View source for Izz ad-Din al-Qassam

{{Short description|Syrian Muslim preacher (1882–1935)}}
{{for|the military wing of Hamas|Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades}}
{{good article}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Izz ad-Din al-Qassam
| native_name        = {{Nobold|عز الدين القسام}}
| native_name_lang   = ar
| image              = Izz ad-Din al-Qassam.jpg
| birth_date         = 19 December 1882
| birth_place        = [[Jableh]], [[Beirut Vilayet]], [[Ottoman Empire]]
| death_date         = {{death date and age|df=yes|1935|11|20|1882|12|19}}
| death_place        = [[Nazlet Zeid|Sheikh Zeid]], [[Jenin Subdistrict, Mandatory Palestine|Jenin Subdistrict]], [[Mandatory Palestine]]
| death_cause        = [[Gunshot wounds]]
| alma_mater         = [[Al-Azhar University]]
| organization       = [[Young Men's Muslim Association]], [[Black Hand (Palestine)|The Black Hand]]
| occupation         = Guerrilla leader, [[Islamic revival|Muslim revivalist]], preacher, teacher, [[imam]]
| module             = {{Infobox religious biography|embed=yes
| religion     = [[Islam]]
| denomination = [[Sunni]]
| jurisprudence= [[Hanafi]]
| Sufi_order   = [[Qadiriyya]]}}
}}
'''{{Transliteration|ar|DIN|ʿIzz ad-Dīn ibn Abd al-Qāder ibn Mustafā ibn Yūsuf ibn Muhammad al-Qassām|italic=no}}''' ({{langx|ar|عز الدين بن عبد القادر بن مصطفى بن يوسف بن محمد القسام}}; 1881<ref>Abū ʻAmr, 1994, p. 98.</ref> or 19 December 1882<ref>Krämer, 2011, p. 260</ref><ref>Guidère, 2012, p. 173</ref> – 20 November 1935) was a [[Syria (region)|Syrian]] Muslim preacher and a leader in the local struggles against [[Mandatory Palestine|British]] and [[French Mandate of Syria|French Mandatory]] rule in the [[Levant]] and an opponent of [[Zionism]] in the 1920s and 1930s.

Qassam was born in [[Jableh]], [[Ottoman Syria|Syrian province]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1882. He studied at [[Al-Azhar University]] in Egypt and afterward became an [[Islamic revival]]ist{{cn|date=July 2025}} preacher in his hometown. Following his return, he became an active supporter of the [[Libyan resistance movement|Libyan resistance]] to the [[Italian Libya|Italian]] occupation starting 1911, raising funds and fighters to aid the Libyans and penning an anthem for them. He would later lead his own group of rebels in alliance with [[Hananu Revolt|Ibrahim Hananu]] to fight against the [[French Mandate]] in northern Syria ratified on 29 September 1923.

Following the rebels' defeat, he immigrated to [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]],<ref>Bloomfield, 2010, p. 149.</ref><ref>Fleischmann, 2003, p. 292.</ref><ref>Kayyali, 1978, p. 180.</ref><ref>Lozowick, 2004, p. 78.</ref> where he became a Muslim ''[[waqf]]'' (religious endowment) official and grew incensed at the plight of [[Palestinian people|Palestinian Arab]] peasants. He advocated a moral, political and military jihad as the solution to end British rule and Zionist aspirations in Palestine. In the 1930s, he formed bands of local fighters, including the [[Black Hand (Mandatory Palestine)|Black Hand]], and launched attacks against British and [[Jew]]ish targets. He was eventually killed in a manhunt by the British authorities in 1935, following his alleged role in the killing of a policeman. Israeli historian [[Tom Segev]] has called him "the Arab [[Joseph Trumpeldor]]".<ref>Segev, 2001, pp. 362–363.</ref> His campaign and death were factors that led to the [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine]].

