CHAPTER 44: Remembering ......Sheikh Ahmad Yassin (1936-2004)

“The Palestinian people have two choices; either they surrender
or they continue to resist.” – Sheikh Ahmed Yassin

My first glance of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was years ago, while watching television, CNN. It showed some men (middle-aged) rushing through a packed crowd, in a Palestinian street, at what was a dark, night environment. The men were rushing and had a big sense of urgency and seriousness on their faces. In the middle of them, there was a man who was carrying an old, feeble man on a wheelchair. That old man dressed up unlike the other men, as he wore something like the Arabic jubah. Unlike the other men at that time, this old man had the expression of tranquility and serenity, even though the circumstances at that moment seemed to be of danger and obscurity.

He was a weak, old man. But he was a man that lived an arduous and tough life. He was among the generation who had lived through the ‘Nakba’ – the Palestinian Holocaust. Throughout his lifetime, he became a voice of hope, for thousands of people.
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

The killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin 2 years ago sparked outrage among those who fight and strive for the freedom and justice of Palestine. Not only for Palestine, but also for the Muslim community around the world, for Islam, and for freedom against extreme oppression of the Zionist order.
The founder, pioneer and leader of the ‘Harawakah al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyah’ - (HAMAS) was always a target for the Israeli authorities, ever since he led the party to prominence for the Palestinian uprising against the Israelis. And he was labeled as terrorist always, and that labeled as terrorist of the highest order (especially by the Zionist parties as well as the rest of Europe, and America…who are with the side of Israel).

But people who don’t know about Yassin doesn’t even know that he himself has never been a soldier or involved in army. Because Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was a man who had been a disabled and paralyzed ever since he was young. But yet, with his fragile body (and with the need to constantly be carried around on a wheelchair), this man had become the voice of the struggle and hope against the Jewish occupiers in the land of Palestine. When Arafat and the PLO were struggling themselves, it was Yassin, and together with the other pioneers of HAMAS, they led the uprising to fight back against Israel’s tyranny on their people.

It’s hard to describe why one should be with the side of HAMAS, when you think that western media always portray them as terrorist killing people, bombing innocent citizens, creating tremor amongst the Jewish community in the cities of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and all, .but what people (non-Muslims especially) don’t really know is the truth that occurs in Israel and Palestine throughout the past and this time. The maltreated of the Palestinians are unknown to the world (save for some that fight for the cause), as we are living in a world where the price of freedom and equality is controlled.

And Sheikh Ahmed Yassin is among those who seek in breaking that control.
Yasin fought for a cause. He fought for the integrity and dignity of Islam, of his country, and of his fellow countrymen.
The Israelis authorities come up with their army, their weapons, their sophisticated machine guns, their tanks, their jet fighters, their missiles and their rockets.
Yet, the people of Palestine have been holding them off with less than what the Israelis possess, which is added with the fuel of hate of oppression & occupation and the hunger of justness to be free. An this have been evidently stood through the test of time….and a big part of that is thanks to the leadership and fighting spirit of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

A religious and devout Muslim, Yassin (whose thinking and character was greatly influenced by Ikhwanul Muslimin) contributed greatly in the freedom against Israel.
He had been arrested and sent to jail numerous time by the Israeli authorities, even with his weak and disabled body. But that didn’t deter him from his beliefs.
He worked hard to ignite jihad among Palestinians against the Israeli terror. Yasin was very committed and his attitude of not giving up made him a role model for Palestinians.
He was, will forever be, one of Palestine’s voices.

22^nd March 2004, after leaving a mosque after finishing Subuh prayers, Yassin, along with 6 other people, was killed by a missile from an American Apache copter belonging to Israel.
3 missiles were fired from the copter, and one of them was said to have hit Yasin exactly.
The sky at that morning was said as turned dark at that moment, and his funeral later was accompanied by extremely vast amount of raged Palestinians.
The martyrdom of this man will never be forgotten.

“Kematian yang sungguh indah bagi pejuang agung yang menghabiskan seluruh hidupnya untuk jihad.” – Yusuf al-Qardhawi

1936 - 2004

The assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin