Sheikh Ahmed Yassin

Ahmed Yassin, former Hamas spiritual leader, born in January 1937. He was a refugee in Gaza after 1948 and worked as teacher, preacher, and community worker. Yassin confined to a wheelchair after a sports accident at the age of 12.

Yassin was assassinated in March 22, 2004 when an Israeli helicopter missile hit his car as he was leaving a mosque in the northern Gaza Strip.

He joined the Muslims Brotherhood and adopted the movement's belief calling for the rule of Islam everywhere. After returning to Gaza, Yassin became completely involved in politics. He established the Islamic Centre in Gaza in 1973, which controlled all religious institutions afterwards.

Sheikh Yassin was arrested in 1984 and sentenced to 13 years in jail for establishing a military organization that calls for ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Yassin founded a religious organization aiming at fighting non-religious factions in the territories, and carrying out Islamic "Jihad" operations against the Israel occupation. This organization used monies from Islamic groups in Jordan to be able to acquire needed quantities of weapons to fight back the Israelis constant attacks. Yassin was imprisoned until May, and then he got released in a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and the organization of Ahmed Jibril.

During the first Palestinian intifada in 1987, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin founded the Hamas group that stands up till now as one of the strongest the Islamic resistance movement; Hamas means zeal in Arabic.

The organization gained popular support in the territory, expressing in its covenant the conspiracy theories of the "Protocols of the elders of Zion" and a commitment to wage war against the Jews and "raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.".

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was held from May 1989 until October 1997, when he was released in exchange for two Mossad agents following a failed assassination attempt in 1997 by the Mossad on a Hamas member in Jordan.

"The West demands from us that we stop the resistance. Instead of asking the occupiers to leave our land, they ask us to surrender to the occupier� The peace that reinforces occupation, settlements, and the exiling of the Palestinian people, is not really peace.", said Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

On September 6, 2003, the Israeli air force dropped a bomb on a Gaza building where Hamas leaders had gathered, but Yassin escaped with a small wound on his hand.

On March 22, 2004, he was murdered by an Israeli missile, as he returned from a mosque in Gaza City at daybreak. Seven others were killed and many wounded.

For Muslims, the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin represents a watershed event, perhaps signaling a turning point in the Arab-Israeli struggle and in the overall Western-Muslim conflict that has recently taken on global proportions with the U.S. claimed "war on terrorism."

"The assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a figure whose symbolic stature on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict far surpassed the actual potential of his paralyzed, feeble body, is certain to become one of those pivotal events around which passions and hatreds coalesce" Sheikh Yassin was already an icon in the Arab world, now he is a martyr", said the International Herald Tribune.

Source: IslamOnline

Tarek Ibn Ziyad

Tarek Ibn Ziyad, man of valor, a man of extraordinary courage and a true leader.

General Tarek was an experienced warrior well known for his unconquerable courage and bravery. He was also looked upon as a hero by the rest of Muslims soldiers who were proud to serve under his leadership.

Tarek's warrior skills are mostly highlighted in the Jabal Tarek's battle (Tarek's Hill), when the Muslims' army defeated the Romans.

The narrow stretch of sea separating Spain from the African coast was crossed by Tarek and his men in small boats. They were ready for battle as soon as they landed on the shore.

King Roderick of Spain was both surprised and angry at the daring of the Muslims. Placing himself at the head of a huge army, the king publicly took an oath that he will defeat the Muslims army and throw them into the sea through which they had come.

Tariq at once noticed the uneasiness among his soldiers, but he knew that this was not caused by any feeling of fear, for they were perfectly trained soldiers, and the heroes of many famous battles. They were waiting for his lead to support them and give them strength.

The conflict was a bloody one, but Tarek was victorious, he acted quickly. After praying to Allah, the General gave orders that will always be remembered in the military history of the world. He ordered that all the boats that brought him and his men across the straits be burnt.

When this was done, he turned to his soldiers and said his famous quote:

"Brothers in Islam! We now have the enemy in front of us and the deep sea behind us. We cannot return to our homes, because we have burnt our boats. We shall now either defeat the enemy and win or die a coward's death by drowning in the sea. Who will follow me?"

The soldiers gave a mighty cry of "Allahu Akbar" and rushed towards the enemy like a whirlwind driving everything with them.