==Early life and Islamic scholarship==
[[File:Jableh Port.JPG|thumb|right|Al-Qassam was born in [[Jableh]] ]]
[[File:Mosque El Azhar (1906) - TIMEA.jpg|thumbnail|[[Al-Azhar Mosque]], where al-Qassam studied, in 1906]]

Al-Qassam was born in [[Jableh]], northwestern [[Ottoman Syria|Syria]], to father Abd al-Qadar, a [[sharia]] court official during [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule and a local leader of the Qadiriyya [[Sufism|Sufi]] order. His grandfather had been a leading sheikh of the [[Qadiriyya|Qadiriyya order]] and moved to Jableh from Iraq. Al-Qassam also followed the [[Hanafi]] school of ''[[fiqh]]'' (jurisprudence) of [[Sunni Islam]] and studied at the local Istambuli Mosque under the teaching of well-known ''[[Ulama|′alim]]'' (scholar) Sheikh Salim Tayarah.<ref name="Schleifer166">Schleifer, ed. Burke, 1993, p. 166.</ref>

Sometime between 1902 and 1905, al-Qassam left for [[Cairo]] to study at the [[al-Azhar Mosque]]. Who he studied with is disputed by the sources; some accounts say he studied under the Muslim reformist scholar [[Muhammad Abduh]] and came into contact with the prominent proto-[[Salafist]], [[Rashid Rida]],<ref name="Schleifer166"/> who himself studied under Abduh, while others are skeptical of al-Qassam's relationships with either. However, the attitude al-Qassam later adopted toward the political issues in the Arab world suggests he was well acquainted with the ideas that Abduh and Rida espoused.<ref>Milton-Edwards, 1999, p. 14.</ref> At al-Azhar, al-Qassam developed the thinking that would guide his future activism. Critical of a stagnant Islam, he preached among the ranks of farmers and other locals about the necessity for a modern Islam, one capable of defending itself from Western [[colonialism]] through ''[[jihad]]'' (holy struggle).<ref>Milton-Edwards, 1999, p. 17.</ref> He returned to Jableh in 1909 as an ''′alim'' and worked as a teacher at a Qadiriyya ''[[madrasa]]'' (Islamic school) where he taught both the mystical practices of the Qadiriyya Sufi order and the jurisprudence and commentary of the [[Qur'an]]. In addition, he preached as the [[imam]] of the Ibrahim Ibn Adham Mosque.<ref name="Burke167">Schleifer, ed. Burke, 1993, p. 167.</ref>

Following his return to Jableh, al-Qassam commenced a program of Islamic revival based on moral reforms which included the encouragement of maintaining regular ''[[salaah]]'' (prayer) and the ''[[sawm]]'' (fasting) during [[Ramadan]] as well as advocating an end to gambling and alcohol consumption. Al-Qassam's campaign highly influenced Jableh's residents who increasingly adopted his reforms. He developed amiable relations with the local Ottoman police who he would call upon to enforce sharia on rare cases of major violations. In some occasions, he would send disciples as vigilantes to intercept caravans transporting alcohol which would then be disposed of. Despite the support for [[Arab nationalism]] from some of his fellow alumni at al-Azhar and among Syrian notables, al-Qassam's loyalties at the time most likely laid with the Ottoman Empire as his relationship with the authorities would indicate.<ref name="Burke168">Schleifer, ed. Burke, 1993, p. 168.</ref> He was well regarded among much of Jableh's population where he gained a reputation for piety, simple manners and good humor.<ref name="Burke167"/>

==Support for Libyan resistance==
{{quote box
| quote = {{col-begin}}{{col-2}} ''Ya Rahim, Ya Rahman<br> Unsur Maulana as-Sultan<br> Wa ksur aadana al-Italiyan''
{{col-2}} O Most Merciful, O Most Compassionate<br> Make our Lord the Sultan victorious<br> And defeat our enemy the Italian
{{col-2}}
{{col-end}}
| quoted = 1
| width = 40%
| align = right
| source = Izz al-Din al-Qassam, Ottoman-Libyan resistance anthem, 1911<ref name="Burke168"/>
}}
Following Italy's [[Italo-Turkish War|September 1911 invasion of Libya]], al-Qassam began collecting funds in Jableh for the joint Ottoman-[[Libyan resistance movement]] and composed a victory anthem. Jableh's district governor sought to gain control over the fundraiser, and when locals nevertheless continued to send their donations to al-Qassam, the governor attempted to have him jailed. The district governor alleged that al-Qassam was working against the Ottoman state, but an official investigation found him not guilty, and the governor was consequently dismissed.<ref name="Burke168"/>

