PA Mufti: Sharia’h obligates every Muslim to wage Jihad against what the PA calls “the thieving Jews”
Referring to previous Islamic religious rulings that “obligate” Muslims to “fight against the thieving Jews,” a host on official PA TV interviewed the PA Grand Mufti on the aspects of Sharia’h law in connection with the UAE and Bahrain’s recent peace agreements with Israel.
The PA Mufti stressed that “if an inch of the Muslims’ lands is stolen, Jihad becomes a personal religious commandment for everyone.” The PA defines all of the State of Israel as stolen Islamic land – a waqf – which is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law. Therefore, according to the PA Mufti, Shari’ah law prohibits Palestinians from recognizing Israel in any borders and commands that every Muslim has a personal duty to wage war against Israel until the “Muslim” land is freed. He further stated that the UAE and Bahrain are “twisting” these religious rulings, noting that this is “forbidden” and that they will have to answer to Allah for this:
Official PA TV host: “All the religious rulings that were issued by the nation’s religious scholars obligated fighting against the thieving Jews, and they don’t disagree on banning normalization with the Zionists. But some (i.e., the UAE and Bahrain) reinterpret these texts and welcome the normalization…”
PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein: “The texts clearly say that if an inch of the Muslims’ lands (i.e., including all of Israel) is stolen, Jihad becomes a personal religious commandment for everyone who is capable of it. This is the Shari’ah law that the religious legal scholars have followed from the beginning, from the days of the companions [of Prophet Muhammad]. The fact that the Muslims cannot – in some of the Islamic lands, or in some of the Arab lands –restore [their lands], doesn’t mean that the ruling has changed. No, the religious ruling is firm, valid, and present. The minimum we demand from those (i.e., the UAE and Bahrain) who are trying to twist the texts is that they read the texts correctly and not distort them… [It is forbidden] for them to make religious legal rulings while changing the texts and twisting the texts, according to the whims of this or that ruler (i.e., the UAE and Bahrain). This is forbidden for them, and Allah will ask them about this.”
[Official PA TV, Fatwa, Sept. 18, 2020]
Palestinian Media Watch has already exposed several times that the PA Mufti believes that all of Israel is holy Islamic land and that Islam therefore prohibits that Muslims accept Israel’s existence – in any borders:
PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein: “The land of Palestine is waqf (inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law). It must not be relinquished nor must any part of it be sold... It is the duty of the leaders of the [Islamic] nation and its peoples to liberate Palestine (i.e., all of Israel) and Jerusalem, to prevent the Judaization in it."
[Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 23, 2015]
Following the peace agreement with the UAE, the Mufti also stressed that Israel is “the enemy of Prophet Muhammad,” and issued a fatwa that forbids Muslims who come to Jerusalem via the UAE following the peace agreement to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
PMW has documented numerous other responses from the PA condemning the peace agreements.
Muhammad Hussein also serves as Deputy Secretary-General and acting Secretary-General of the PLO Popular National Conference of Jerusalem.
The Mufti used the term "fard ayn" which is a personal Islamic commandment incumbent on every Muslim to describe the seriousness of the obligation to wage Jihad.