Page 184 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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Hanafi Muslim Movement———161

As leader of the Palestinian Authority, Yasir Arafat Further Reading
has long been under international pressure to clamp
Ahmad, Hisham H. Hamas: From Religious Salvation to
down on Hamas and other terrorist Palestinian groups,
Political Transformation: The Rise of Hamas in
such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, that carry out terror Palestinian Society. Jerusalem: PASSIA, Palestinian
attacks. The Palestinian Authority’s first crackdown Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs,
on the group was in 1996, when it arrested some 1,000 1994.
people and shut down many Hamas institutions includ- BBC. “Profiles.” Middle East 2001: Israel and the
ing the group’s weekly newspaper, The Message. Palestinians. http://news.bbc.co/uk/hi/english/in_depth/
Although Yassin has recognized Arafat and his middle_east/2001/israel_and_the_palestinians.
Palestinian Authority as the only national authority Khalid, Harub. Hamas: Political Thought and Practice.
in the Palestinian territories, many other Hamas Washington, DC: Institute for Palestine Studies, 2000.
Nusse, Andrea. Muslim Palestine: The Ideology of Hamas.
leaders do not grant recognition, saying that to rec-
Amsterdam: Harwood, 1998.
ognize the Palestinian Authority is to recognize the
Shaul, Mishal. The Palestinian Hamas: Vision, Violence,
Oslo Peace Accords. Members of Hamas maintain
and Coexistence. New York: Columbia University Press,
that they will never be drawn into a civil war with
c. 2000.
Arafat’s Palestinian Authority, despite their ideolog- Timmerman, Kenneth R. In Their Own Words: Interviews
ical differences. With Leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the
Muslim Brotherhood: Damascus, Amman, and Gaza.
Los Angeles: Simon Wiesenthal Center, c. 1994.
PEACE PROCESS HALTED
Hamas succeeded in bringing the peace process to a
halt in the late 1990s, carrying out multiple bus bomb- HANAFI MUSLIM MOVEMENT
ings that killed nearly 60 Israelis in 1996, and attacks
in 1997 in Jerusalem that killed 15. These attacks
were said to be in retaliation for the Israeli assassina- The Hanafi Muslim Movement was founded in
tion of Hamas commander Yahya Ayyash, known as 1958 by Khalifa Hamaas Abdul Khaalis (ne Ernest
“the Engineer,” who was killed by the blast of a tiny Timothy McGee). Khaalis was an African American
bomb hidden in a cellular phone. Muslim who had joined the New York-based Hanafi
During the 2000 intifada, Israeli, U.S., and other Madh-Hab Center in 1947. The center was a peaceful
international officials called on Arafat to take greater institution dedicated to the study and teaching of the
steps to control Hamas as the group’s deadly attacks Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence.
became increasingly frequent. After a December 2001 The Hanafi school was founded in eighth-century
bus bombing that killed 10 people in Israel, Arafat Baghdad by the noted legal scholar Abu al-Hanafa.
ordered the closing of all Hamas and Palestinian It was initially involved in developing court of law
Islamic Jihad offices and arrested several Hamas procedures and rules of evidence for the rapidly
political leaders and many group members. When expanding Islamic Abbasid Empire. Considered the
Palestinian Authority attempts to place Yassin under least “fundamentalist” of the four major schools of
house arrest caused riots, the Hamas spiritual leader Islamic jurisprudence, the Hanafi legal system and
ultimately agreed to a “voluntary” house arrest. interpretations of Islamic law became the preeminent
At the close of 2001, the FBI called for the seizure throughout the Ottoman Empire.
of assets of a Texas charity accused of funding Hamas
and publicly tallied Hamas’s terrorist acts during INVOLVEMENT WITH
the most recent intifada: 20 bombings, 2 shootings, a THE NATION OF ISLAM
kidnapping, and a mortar attack between October 1,
2000, and September 10, 2001. These attacks killed In 1950, Khaalis joined the Nation of Islam in an
77 and wounded 547. Hamas carried out many more attempt to bring its teachings into line with orthodox
attacks during the spring of 2002. Islam. At that time, the Nation of Islam taught a kind
of Islam that was considered heretical by most
See also YASIR ARAFAT; YAHYA AYYASH; MOSSAD; Muslim leaders. In 1956, Khaalis became the national
PALESTINIAN ISLAMIC JIHAD; SUICIDE TERRORISM secretary of the Nation of Islam.