In June 1912, during one of his [[Friday prayer]] sermons, he called for volunteers to engage in a ''jihad'' against the Italians.<ref name="Burke168"/> Accepting only volunteers with prior Ottoman military training, al-Qassam enlisted dozens of volunteers and set up a fund for the expedition to Libya as well as a small pension for the families of volunteers while they were abroad. Although accounts vary, al-Qassam was accompanied by 60 to 250 volunteers known as ''[[mujahideen]]'' (those who engage in ''jihad'') when he arrived in [[Alexandretta]] in the latter part of that year. Intending to gain sea transportation from the Ottomans, al-Qassam's request was rejected by the authorities, who ordered him and his men back to Jableh. A new Ottoman government in [[Istanbul]] had gained power and shifted the state's focus to the [[Balkan]] front in October, abandoning the Libyan resistance. Part of the money that was raised was then used to establish a ''madrasa'' in Jableh while the remainder was saved for future efforts.<ref name="Burke169">Schleifer, ed. Burke, 1993, p. 169.</ref>

==Anti-French resistance in Syria==
[[File:French Army occupied Syrian coast 1920.jpg|thumbnail|The French Army occupying the Syrian coast in the lead up of the [[Battle of Maysalun]] 1920]]
He later enlisted in the [[Military of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman army]] when World War I broke out, where he received military training and was attached as a chaplain to a base near [[Damascus]].<ref name=segev360-2>Segev, 1999, pp.360–362</ref> Returning to Jableh before the war's end, al-Qassam used funds from his planned expedition to Libya to organize a local defense force to fight the [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon|French occupation]]. His principal role in the local resistance was financing the acquisition of weapons for Jableh's militia. By 1919, French forces moved into the coastal area of northern Syria while [[Faisal I of Iraq|Faisal I]] established the [[Kingdom of Syria]] in Damascus as an independent Arab state. During this period, al-Qassam's Jableh militia fought against local French-backed [[Alawite]] militiamen who occupied areas around the city. The Alawites were eventually repelled, but French forces moved in soon after to consolidate their control. Consequently, al-Qassam and many of his disciples left Jableh for [[Jabal al-Akrad|Mount Sahyun]] where he established a base near the village of [[Zanqufa|Zanqufeh]] to launch guerrilla raids against the French Army.<ref name="Burke169"/>

Al-Qassam's militia grew when it was joined by another militia based in the mountains following the death of its commander [[Umar al-Bitar]]. However, as the French tightened their control of the area, they were able to successfully pressure several of Jableh's major landowners to drop their financial support for al-Qassam and pay taxes to the French Mandate government. This further isolated al-Qassam, who decided to flee Mount Sahyun for [[Aleppo]] in May 1920. There he and his fighters joined ranks with [[Ibrahim Hananu]], who was leading attacks against the French Army until the latter captured [[Jisr ash-Shugur]] in July. As a result of this French victory and the impending capitulation of Aleppo, al-Qassam and members of his unit fled past French Army lines with forged passports to [[Tartus]].<ref name="Schleifer170">Schleifer, ed. Burke, 1993, p. 170.</ref>

==Activism in Palestine==

===Establishment in Haifa===
From Tartus, al-Qassam travelled to Beirut by boat and then to [[Haifa]],<ref name="Schleifer170"/> then under the [[Mandate for Palestine|British Mandate]], where his wife and daughters later joined him.<ref name=segev360-2/> During the early 1920s, al-Qassam taught at the Madrasa Islamiya, an [[Madrasa|Islamic educational institution]] with many schools in Haifa and its periphery. It was funded by the Jamiat Islamiya, a ''waqf'' (religious endowment) administered by prominent Muslims from the city.<ref name="Schleifer170"/> Unlike other Muslim scholars, al-Qassam made himself easily accessible to the public and often arrived late to teach his classes because he was frequently stopped by passersby for advice. He resigned from his teaching career due to the school's insistence that he maintain consistent hours.<ref name="Schleifer171">Schleifer, ed. Burke, 1993, p. 171.</ref> As part of his Islamic revivalist teaching, he denounced and discouraged some local Palestinian traditions, including unorthodox funeral rituals, mothers' [[ziyarat|visitation]] to the [[al-Khidr]] [[Cave of Elijah|shrine]] on nearby [[Mount Carmel]] to give thanks for their children's well-being or achievements and tribal dances around religious sites, as superstitious innovations to Islam.<ref>Schleifer, ed. Burke, 1993, pp. 170–171.</ref>