The Spaniards turned and ran bewildered and defeated leaving the battlefield to the Muslims.

This marked the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Spain. Muslims ruled the country for hundreds of years so gloriously and well that Spain became afterwards the fountain-head of culture and civilisation for the whole continent of Europe.

Source: alquraan.net
islamonline

Eminent Sheikh Hassan Al Banna

Leader Sheikh Hassan Al Bannah [or Al-Banna, edt.] (1905- 49), one of the most prominent Egyptian Islamic scholars, and the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood group.

Hassan al-Bannah was a man of modest background; he was born in Mahmudeyya in northern Egypt in 1905, and graduated from the famous Al-Azhar University in Cairo.

Sheikh Hassan memorised the Qur'an at a very young age and eventually joined the Teachers Training Centre where after a three-year course he came first in his final examinations. He was admitted to Cairo University despite his young age, and that was because of his intelligence and breadth of knowledge.

The main inspiration that formed his religious involvement was from the 'Al Manar' magazine, which used to publish the writings of Muhammad Rashid Rida.

At the age of 21 Sheikh Hassan took the job of a teacher within a state school. In March 1928, the Imam, his brother and five others gathered at his house and swore to live and die for Islam. The foundation for the Muslim Brotherhood (Jama'at al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun) had now been laid. Initially it was a moderate one in its instruments, but changes in the political climate and reorientations in its ideology, made the Brotherhood active and involved in the Muslim countries' political concerns, from the late 1940's.

The first Brotherhood was basically a group of young men, stressing moral and social reform, promoting this through education and propaganda.

Al Bannah was also active writer. He wrote memoirs, as well as numerous articles and speeches preaching Muslims and trying to put them on the right path.

"Letter to a Muslim Student"

Among his most important books is "Letter to a Muslim Student". In this book, the dynamics and principles of the Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood) are explained: Hassan al-Bannah's greatest achievement was his ability to create a sophisticated, organisational structure aiming to translate his vision into real life. However what distinguishes the Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood) from other groups which were established in the twenties and afterwards is the former's holistic approach. The Muslim Brotherhood group was not merely a social, political or religious association or group, but a blend of all these. It was described by antagonists as a state within a state. By 1934, the Muslim Brotherhood had formed more than fifty branches in Egypt. They set up numerous schools, mosques and factories. At the end of World War Two, the Muslim Brotherhood had over half a million active members and around twice as many supporters (some sources say around 3 million).

The British used to ask Sheikh Hassan for tea, and always complimented him on his good character and his welfare work for the poor, the orphans and the widows. They explained that the world was very fragile and that Egypt must be built into a modern and prosperous state. They assumed that it was in the Muslim Brotherhood interest to get assistance from the British.

Al Bannah listened patiently, and then told the Ambassador that Egypt and all its money belong only to Egyptian people and that Britain's time in Egypt was coming to an end. Al Bannah was exiled to Upper Egypt in 1948. The Egyptian government of Al Noqrashi Pasha banned the Muslim Brotherhood despite the organisation having sent thousands of fighters in the war against Israel. A journalist asked Al Bannah about the ban and he replied: "...when words are banned, hands make their move." Shortly afterwards the Prime Minister was killed and the Muslim Brotherhood was accused in the case. In the following months the properties of the movement were confiscated and thousands of youth were imprisoned.

When Hassan al-Bannah was asked about why he commenced the work of da'wah (Islamic preaching), he answered: "Only Allah knows how many nights we four spent (his colleagues) reflecting on the situation of the Ummah (Muslim Nation); what stages it has passed through and the sickness that has reduced it to its present state. And we pondered on the cures for all the Ummah's illnesses."

On the 12th of February 1949, Sheikh Hassan Al Bannah was assassinated. No one was ever charged with the murder.

He died at the age of 43. His last daughter was born on the same day. Her mother named her "Esteshhaad" - martyrdom. Al Bannah's legacy is still active, and his movement has spread all over Muslim countries.

The Islamic revival manifest today in the Arab world owes its origin directly or indirectly to the Muslim Brotherhood Organisation, that was firstly established by Sheikh Hassan Al Bannah.

Source: therevival.co.uk
islamonline