Recently released video footage of a sermon delivered at the Huda Mosque in Gaza shows a Muslim sheikh weilding a rifle while declaring that weapons are the only way that Palestinians can establish an Islamic state.
The video, shared by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), provides clips of the message delivered by Sheikh Lyad Abu Funun in late August.
“The Israelis came to conquer the Gaza Strip. Did they succeed in doing so? No, they did not. They came to take these weapons away from us,” he loudly declares, lifting an assault rifle. “Do I still hold this weapon or not?”
“They came to take these weapons away from us. Did they succeed?” Funan asks, being met with shouts of “Allah Akbar!” “They came to take our guns, but the guns remain in our hands. They did not manage to take a single gun, a single bullet or a single rocket from us.”
He continues to tout the resolve of Muslims to hold their ground.
“They came to destroy the tunnels. Did they destroy them?” Funan inquires. “They came to stop us from launching rockets at them. Did the rockets stop? They came to make us surrender. Did we surrender? They came to humiliate us. Did they humiliate us? They came to break us. Did they break us?”
The video then cuts to another section of the sermon where the sheikh asserts that weapons are necessary for Muslims to accomplish their goals of establishing an Islamic state under Sharia law.
“This war has proven that these weapons are our only means to liberate our land,” Funan contends. “These weapons are our only means to liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
“These weapons are our only means to establish the Islamic state,” he continues. “These weapons are our only means to reestablish Muhammad’s caliphate. These weapons are our only means to instate the law of Allah.”
“Therefore, they will take our souls before they take our weapons,” Funan declares, again being met with repeated shouts of “Allah Akbar!”
As previously reported, a similar message was delivered by Sheikh Mohamed Elimam at the Chicago Islamic Center this past July.
“Oh, those of you who want to wage jihad for the sake of Allah, Palestine is calling you and Gaza is crying out for your help,” he proclaimed. “If you are true believers, real mujahideen, hasten to Palestine.”
“[The Koran says,] ‘Prepare for them what force and steeds of war you can to strike fear in the hearts of the enemy of Allah and of your own, and others besides them,’” Elimam continued. “How you do not know, but Allah knows.”
But the son of Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, Mosab Hassan Yousef, now a professing Christian, appeared on CNN this summer on to explain that Hamas is about about more than the destruction of Israel—it is about global Muslim domination.
“Hamas is not seeking coexistence and compromise,” Yousef said. “Hamas is seeking conquest and taking over.”
“[The] destruction of the state of Israel is not Hamas’ final destination,” he continued. “Hamas’ final destination is building the Islamic khilafah (caliphate), which means an Islamic state on the rubble of every other civilization. These are the ultimate goals of the movement.”
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