Al-Qassam concentrated his activities on the lower classes, setting up a night school for casual labourers and preaching to them as an imam,<ref name=segev360-2/> first in the [[al-Jarina Mosque|Jurayneh Mosque]],<ref name="Schleifer171"/> and later in the Istiqlal Mosque (both of which still exist in Haifa's Lower City). He would seek them out on the streets, in brothels and hashish dens.<ref name=segev360-2/> His greatest following came from the landless ex-tenant farmers drifting into Haifa from the [[Upper Galilee]] where purchases of agricultural land by the [[Jewish National Fund]] and [[Hebrew Labour|Hebrew labour policies]] excluding Arabs had dispossessed many of their traditional livelihoods.<ref>[[Rashid Khalidi]], citing Abdullah Schleifer's essay "Palestinian Peasant Resistance to Zionism before World War I" in [[Edward Said]] and [[Christopher Hitchens]] (eds.) ''Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question,'' Verso, London 2001 ch. 11 pp. 207–234 p. 229.</ref><ref>Rashid Khalidi, ''Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness,''Columbia University Press, 2009 p.115.</ref> Al-Qassam grew increasingly popular with northern Palestine's poorer Muslims and was frequently sought out to preach at [[Mawlid]] celebrations.<ref name="Schleifer172">Schleifer, ed. Burke, 1993, p. 172.</ref>

In 1929, he was appointed the marriage registrar at the sharia court in Haifa by the [[Supreme Muslim Council|''waqf'' authorities in Jerusalem]],<ref>Milton-Edwards, 1999, p.16.</ref> a role that allowed him to tour the northern villages, whose inhabitants he encouraged to set up agricultural cooperatives. According to the American historian [[Edmund Burke III|Edmund Burke]], al-Qassam was<blockquote>An individual deeply imbued with the Islamic social gospel and who was struck by the plight of Palestinian peasants and migrants. Al-Qassam's pastoral concern was linked to his moral outrage as a Muslim at the ways in which the old implicit social compact was being violated in the circumstances of British mandatory Palestine. This anger fueled a political radicalism that drove him eventually to take up arms and marks him off from the Palestinian notable politicians.<ref>Schleifer, ed. Burke, 1993, p. 164</ref></blockquote>

He also took advantage of his travels to deliver fiery political and religious sermons in which he encouraged villagers to organise resistance units to attack the British and Jews.<ref name=segev360-2/> He intensified his agitation and obtained a [[fatwa]] from Shaykh [[Badr al-Din al-Taji al-Hasani]], the [[Mufti]] of [[Damascus]], which ruled that the struggle against the British and the Jews was permissible.<ref>Milton-Edwards, 1999, p. 18.</ref>

===Relationship with local leaders===
[[File:Istiqlal.jpg|thumb|right|Leading members of Hizb al-Istiqlal, 1932. Al-Qassam was closely associated with the party, particularly with [[Rashid al-Hajj Ibrahim]], seated second from left]]

According to Israeli historian Shai Lachman, between 1921 and 1935 al-Qassam often cooperated with [[Hajj Amin al-Husseini]], the [[Grand Mufti of Jerusalem]]. They were initially on good terms, and al-Qassam's various official appointments required the mufti's prior consent. Lachman suggests that their cooperation increased after the 1929 riots, in which one source claims al-Qassam's men were active. The two fell out in the mid-1930s, perhaps due to al-Qassam's independent line of activism.<ref>{{harvnb|Lachman|1982|pp=75–76}}.</ref> In 1933, al-Qassam sent an emissary to al-Husseini, requesting the latter's participation in a revolt against the British. At the time, al-Husseini refused, preferring a political solution.<ref>Mattar, 1992, p. 67.</ref>

From 1928 until his death, al-Qassam served as the president of the [[Young Men's Muslim Association]] (YMMA) in Haifa. While he focused his activism with the lower classes, his position in the YMMA afforded him access with the middle and educated classes of the city who were attracted to [[Independence Party (Palestine)|Hizb al-Istiqlal]] (Independence Party), an Arab nationalist political party.<ref name="Schleifer175">Schleifer, ed. Burke, 1993, p. 175.</ref> In particular, he developed a strong relationship with leading local party member [[Rashid al-Hajj Ibrahim]], the previous president of the Haifa YMMA. A wide ideological gap between the [[secularism|secularist]] al-Istiqlal and al-Qassam was bridged by a convergence in the view that the struggle against Zionist expansion in Palestine was inseparable from active opposition to British rule. This view separated al-Qassam and al-Istiqlal from the mainstream political forces in Palestine at the time. While men from al-Istiqlal and the YMMA generally refrained from joining al-Qassam's cause, his association with them helped protect him from political figures who opposed his activism.<ref>Schleifer, ed. Burke, 1993, p. 176.</ref> His activities were also financed by several well-off businessmen associated with al-Istiqlal due to his spreading reputation.<ref name=segev360-2/>

