Mothers Express Joy
at son’s Death for Allah
In order to present Shahada (Martyrdom for Allah) -seeking as a popular and broad-based phenomenon, the Palestinian Authority gives significant media prominence to parents who praise their childrens' choice to die as shahids, or holy martyrs. "The best Mother's day present I got this year was the death as a shahid of Abbas" said one mother, quoted in the official Palestinian Authority daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, on March 21, 2001.
Mother of Suicide Terrorist: Son's Shahada
[death for Allah], is a "wedding," a time of joy.
Moderator: "They [Israelis] accuse the Palestinian mother of hating her sons and of encouraging them to die. This is what we hear from Israelis. Is this true?
Um Al-Ajrami: "No, we do not encourage our sons to die. We encourage them to Shahada for the homeland, for Allah." "We don't say to the mothers of the shahids, 'We have come to comfort you,' but 'We have come to bless you on the wedding of your son, on the Shahada of your son. Congratulations to you on the Shahada...' For us, the mourning is joyous. We give out drinks, we give out sweets. Praise to God - the mourning is a joyous occasion" [PATV, November 17, 2004]
Parting Ceremony
Some suicide terror attacks are preceded by a parting ceremony of the terrorist from his mother. One such ceremony of a 17-year-old, before his suicide mission in which he killed five Israeli teenagers, was broadcast on ANN TV. Narrator: "In a silence filled with tears, with a mother's warm longing, his mother hugged him good-bye at length, planting the parting kiss on his cheeks before their final parting, [and] ordering him not to not to return to her except as a shahid. Seeing this [parting] is more than words. The last moments of Um-Nidal with her son, the youngest [age 17] Shahada-Seeker, the newest general, to join the ranks of Shahada-Seekers.
Um-Nidal after the son achieved Shahada:
"I gave my son to Jihad for Allah. It is a our religious obligation . If I wanted to have compassion for him, or to make him to change his mind, it would be wrong, a mistake. I don't want to be guided by my feeling, a mother's feelings. I put them aside for a while for something greater. Although this is connected to a mother's feelings. Why? Because I love my son and I want to choose the best for him and the best is not life in this world. No, for us there is an afterlife, the eternal bliss. So if I love my son, I will choose eternal bliss for him". [Arab News Network TV, March 2002]
Why Mother's Express Joy News of Son's Shahada
A mother explains: "Mothers make sounds of joy [on their son's Shahada] because she wants him to reach Shahada... I wanted the best for him... [it was] honor for us."Moderator: "A Shahid's mother parts from her son with sounds of joy. Not because she doesn't love him. Did you make sounds of joy?"
Mother: "Yes, I did. A mother makes sounds of joy because she wants him to reach Shahada. He became a shahid for Allah Almighty. I wanted the best for him, this is the best for [my son] Shaadi. When he became a shahid, the Shahada was not only for him but also for us, pride for us, honor for us. People started looking at us [saying], 'This is the shahid's brother,' 'This is the shahid's mother,' 'This is the shahid's sister.' The pride was for the whole family, not just for Shaadi." [PA TV, November 28, 2003]
So remember, Honor your mother!!