Youm7 TV presented a report on the anniversary of the martyrdom The Syrian cleric Izz al-Din al-Qassam, who was and still is a symbol of the armed struggle against the British Mandate authorities and the Jews coming to Palestine in the last century, and his personality and biography returned to the spotlight with the current war.
His real name is Muhammad Izz al-Din bin Abdul Qadir bin Mustafa bin Yusuf bin Muhammad al-Qassam. Al-Qassam was born in the Syrian town of Jableh, south of the coastal city of Latakia, in 1882. He was educated by his father, the cleric Abdul Qadir al-Qassam, who was the imam of the Mansouri Mosque in the Syrian coastal town. , Then, at the age of fourteen, he moved to Cairo to complete his studies at Al-Azhar. After a decade, he returned to his hometown in 1906 to teach at his father’s book in Jableh and was appointed imam and preacher at the Ibrahim bin Adham Mosque. When the Italian army invaded Libya in 1911, Sheikh Al-Qassam ascended to the pulpit of the Al-Mansouri Mosque, calling for jihad.
Al-Qassam formed a small armed group to fight the French after they occupied Syria. He joined Omar al-Bitar’s group, which carried out military operations against the French colonial forces in the Zion Mountains between 1919 and 1921 in Latakia Governorate. Months after the French mandate was imposed on Syria, an arrest warrant was issued against him. Which forced him to flee to Haifa in 1921 AD. AndIzz al-Din al-Qassam settled in the Istiqlal Mosque in the Old Quarter of Haifa, which housed poor peasants who had been displaced from their villages due to economic conditions. al-Qassam was active among them in an attempt to educate them and combat the widespread illiteracy by offering them night lessons.
Al-Qassam joined the Islamic School in Haifa and then the Muslim Youth Association there, and became president of the association in the year 1926 AD. Al-Qassam taught at Al-Burj School and the Al-Istiqlal Mosque in Haifa, and in 1928, he joined the Sharia Court during his founding and heading a group called “Young Muslims” in Palestine. Jewish immigration to Palestine was increasing rapidly, as the number of Jews in Palestine rose from 175,138 in 1931 to 355,157 in 1935. Before Al-Qassam called for arms, armed groups appeared, launching military operations against British and Jewish facilities in Palestine, led by Ahmed Tafesh.، AndAl-Qassam benefited from the experience of the “Green Palm” group, as he enlisted the help of some of its members to form sleeper and active cells in multiple cities and towns. The new organization was called “The Black Palm.”
The “Black Palm” fighters carried out their first operation in 1931 AD, when they targeted a vehicle carrying Jewish militants on the Yajur Road in the Haifa district. The organization’s strategy was to carry out operations against Jewish and British targets separated in time and place. The second operation was in the summer, and the third at the beginning of the winter of the year. Himself، In late 1935, Al-Qassam announced in a public sermon at the Istiqlal Mosque the start of military action against the British forces. Al-Qassam’s announcement of the start of the “jihad” phase came despite not having completed all the required preparations. Al-Qassam headed with 11 people to the village of Ya’bad, located between the cities of Jenin and Nablus. The British forces discovered the group’s location and a large force headed there and surrounded them. An unequal battle took place between the two sides that lasted for approximately 6 hours. Al-Qassam was then killed along with three of his group in the clash. The bodies of the martyrs were transported to Jenin, then sent to Haifa to be received by their families. On November 21, 1935, the burial ceremony for the three took place, as the funerals proceeded from the Al-Qassam House, which was located outside the town, to the cemetery of the village of Balad Al-Sheikh directly without passing through the city of Haifa.
The post first appeared on www.youm7.com