===Organisation of armed resistance groups===
{{See also|Cement Incident}}
In 1930<ref name=bmigdal/> or 1931,<ref name="Judis108">Judis, 2014, p. 108.</ref> al-Qassam had recruited numerous hand-picked followers and organised them into about a dozen different circles, each group of supporters unaware of the existence of the other groups. The majority of his men were peasants and urban labourers.<ref name="Schleifer172"/> The majority of al-Qassam's circles were based in northern Palestine, but he had disciples throughout the country, including in [[Gaza City|Gaza]] in the south.<ref name="Schleifer175"/> In contrast to traditional Palestinian leaders who campaigned against [[Zionist]] settlement while avoiding confrontation with the British authorities, al-Qassam saw it as a priority to fight against both. He also saw the brewing conflict in Palestine as a religious struggle, unlike most Palestinian leaders who advocated a secular and [[Palestinian nationalism|nationalist]] response. Al-Qassam advocated a moral, political and military ''jihad'' as the solution to end British rule and Zionist aspirations in Palestine.<ref name="Schleifer173">Schleifer, ed. Burke, 1993 p. 173.</ref>

In training his men, al-Qassam stressed that maintaining good character was of paramount importance. As such, fighters should provide for the needy, aid people with illness, maintain good ties with their families and pray regularly to God. These virtues, he claimed, were prerequisites to being disciplined and fearless fighters. The moral component of al-Qassam's teachings were especially geared towards the young men of Haifa's labour slums who lived away from their families and who were exposed to activities considered immoral in Islam.<ref name="Schleifer173"/> He viewed marriage as key to preventing the moral corruption of young men and managed to financially aid his more destitute supporters with their wedding expenses. He encouraged his men to grow beards as a sign of their commitment to ''jihad'' and to carry a Qur'an with them wherever they went.<ref name="Schleifer174">Schleifer, ed. Burke, 1993, p. 174.</ref> Although many of his followers had been illiterate, he taught them how to read and write using the Qur'an as their basis for learning.<ref name="Schleifer172"/> Al-Qassam also asked his fighters to engage in the spiritual exercises practiced by the [[Qadiriyya]] Sufi order and to recite Sufi chants before battle.<ref name="Schleifer174"/>

The guerrilla bands became known as the [[Black Hand (Palestine)|Black Hand]] (''al-kaff al-aswad''), an anti-Zionist and anti-British militant organisation.<ref name=bmigdal>Kimmerling and Migdal, 2003, p. 65.</ref> The idea for such a group appeared to have crystallised after the [[1929 Palestine riots|1929 riots]]. From the outset, a split occurred in the movement. One faction led by [[Abu Ibrahim al-Kabir]] argued for immediate attacks against British and Jewish targets, while the other faction, headed by al-Qassam, thought than an armed revolt was premature and risked exposing the group's preparations. According to Subhi Yasin, a comrade of al-Qassam, the group's attacks in the north were executed by Abu Ibrahim's group in defiance of al-Qassam, though in 1969, Abu Ibrahim denied this allegation. The Black Hand's ensuing campaign began with the ambush and killing of three members of [[Kibbutz]] [[Yagur]] on 11 April 1931, a failed bomb attack on outlying Jewish homes in Haifa in early 1932, and several operations that killed or wounded four members of northern Jewish settlements. The campaign climaxed with the deaths of a Jewish father and son in [[Nahalal]], from a bomb thrown into their home, on 22 December 1932.<ref>{{harvnb|Lachman|1982|pp=65–66}}</ref>

