Islamic scholar’s ‘fatwa’ criticising October 7 attack echoes growing unhappiness in Gaza towards Hamas

An Islamic scholar in Gaza has issued a legal ruling – or fatwa – denouncing the October 7 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas. Salman al-Dayah’s fatwa condemned Hamas’s actions for violating Islamic principles governing jihad, because they resulted in harm to Israeli and Gazan civilians.

The term “jihad” is applied to the religious struggle for self-improvement, as well as armed combat. In times of war, jihad principles strictly prohibit harm to civilians, including women and children.

BBC reports describe Dayah as one of the region’s most respected religious authorities, with ties to the Salafi movement in Gaza. Salafism is a type of Islam that seeks to emulate the practices of the Prophet Mohammed and his followers. Dayah appears to be a pacifist from the Salafism’s “quietist” tradition, which shuns political activism.

Nevertheless, Dayah has a history of intervening in politics. In 2007, he issued a fatwa against the kidnapping of British BBC journalist Alan Johnston by Hamas breakaway group the Army of Islam. He later chaired the religious mediation committee that secured Johnston’s release.

More recently, in May 2024, Dayah signed an open letter calling for resistance against the Israeli destruction of Palestinian universities. Reports suggest he still resides in northern Gaza, despite the destruction and forced evacuation of many civilians by Israeli forces.

This fatwa is significant for at least three reasons. First, the ruling suggests divided opinion about Hamas’s actions among Gaza’s population of 2.2 million. Second, the fatwa represents the latest attempt by prominent Islamic scholars to develop a form of counter-terrorism rooted in religious teaching. And third, the condemnation of the October 7 attacks opens up debates on whether criticism of Hamas – proscribed by the US and UK governments as a terrorist organisation – risks undermining efforts to secure justice and prosperity for all Palestinians.

Within the 5.2 million population of Gaza and the West Bank, over 99% of Muslims identify as Sunni. Sunnis are Islam’s largest denomination, making up between 84% and 87% of the global Muslim population.

Less than 1% of Muslims in Gaza and the West Bank identify as Shia, the second-largest denomination, making up around 10% to 13% of all Muslims globally. These demographics are important: despite the overwhelming majority of Palestinians being Sunni, Hamas receives financial and military support from Iran, a Shia-majority country. Iran is home to around one-third of the world’s Shia Muslims.

As a Salafi, Dayah is part of the larger Sunni tradition. One explanation for his fatwa might be that he is attempting to reaffirm Sunnism or Salafism within Gaza, by dividing its citizens on their support for Hamas and its ties to Shia-ruled Iran.

Data published by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (CPSR) thinktank provides clues to the existence of such divides. It’s a complex and surprising picture, but one statistic leaps out: when asked in September 2024 whether Hamas had committed the October 7 atrocities against Israelis shown by international media, including the murder of women and children, 89% of those living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank responded that it had not. Only 8% said it did.

Despite this belief – and while some aspects of support for Hamas remain strong among the people of Gaza – positive attitudes are declining. The same survey showed that while in March 2024, 71% thought Hamas’s decision to launch its October 7 offensive had been “correct”, by September this had fallen to 39%. That month, 80% reported at least one family member having been killed or injured during the war, while 85% reported moving “from one shelter to another” between two and six times.

Asked who will emerge victorious, 28% of Gazans said Hamas, 25% thought Israel, and 45% replied “none of them”. The number of people who want Hamas to continue to govern Gaza fell from 46% in June 2024 to 36% in September, while 37% of Gazans believe the group actually will control Gaza after the war.

There have been anecdotal reports of civilians in Gaza who “despise” Hamas but are too afraid to speak out. In July 2024, the BBC reported widespread public dissatisfaction with Hamas.

The challenges of criticising Hamas

Dayah’s fatwa builds on previous attempts by leading Islamic scholars to develop approaches to countering terrorism that are rooted in Islamic teaching.

In 2010, Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri – a prominent Pakistani scholar and religious leader – published a 600-page Fatwa on Terrorism and Suicide Bombings. Qadri’s book is an unequivocal attack on violence and terrorism. Like Dayah, Qadri points to the strict prohibition against the wartime killing of women and children, and the destruction of places of worship and other buildings.

Condemnation of Hamas was also issued by the Global Imams Council, which holds Hamas “directly responsible for the deaths and suffering of all innocent lives lost since October 7”.

There are obvious sensitivities here. On the one hand, UK politicians from all parties had no hesitation in describing Hamas as “terrorists” in the aftermath of October 7. On the other, the BBC has maintained its strict policy of avoiding the term.

Some view Hamas’s control of Gaza as a byproduct of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. UN secretary general António Guterres attracted criticism after stating that the attacks by Hamas “did not happen in a vaccuum”, and that “the Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation”. Some criticise those who condemn the atrocities of Hamas while saying nothing about the lack of proportionality of Israel’s response.

But regardless of where western sympathies lie, the fatwa and the attitudes of Gazans as revealed by the research data are a reminder that Muslim attitudes and opinions do not form one monolithic block. There are clearly differences of opinion among Gazans and other Palestinians across the region.

The Islamic concept of a worldwide community – or “ummah”’ – is important for millions of people. But notions that Muslims everywhere think and act as one are not supported by the evidence. Such stereotypes are likely to reinforce damaging tropes capable of fuelling prejudices across the Middle East and elsewhere.

The Conversation refers to Hamas as a militant Islamist organisation and notes its designation as a terrorist organisation by the UK and US governments.

Julian Hargreaves is affiliated with the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge