August 23, 2001
PA TV Friday Sermon Calls for Jihad and Martyrdom
Special Dispatch - PA
No. 261

Following are excerpts from the Friday (August 17, 2001) sermon broadcast live on Palestinian TV from the Sheik 'Ijlin mosque in Gaza. The preacher is Sheik Isma'il Aal Ghadwan:

".It is the duty of the Islamic nation to open the gates of Jihad, where its strength and honor lie. We are a nation that was given Islam and Jihad by Allah... S'ad bin Abi Waqqas tells the story of Abdallah bin Jahsh, who wished to launch a Jihad and never come back... He was hoping to get early [to Heaven] in order to meet the Prophet when he dies... Abdallah bin Jahsh said on the eve of the battle of Uhud: 'Oh Allah, bring me tomorrow an enraged and furious man and I will fight him for Your sake, and he will fight me, overcome me, and chop off my ear and my nose.'"

"When I meet with You [Allah] tomorrow, You will say: 'Oh Abdallah, what were your ear and nose chopped off for?' And I will answer: 'Oh my lord, for your sake and for your Prophet's sake.' And You will say: 'You have spoken the truth.'"

"S'ad bin Abi Waqqas said to his sons when the battle was over: 'Oh my sons, what Abdallah bin Jahsh did to spread Islam was much more superior to what I did. By Allah, when the battle was over, I found his ear and nose hanging on a string, and this is what he desired... Why? So he could meet Allah and say to Him: 'Allah, I fought the war of Jihad for your sake and for Your Prophet's sake' and when Allah would say to him: 'Show me your proof,' he would answer: 'the [chopped off] ear and the nose are my proofs.'"

"When the enemies of Allah, the Jews, may Allah curse them, mutilate [the bodies], and chop off organs - these organs will serve as evidence for our sons and brothers for whom Paradise in the high heavens is a place of refuge. [Even when] a martyr's organs are being chopped off, and he turns into torn organs that spread all over, in order to meet Allah, Muhammad, and his friends, it would not be [considered] a loss..."

"Yes, my believing brother, listen to the words of the Prophet to Jaber bin Abdallah who was sad after the battle of Uhud in which his father was killed...: 'Oh Jaber, why are you sad?' [Jaber ]said: 'My father was martyred and left me many children to take care of.' [The Prophet] said: 'Oh Jaber, I will tell you something that will take the sadness out of your heart... Oh Jaber, Allah spoke directly to your father without any mediation.' This is the honor given to our martyrs, the martyrs of the Islamic nation, who were killed due to their loyalty to Allah... The martyr is given an opportunity to ask one wish and Allah makes it come true..."

"He [Abdallah, the father of Jaber] asked for one thing: to return to this world in order to tell how lucky the martyrs are. In Heaven, he said: My Lord, I only ask to come back to the world and then to be killed [again] for the sake of Allah, [then] go back to the world once again, and be killed again for the sake of Allah, then go back to the world [for the third time] and be killed again for the sake of Allah."

"Allah said to him: 'I have ruled that no one would return to the world.' [Abdallah] said: 'My Lord, is there any good news for the Mujahideen who still follow the Prophet's way...?"

"Allah said to him: '...Do not consider those who have died for the sake of Allah as dead, but as alive, and as being provided for by their Lord.'"

"This good news... has passed down to our people who still make great sacrifices, defending the honor of the Islamic nation. The sacrifice of convoys of martyrs [will continue] until Allah grants us victory very soon. The willingness for sacrifice and for death we see amongst those who were cast by Allah into a war with the Jews, should not come at all as a surprise..."

"Oh believing brothers, we do not feel a loss... The martyr, if he meets Allah, is forgiven with the first drop of blood; he is saved from the torments of the grave; he sees his place in Paradise; he is saved from the Great Horror [of the day of judgment]; he is given 72 black-eyed women; he vouches for 70 of his family to be accepted to Paradise; he is crowned with the Crown of glory, whose precious stone is better than all of this world and what is in it..."


The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent, non-profit organization that translates and analyzes the media of the Middle East. Copies of articles and documents cited, as well as background information, are available on request.