By 1935, al-Qassam had recruited several hundred men—the figures range from 200 to 800—organised in cells of five men, and arranged military training for peasants.<ref name=bmigdal/><ref>Beverly Milton-Edwards, 1999, p. 18.</ref> The cells were equipped with bombs and firearms, which they used to [[History of Zionism#The British Mandate and the Arab–Jewish struggle for Palestine (1918–1939)|raid Jewish settlements]] and sabotage British-built rail lines.<ref name=segev360-2/> Though striking a responsive chord among the rural poor and urban underclass, al-Qassam's movement deeply perturbed the Muslim urban elite as it threatened their political and patronage connections with the British Mandatory authorities.<ref>Kimmerling and Migdal, 2003, p. 66.</ref> Following the October 1935 discovery of a clandestine cache of arms in the port of Jaffa apparently originating from Belgium and destined for the [[Haganah]], a Jewish paramilitary force,<ref>Matthews, 2006, p. 237.</ref> Palestinian Arab indignation broke out in two general strikes. The arms shipment to the Haganah served as the final impetus for al-Qassam to launch a revolt against the authorities.<ref>Johnson, p. 44.</ref>

==Death==
[[File:Front view of Izzedine grave.JPG|thumb|right|Al-Qassam's grave in [[Balad al-Sheikh]], 2010]]

On 8 November 1935 the body of a Palestine Police constable, Moshe Rosenfeld, was discovered near [[Ein Harod]].<ref name=bme/><ref name="Laurens298">Laurens, 2002, p. 298.</ref> Al-Qassam and his followers were believed to have been responsible and search parties set out to capture him. In this context, al-Qassam and twelve of his men decided to go underground and, leaving Haifa, took to the hills between [[Jenin]] and [[Nablus]].<ref name="Laurens298"/> There they spent ten days on the move, during which they were fed by the residents of villages in the area. The British police manhunt eventually surrounded al-Qassam in a cave near [[Ya'bad]], in the village of [[Nazlet Zeid|Sheikh Zeid]].<ref name=bme>Milton-Edwards, 1999, p. 19.</ref> In the long ensuing firefight, al-Qassam and three of his followers were killed, and five captured on 20 November.<ref name=segev360-2/><ref name=bme/>

The manner of his last stand galvanized Palestinians at the time, according to American historian [[Abdallah Schleifer]]:<ref name="Schleifer166"/>

<blockquote>Surrounded, he told his men to die as martyrs, and opened fire. His defiance and manner of his death (which stunned the traditional leadership) electrified the Palestinian people. Thousands forced their way past police lines at the funeral in Haifa, and the secular Arab nationalist parties invoked his memory as the symbol of resistance. It was the largest political gathering ever to assemble in mandatory Palestine.<ref name="Schleifer166"/></blockquote>

To the surprise of the [[Palestine Police Force]], al-Qassam's funeral, which was held at the [[Al-Jarina Mosque]], attracted at least 3,000 mourners, mostly members of the peasant and working classes.<ref name=bme/> His coffin and those of his slain comrades were draped in the flags of [[Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen|Yemen]], Saudi Arabia, and [[Kingdom of Iraq|Iraq]], the only three independent Arab countries at the time. In reaction to al-Qassam's death, strikes were held in Haifa and several Palestinian and Syrian cities.<ref>Moubayed, 2006, p. 392.</ref> Al-Qassam is buried at the Muslim cemetery at the former Palestinian village of [[Balad al-Sheikh]], now [[Nesher]], a Jewish suburb of Haifa.<ref>Benvenisti, 2000, p. 97.</ref> An obituary for al-Qassam was published in the Egyptian newspaper ''[[Al-Ahram]]'' on 22 November, eulogizing him as a "martyr" with the following statement: "I heard you preaching from up in the pulpit, summoning to the sword ... Through your death you are more eloquent than ever you were in life."<ref>Johnson, 2013, p. 45.</ref>

==Legacy==
Five months after al-Qassam's death, members of his movement, known as "Qassamiyun"<ref name="Schleifer166"/> or "Qassamites",<ref name="KedourieQassamite">{{Citation|first=Elie|last=Kedourie|title=Zionism and Arabism in Palestine and Israel|chapter=Qassamites in the Arab Revolt, 1936–39|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tD-sCQAAQBAJ&q=Farhan+Qassam+Tulkarm&pg=PT119|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|isbn=978-1-317-44272-1}}</ref> also ''Ikhwan al-Qassam'',
(the Brothers of al-Qassam)<ref>[[Mustafa Kabha]]. "The Palestinian Press and the General Strike, April–October 1936: "Filastin" as a Case Study." Middle Eastern Studies 39, no. 3 (2003): 169–89. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4284312.</ref> under the leadership of [[Farhan al-Sa'di]], al-Qassam's spiritual heir, shot and killed two Jewish passengers on a bus {{citation needed|date=August 2016}} and shot three Jewish drivers, killing two, in the [[1936 Anabta shooting]], acts that became major contributing factors in the start of the [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine]].<ref name="KedourieQassamite" /> Peasant and urban guerrilla factions (''fasa'il'') led by the Qassamiyun played a significant role in commencing the countrywide revolt.<ref name="Schleifer166"/> At the start of the revolt, al-Qassam's close disciples al-Sa'di, [[Abu Ibrahim al-Kabir]], and Attiyah Ahmad Awad led ''fasa'il'' in the [[Jenin]] region, the Upper Galilee and Balad al-Sheikh, respectively.<ref name="KedourieQassamite" />

