hussein of Jordan and the Zionist entity in exchange for the extradition of two agents of the Israeli Mossad who failed in the attempt to assassinate Khaled Meshaal, the former head of Hamas’ political bureau.

• The Palestinian Authority imposed on him house arrest twice at the instigation of the occupation authorities because of his responsibility for the resistance operations against Israel, the first in December 2001, and the second in June 2002.

• Survived two assassination attempts by the Zionist occupation, the first was in Ramadan 2002 at Al-Rahma Mosque in Al-Sabra area, and the second on 6/9/2003 in an apartment in the center of Gaza City.

His most important achievements

Participation in the establishment of the Islamic Academy Association in 1979 in Gaza with the aim of Islamic, cultural, social and sports.

• Participation in the establishment of the Islamic Society in 1976 in Gaza with the aim of spreading Islamic culture in the Palestinian society by all available means.

• Participation in the establishment of the Islamic University in 1978 with the aim of promoting Islamic discipline among university students.

• He participated in the establishment of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas in 1987, and the formation of security and military groups supervised their work were known as the “Palestinian Mujahideen”, and soon turned into the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Martyr Brigades.

• Participated in the establishment of Dar Al-Arqam schools in 2000 with the aim of graduating a unique Quranic generation.

• Established the reform committees in the Gaza Strip after his release from prison in 1997 with the aim of settling conflicts between people and promoting the spirit of love and affection among them in order to maintain the strength of the home front in the face of the Zionist occupation.

Jihad

Sheikh Yassin pledged allegiance to the Muslim Brotherhood in 1954 at the hands of Sheikh Shaaban al-Baghdadi, after he was influenced by a sage named Saber Abu al-Khair during his treatment after the incident that led to his paralysis, as he directed patients in a beautiful manner to maintain prayer and supplication to God, so this had a great impact on Yassin’s soul that prompted him to engage in Islamic activities through the mosque and school in the preparatory stage, which made him join the Islamic movement, and then rise to the rank of captain in the group in 1957, where its official was Mr. Ismail Khalidi.

The Sheikh and his colleagues continued in advocacy and jihadist work despite being subjected to a lot of harassment, and his arrest by the Egyptian authorities in 1965 on charges of prominent Islamic activity and possession of Islamic intellectual books until after the mid-sixties, where the Arab region witnessed a defeat in 1967 and the occupation of the entire Gaza Strip, which was a great pain among the Palestinian people, which prompted the Sheikh to Islamic action to confront the occupation through mobilization and organization to form a solid nucleus that can confront the enemy militarily and security.

From his sayings

• The occupation state is obsolete hopefully in the first quarter of the next century, specifically in 2027, this is what I deduce from the Holy Quran.

• Despite the bitterness of prison at all levels, but the believer finds in prison great pleasure, he is empty with God Almighty Nnajih and worship, the highest morale of my life was inside prison, where I completed the memorization of the Holy Quran, and I saw many books of interpretation, hadith, jurisprudence and its origins, and I used to read four parts per day only in the Sunan prayer.

• My hope is that God is pleased with me, and his satisfaction is not gained except by obeying him, and obedience to God is represented in jihad in order to uphold his word, and in order to cleanse the land of God from the corruption established by the enemies of God on earth, if I achieve the first goal, which is to cleanse the Islamic land from rape and the Islamic system was based on it, this is my wish that I seek and I ask God to throw it on it, if it is achieved, it is his bounty, and if I die before it is achieved, the road has begun and steps have taken, and God prevails over But most people don’t know.

Martyrdom

Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Yassin was martyred at dawn on Monday, March 2004, along with seven others, including Mo’men, son of Dr. Ibrahim al-Yazouri, one of the founders of Hamas.