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| Against infighting: Sheikh Sa'd Sharaf lectures a class on Islam and Society at Al Rawda Technical Community College in Nablus. Josh Mitnick |
West Bank scholars push for spiritual reply to Hamas extremism
To compete with a more powerful Hamas, religious scholars from the rival Fatah Party advocate embracing religion.
from the July 31, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
Recognizing the Palestinian society's traditionalist leanings, Mohammed Dajani, a political science professor at Al Quds University, argues that the only way to challenge Hamas is by setting up a separate religious party that will push interpretations of Islam that back non-violence and tolerance.
Mr. Dajani named his party Wasatia – a term used in the Koran that means moderation. His party is reaching out to schoolteachers and Muslim clerics in a bid to counter Hamas.
"What we want to do is change the culture of the people," he says. "Our goal is to teach youth that suicide bombing is not Islam."
To be sure, Hamas's Islamist critics also include figures from more fundamentalist sects of the Muslim world. Palestinian Salafis assail Hamas's Sheikh Mouad Sawalhe, who is part of the Palestinian Salafi community, a group of Islamist fundamentalists who believe the political involvement of Hamas violates what they understand as a Koranic ban on Muslim political parties.
"Religion should be for worship and not for political goals," says Sheikh Sawalhe, sitting in the office of a Nablus cemetery where he helps prepare the dead before burial. "Does the pope interfere in the foreign policy of Rome?"
Funded by Saudi Arabian donors, Salafi leaders claim their community numbers 5,000 and is growing. They also plan to open a religious academy in Nablus.
In the Salafi view, a secularist like Abbas who sins because he doesn't observe Islamic dictates is preferable to a group like Hamas which sins in the name of Islam. At the same time, Salafis believe the place of believers should be unconditional support for the regime.
"But what about the situation where there are two prime ministers, one in Gaza and one in the West Bank," asks one student back in the college class on Islam and government, referring to the Palestinians current dilemma.
It is a question that Sharaf prefers to avoid. "The truth is that we are living in an exception," the lecturer says. "Let's return to the caliphate."
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