MEMRI: "Suicide bombing the most lofty form of Jihad"

Following are excerpts from an interview with Ja’far Abd Al-Salam, secretary-general of the Islamic Universities Association, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on January 21, 2013.

Ja’far Abd Al-Salam: The spirit of resistance is nurtured by the ideology of Islam. “Allah purchased from the believers their lives and their property, in return for Paradise.” For a Muslim, life is worthless unless it is given away and spent for the sake of Allah. This culture is nurtured by Islam and by patriotism.

[…]

Only great pain makes a great man. The great pain of martyrdom leads to the great reward of Paradise. Brother, this culture does not exist in the West, because Westerners value human life very much.

Interviewer: They focus on the material at the expense of the spiritual.

Ja’far Abd Al-Salam: Maybe you have noticed that the thing that frightens the Jews, or Zionists, most of all is being killed. We do not have this kind of fear.

[…]

It is certain that Islam views [suicide operations] as sacrifice and as the most lofty form of Jihad.

How Do You Reason With This? This video is just a big bowl of depravity.

PMW: Palestinian Arab mother proudly places suicide belt on her son

From Palestinian Media Watch: The Facebook page for Fatah in Lebanon has posted this picture of a mother dressing her young son with a suicide belt. This picture was posted on the Fatah site together with an imaginary conversation between the son who is being sent to his death and the mother encouraging it.

"My mother dressed me in a strange belt (i.e., a suicide belt).
I asked her: 'What is this, mother?'
She said: 'I will put it on you and you will go to your death!'
I said to her: 'Mother, what have I done that you want me to die?'
She shed a tear that hurt my heart and said: 'The homeland needs you, son. Go and blow up the sons of Zion.'
I said to her: 'Why me and not you?'
She said: 'I will stay in order to give birth to more children for the sake of Palestine.'
I kissed her hand and said to her: 'Keep it up, mother, for you and for Palestine I will kill the impure and the damned.'"

[Fatah-Lebanon's Facebook page,

posted Sept. 3, 2012, accessed Oct. 28, 2012]

That photo has been going around the Internet for a couple of years; not sure where it originally came from.  PMW gives lots of other examples of encouraging children to kill themselves for the cause.

Inside the mind of a suicide bomber

MEMRI: Al Azhar cleric says suicide bombings are a religious duty

Following are excerpts from a program featuring Egyptian cleric Hashem Islam Ali Islam, a member of the Fatwa Committee of Al-Azhar, which aired on Al Aqsa TV on July 12, 2012.

I say to people who object to martyrdom operations that martyrdom operations are among the deeds most pleasing to Allah.

They constitute a religious duty in this day and age, in order to strike at the Zionist enemy.

In Egypt, Al Azhar is considered to represent moderate, mainstream Islam.

But it is possible that the quote is out of context. After all, he only mentions "the Zionist enemy," so perhaps he is only justifying blowing up Jewish women and children.

Which isn't really controversial at all, is it?