Al-Qassam, according to Palestinian-American [[Rashid Khalidi]],
<blockquote>played a crucial role in winning the populace away from the elite-brokered politics of compromise with the British, and in showing them the "correct" path of popular armed struggle against the British and the Zionists.<ref>Rashid Khalidi, ''Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness'', p. 195.</ref></blockquote>

The first Israeli prime minister, [[David Ben-Gurion]], compared the glory that al-Qassam's actions aroused in the 1930s to the fame won in Zionist discourse by Zionist activist [[Joseph Trumpeldor]] who died in a battle with Arab forces. Recalling this, Israeli historian [[Tom Segev]] has argued that "The terrorists that al-Qassam led and the [[:wikt:intifada|intifada]] fighters, more recently, may also be likened to the terrorists that [[Menachem Begin]] led."<ref>Tom Segev, [https://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/back-to-school-ben-gurion-for-beginners.premium-1.440405 "Back to school: Ben-Gurion for beginners,"] ''[[Haaretz]]'', 22 June 2012.</ref>

Although al-Qassam's revolt was unsuccessful in his lifetime, militant organizations gained inspiration from his example. His funeral drew thousands, which turned into a mass demonstration of national unity.<ref name=segev360-2 /> The [[Palestinian fedayeen]] who emerged in the 1960s saw al-Qassam as their originator. The founders of the [[Palestinian nationalism|Palestinian nationalist]] armed movement [[Fatah]] had initially considered naming their group the "Qassamiyun". [[Leila Khaled]], a well-known member of the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]], once stated that her organization began "where al-Qassam left off: his generation started the revolution, my generation intends to finish it."<ref>Swedenberg, p. 105.</ref>

The military wing of the Palestinian [[Islamism|Islamist]] armed movement [[Hamas]], the [[Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades]], bears his name as does the [[Qassam rocket]], a short-range rocket the group produces and uses.

