Special Dispatch - Palestinian Authority/Jihad and Terrorism Studies,
4/17/02 , No. 370

Friday Sermon on Palestinian Authority TV

The following are excerpts from a Friday sermon delivered by Palestinian
Authority Imam Sheikh Ibrahim Madhi[1] at the Sheikh 'Ijlin Mosque in Gaza
City, broadcast live on April 12, 2002 by Palestinian Authority television:

".Oh, beloved of Allah. [In the Friday sermon] two weeks ago, I bore in your
name a blessing of love to the crowns upon our heads, [that is] to the Arab
and Muslim rulers. Among other things, I said: 'Oh crowns upon our heads: If
Sharon spat in your faces, what would you do?' Today I apologize for these
words, because Sharon has not only spat on the heads of the nation, but also
trampled us underfoot."

"We are convinced of the [future] victory of Allah; we believe that one of
these days, we will enter Jerusalem as conquerors, enter Jaffa as
conquerors, enter Haifa as conquerors, enter Ramle and Lod as conquerors,
the [villages of] Hirbiya and Dir Jerjis and all of Palestine as conquerors,
as Allah has decree. 'They will enter Al-Aqsa Mosque as they have entered it
the first time.'"

"Anyone who does not attain martyrdom in these days should wake in the
middle of the night and say: 'My God, why have you deprived me of martyrdom
for your sake? For the martyr lives next to Allah'."

"Our enemies suffer now more than we do. Why? Because we are convinced that
our dead go to Paradise, while the dead of the Jews go to Hell, to a cruel
fate. So we stand firm and steadfast, in obedience to Allah."

"The Jews await the false Jewish messiah, while we await, with Allah's help.
the Mahdi and Jesus, peace be upon him. Jesus's pure hands will murder the
false Jewish messiah. Where? In the city of Lod, in Palestine. Palestine
will be, as it was in the past, a graveyard for the invaders - just as it
was a graveyard for the Tatars and to the Crusader invaders, [and for the
invaders] of the old and new colonialism."

"A reliable Hadith [tradition] says: 'The Jews will fight you, but you will
be set to rule over them.' What could be more beautiful than this tradition?
'The Jews will fight you' - that is, the Jews have begun to fight us. 'You
will be set to rule over them' - Who will set the Muslim to rule over the
Jew? Allah. Until the Jew hides behind the rock and the tree."

"But the rock and tree will say: 'Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, a Jew
hides behind me, come and kill him.' Except for the Gharqad tree, which is
the tree of the Jews."

"We believe in this Hadith. We are convinced also that this Hadith heralds
the spread of Islam and its rule over all the land."

"Oh beloved, look to the East of the earth, find Japan and the ocean; look
to the West of the earth, find [some] country and the ocean. Be assured that
these will be owned by the Muslim nation, as the Hadith says. 'from the
ocean to the ocean.'"

"Oh Allah, accept our martyrs in the highest heavens."

"Oh Allah, show the Jews a black day."

"Oh Allah, annihilate the Jews and their supporters."

"Oh Allah, raise the flag of Jihad across the land."

"Oh Allah, forgive our sins."[2]

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[1] Sheikh Ibrahim Madhi is a Palestinian Authority employee.

[2] Palestine Television (Palestinian Authority), April 12, 2002.

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The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent,
non-profit organization that translates and analyzes the media of the Middle
East. Copies of articles and documents cited, as well as background
information, are available on request.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
P.O. Box 27837, Washington, DC 20038-7837
Phone: (202) 955-9070
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