A prominent Islamic scholar in Gaza issued a rare, powerful fatwa condemning the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023 on Israel, which started a devastating war in the Palestinian territory.
Professor Dr. Salman al-Dayah, a former lecturer at the Faculty of Sharia and Law at the Hamas-affiliated Islamic University of Gaza, is one of the most respected religious authorities in the region, so his legal opinion carries significant weight among the two million people of Gaza. which is mostly Sunni Muslim.
A fatwa is a non-binding Islamic legal ruling from a respected religious scholar usually based on the Quran or Sunnah – the sayings and practices of the Prophet Muhammad.
Dr Dayah’s fatwa, which was published in a detailed six-page document, criticizes Hamas for what it calls “violations of Islamic principles governing jihad”.
Jihad means “struggle” in Arabic and in Islam it can be a personal struggle for spiritual development or a military struggle against unbelievers.
Dr. Dayah adds: “If the pillars, causes, or conditions of jihad are not met, they must be avoided in order to avoid destroying people’s lives.” This is something that is easy for the politicians of our country to guess, so the attack should have been avoided.”
For Hamas, the fatwa represents an embarrassing and potentially damaging criticism, especially since the group often justifies its attacks on Israel with religious arguments in order to gain support from Arab and Muslim communities.
The October 7 attack saw hundreds of Hamas gunmen from Gaza attack southern Israel. About 1,200 people were killed and another 251 were captured.
Israel responded by launching a military campaign against Hamas, which has killed more than 43,400 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Dr Dayah says the significant killings in Gaza, as well as the destruction of human infrastructure and the humanitarian crisis that followed the October 7 attack, meant that it was in direct conflict with Islamic teachings.
Hamas, he says, has failed in its obligations to “keep fighters away from the homes of defenseless people. [Palestinian] citizens and their places of shelter, and providing security and safety as much as possible in various aspects of life… safety, economy, health, and education, and saving enough for them.”
Dr. Dayah points to Quranic verses and the Sunnah that lay down strict conditions for the conduct of jihad, including the need to avoid actions that provoke extreme and unequal reactions from the opponent.
His fatwa highlights that, according to Islamic law, a military attack should not cause a response that outweighs the intended benefits of the action.
He also emphasizes that Muslim leaders are responsible for ensuring the safety and welfare of non-combatants, including providing food, medicine, and shelter to those not involved in combat.
“Human life is more precious to God than Mecca,” said Dr. Dayah.
His opposition to the October 7 attack is particularly significant given his deep influence in Gaza, where he is seen as a key religious figure and a vocal critic of Islamist movements, including Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
His moderate Salafist beliefs put him in direct opposition to Hamas’ approach to armed resistance and its relationship with Shia-dominated Iran.
Salafists are fundamentalists who want to follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad and the first generations who followed him.
Dr. Dayah has been opposed to the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate that strictly adheres to Islamic law, rather than party-based systems promoted by Hamas and other groups.
“Our example is Prophet Muhammad, who founded the nation and did not establish political parties that divide the nation. Therefore, parties in Islam are not allowed,” he said in a sermon he delivered at a mosque a few years ago.
He has also criticized extremism, Jihadist opposition groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, and has used all his platforms to issue fatwas on various social and political issues, from commercial transactions, social conflicts on marriage and divorce, to the conduct of political violence.
The fatwa adds to the growing internal debate in Gaza and the rest of the Arab world about the moral and legal implications of Hamas’s actions, and is likely to further divide the Palestinian community over the use of armed resistance in the ongoing war with Israel.
Sheikh Ashraf Ahmed, one of Dr. Dayah’s students who was forced to leave his home in Gaza City last year and flee to southern Gaza with his wife and nine children, told the BBC: “Our scholar. [Dr Dayah] refused to leave his home in northern Gaza despite fear of an Israeli attack. He chose to fulfill his religious duty by issuing his legal opinion on this attack”.
Ahmed described the fatwa as the most powerful legal ruling in history. “It is a very well-researched document, which shows Dayah’s commitment to Islamic law,” he said.
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