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
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*{{cite book |last=Fleischmann |first=Ellen |title=The Nation and Its New Women: The Palestinian Women's Movement, 1920–1948 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZMqxW-Xn6QC&q=al-Qassam+immigrated&pg=PA292 |publisher=University of California Press |year=2003 |page=292 |isbn=0520237900 }}
*{{cite book |last=Bloomfield |first=Jonathan |title=Palestine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fhd2TSX8XV0C&q=al-Qassam+immigrated&pg=PA149 |publisher=AuthorHouse |year=2010 |page=149 |isbn=9781452067841 }}
*{{cite book|first=J.|last=Judis|author-link=John Judis|title=Genesis: Truman, American Jews, and the Origins of the Arab/Israeli Conflict|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oVw0AQAAQBAJ&q=Izz+Qassam+1933&pg=PA108|publisher=Macmillan|year=2014|isbn=9781429949101}}
*{{cite book|first=M.|last=Guidère|author-link=Mathieu Guidère|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tCvhzGiDMYsC&pg=PA173|title=Historical Dictionary of Islamic Fundamentalism|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2012|isbn=9780810879652}}
*{{cite book|first=Nels|last=Johnson|title=Islam and the Politics of Meaning in Palestinian Nationalism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y51mN0CrthAC&q=Abu+Ibrahim+Kabir&pg=PA43|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|page=43|isbn=9781134608584}}
*{{cite book |last=Kayyali |first=Abdul-Wahhab Said |title=Palestine: A Modern History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PYZtAAAAMAAJ&q=al-Qassam+immigrated |publisher=Croom Helm |year=1978 |page=180 |isbn=0856646350 }}
*{{cite book|last1=Kimmerling|first1=B.|author-link1=Baruch Kimmerling|last2=Migdal|first2=J. S.|author-link2=Joel S. Migdal|title=The Palestinian People: A History|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780674011298|url-access=registration|date=2003|publisher=Harvard University Press}}
*{{cite book|first=G.|last=Krämer|author-link=Gudrun Krämer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tWrW_CKODdQC&pg=PA260|title=A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0691150079}}
*{{cite book |chapter=Arab Rebellion and Terrorism in Palestine 1929–1939 |title=Zionism and Arabism in Palestine and Israel |last=Lachman |first=Shai |editor1-last=Kedourie |editor1-first=Elie |editor-link=Elie Kedourie |editor2-last=Haim |editor2-first=Sylvie G. |publisher=Frank Cass |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-714-63169-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hz42_ifdVkoC }}
*{{cite book |last=Laurens |first=H.|author-link= Henry Laurens (scholar)|title=La Question de Palestine |volume=2 |publisher=Fayard |location=Paris |year=2002}} 
*{{cite book |last=Lozowick |first=Y. |author-link=Yaacov Lozowick |title=Right to Exist: A Moral Defense of Israel's Wars |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LYxtAAAAMAAJ&q=al-Qassam+immigrated |publisher=Random House |year=2004 |page=78 |isbn=9781400032433 }}
*{{cite book |last=Mattar |first=P. |author-link=Philip Mattar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XH8qTS5xNUIC&q=Izz+Qassam+1933 |title=The Mufti of Jerusalem: Al-Hajj Amin Al-Husayni and the Palestinian National Movement |year=1992 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=9780231064637 }}
*{{cite book |last=Matthews |first=Weldon C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YPufgx2Mvk8C |title=Confronting an Empire, Constructing a Nation: Arab Nationalists and Popular Politics in Mandate Palestine |year=2006 |publisher=I B Tauris |isbn=978-1-84511-173-1 }}
*{{cite book|first=Beverley|last=Milton-Edwards|title=Islamic Politics in Palestine|url=https://archive.org/details/islamicpoliticsi00beve|url-access=registration|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=1999|isbn=9781860644757}}
*{{cite book |last=Moubayed |first=S. |author-link=Sami Moubayed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GF51Sml5WpcC&q=Izz+ad-Din+Qassam |title=Steel and Silk: Men and Women Who Shaped Syria 1900–2000 |year=2006 |publisher=Cune Press |isbn=9781885942418 }}
*{{cite journal|last=Nafi|first=B.|author-link=Basheer Nafi|title=Shaykh Izz al-Din al-Qassam: A Reformist and a Rebel Leader|journal=Journal of Islamic Studies|date=1997|volume=8|issue=2|pages=185–215|doi=10.1093/jis/8.2.185}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Sanagan|first1=Mark|title=Teacher, Preacher, soldier, Martyr: Rethinking 'Izz al-Din al-Qassam|journal=Die Welt des Islams|date=2013|volume=53|issue=3–4|pages=315–352|url=https://www.academia.edu/5388309|doi=10.1163/15685152-5334p0002}}{{Dead link|date=November 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*{{cite book |last=Schleifer |first=A. |author-link=Abdallah Schleifer |editor=Edmund Burke |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3gd1xh4QD0sC&q=Misrata |title=Struggle and Survival in the Modern Middle East |chapter=Palestinian Peasantry in the Great Revolt |year=1993 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-07988-4 }}
*{{cite book |last=Segev |first=T. |author-link=Tom Segev |title=One Palestine, Complete |year=2001 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]] |isbn=0-8050-6587-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XvT8CWv2DakC}}
{{refend}}

{{Arab–Israeli conflict}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Qassam, Izz Din}}
[[Category:1882 births]]
[[Category:1935 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century imams]]
[[Category:Al-Azhar University alumni]]
[[Category:Anti-Zionism in Mandatory Palestine]]
[[Category:Anti-Zionism in the Arab world]]
[[Category:Ottoman military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Syrian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine]]
[[Category:Guerrillas killed in action]]
[[Category:Arab people from the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Palestinian militants]]
[[Category:People from Beirut vilayet]]
[[Category:People from Haifa]]
[[Category:People from Jableh]]
[[Category:Syrian imams]]
[[Category:Syrian Sufis]]
[[Category:World War I chaplains]]
[[Category:People of the Franco-Syrian War]]
[[Category:Syrian Sunni Muslims]]
[[Category:Resistance to the British Empire]]
[[Category:Resistance to the French colonial empire]]
[[Category:People shot dead by law enforcement officers in Mandatory Palestine]]