RAFAH—On
Saturday, December 30, our front door was busted down, and twenty
masked men barged in and took my father, a widely respected and deeply
learned imam here in Gaza.
One dragged
him by his head, and another grabbed him by his beard. My younger
brother tried to intervene and reason with the kidnappers, but they beat
him. I have a medical condition that makes it hard for me to breathe,
so all I could do was watch as the horror unfolded.
I
know that if Hamas kills my father, they’ll say that the Israeli army
did it. But my father was very keen that even if he died, we should make
known the despicable demands they made of him. It was his last request
to us, literally as he was being carried out of the door, that should he
die, we should publicize the real reason for his death, and it is
this:
He wouldn’t preach what Hamas told
him to. He refused to tell Gazans that violent resistance, and
obedience to Hamas, is the best way out of our current hell.
This story starts before October 7, and even before 2007, when Hamas took control of Gaza.
Our
family has lived in Gaza for generations. Before 2007, my father worked
for the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. After Hamas took over, they forced
him out of his position. This was a hard time for my family; my father
was the sole breadwinner. Finally, after three long years, he came back
to work first as a mosque servant, then a mosque guard, then an employee
of the ministry and finally, he was appointed as a mosque imam. (My
father is known throughout the Gaza Strip. He has a doctorate in sharia
from Cairo’s storied Al-Azhar University, and is well-respected by his
peers.)
For Hamas, being Muslim means
supporting Hamas, and people who do not support Hamas aren’t Muslims. If
you don’t abide by what Hamas tells you, you’ll lose your job or worse.
To keep my father in line, ensuring that he would deliver only
Hamas-approved Friday sermons and allow Hamas to use his mosque as a
clandestine weapons depot, they arrested my brother and me at least ten
times between 2016 and 2019. Sometimes they would speak politely,
sometimes they would ask us to comply “for the sake of your sisters,”
but always the threat of violence loomed in the background. And several
times we were beaten and humiliated in front of our father. They beat
him, too, once nearly blinding him.
He was forced to do things for Hamas; move money around, store things, keep their secrets.
As an imam, my father keeps the keys to the mosque and is responsible for safeguarding large sums of money that Muslims give as zakat,
the mandatory almsgiving of our faith. Hamas members would take
advantage of his duties and use the mosque to stash money, weapons, and
equipment.
Sometimes they’d bring a
large, wrapped-up prayer rug, which they said had been donated—except my
father wasn’t allowed to open the rugs; only special volunteers were
allowed to open them or transport the rugs in and out. My father had to
open and close the doors and allow the sacred space to be used as a
warehouse for Hamas. What choice did he have? It’s a bitter truth that
Hamas thinks of mosques as the property of their regime and that they
store weapons there.
Once there were big boxes that were marked as food aid. There wasn’t food inside, but something made of iron.
Inside Dhu ‘l-Nurayn mosque in Gaza, where Mohammed Mushtaha led prayers and delivered sermons. (Photo via Facebook)
The
most egregious thing Hamas imposed on my father was the content of his
Friday sermons. They instructed him to brainwash people with their
politics, to stick with Hamas and with the “resistance,” and that it’s
the only choice. That those who died fighting would be rewarded with 72
black-eyed virgins. Patience, jihad, all of that stuff. Hamas exploits
our religion, pretending to be modern-day prophets, likening themselves
to the companions of the prophet Muhammad.
Nobody
told my father there was a plan to attack Israel on October 7. There’s
just this constant overarching message within the mosques, Islamic
classes, sermons, and lectures, that the “resistance”—meaning Hamas and
only Hamas—is the only way to liberate Al-Aqsa and the only way to
alleviate our suffering.
They do all
this brainwashing to make you think the cause of our suffering is
Israel. But I see very clearly who causes our suffering.
Whereas
most aid in Gaza is only accessible to Hamas’s loyalists or those who
toe the movement’s line, my father would collect and distribute zakat
alms to those who actually needed it. Some congregants would donate
food, furniture, and household goods; and many among Gaza’s neediest
would come to my father, who would see that they were distributed
fairly. My father also strove to give pious Muslims unbiased spiritual
guidance, not the propaganda Hamas clerics deliver.
We
fled our homes in Gaza City on October 20, moving from place to place
until settling at my sister’s home in Rafah several weeks ago. Her home
was bombed as well, and now roughly forty people, including women and
seniors, are sharing space in a building that is partly reduced to
rubble.
Since the war, Hamas has put
enormous pressure on imams to persuade the population that their only
choice is “the resistance.” Schools and universities aren’t functioning;
the one thing that draws people in is prayer.
But now we have reached a time when nearly everyone in Gaza is saying Hamas caused the death of 20,000 people
in Gaza and the injury of 50,000 more. So when the group demanded that
my father go to a school where thousands of displaced persons are
sheltering and urge them to stand with the “resistance”—to trust
Hamas—he flat-out refused. My father knows the difference between right
and wrong. He knew that refusing to act as a megaphone for Hamas could
lead to his death, and yet he refused. He has a clear conscience. So
does everyone who knows what really happened to him, and why.
This time, it’s not like the prior wars. This time, people are telling the truth.
Before
October 7, people were afraid—and of course some people are still
afraid—but ironically, when there is fighting, Hamas goes underground,
and people can be more vocal about how Hamas has ruined our lives.
People are starting to publicly violate the laws, rules, dictates, and
orders of Hamas. They are openly cursing Hamas and its leaders in the
streets and markets, and ignoring the directives of the few Hamas
officials and police still above ground. They have caused so much
damage, it’s undeniable. They’ve imposed themselves on our society, on
my father, for too long. We’re all paying the price. People want
freedom. We hope deeply that this war will end, and that Hamas will end
with it.
I don’t know where my father
is. I don’t know if I will ever see him alive again. My hope in telling
this story to the public, and putting my name to it, is to somehow offer
my father a measure of protection. Hamas may wish to release him and
show the world that they would never harm an admired mosque preacher.
God alone knows the future, but what I know is that, under no
circumstances, would my father want to become a propaganda tool.
Mr. Mushtaha shared his story with The Free Press as part of the ongoing series Voices from Gaza, our partnership with the Center for Peace Communications.
🔴 Suddenly we discovered that Gaza, which is inhabited by 2 million people has 36 hospitals. There are Arab countries with 30 million citizens and they do not have this number of hospitals.
Interesting tidbits I found, mainly for my own entertainment. I copied some sites, since after some time, I find they are gone.
Erdekessegek amit talaltam, foleg a magam szorakoztatasara. Nehany oldalt masoltam, mert egy ido utan eltunnek.
