Izz Ad-Din Al-Qassam - Early Life and Muslim Scholarship

Early Life and Muslim Scholarship

Al-Qassam was born in Jableh, Syria in the northern Latakia Governorate as the son of Abd al-Qadar, a Sharia court official during Ottoman rule and a local leader of the Qadari Sufi order. His grandfather had been a leading sheikh of the Qadari order and moved to Jableh from Iraq. Al-Qassam also followed the Hanafi school of jurisprudence (fiqh) and studied at the Istambuli Mosque under the teaching of well-known 'alim ("scholar") Sheikh Salim Tayarah.

Sometime between 1902 and 1905, al-Qassam left for Cairo to study at the al-Azhar Mosque. Who he studied with is controversial, some accounts say he studied under reformist Salafi scholar Muhammad Abduh and came into contact with another prominent Salafi, Rashid Rida, while others are sceptical. At al-Azhar, al-Qassam developed the thinking that would guide his future activism. Critical of a stagnant Islam, he preached among the ranks of the poor peasantry and fringe dwellers in urbane slums of the necessity for a modern Islam, one capable of defending itself from Western colonialism through jihad. He returned to Jableh in 1909 as a 'alim and served as a teacher at a Qadari madrasa ("Islamic school") where he taught both the mystical practices of the Sufi and the jurisprudence and commentary of the Qur'an. In addition he preached as the imam of the Ibrahim Ibn Adham Mosque.

Following his return to Jableh, al-Qassam commenced a program of Islamic revival based on moral reforms which included the encouragement of maintaining regular salaah ("prayer") and the sawm ("fast") during Ramadan as well as advocating an end to gambling and alcohol consumption. Al-Qassam's campaign highly influenced Jableh's residents who increasingly adopted his reforms. He developed amiable relations with the local Ottoman police who he would call upon to enforce Sharia law on rare cases of major violations. In some occasions, he would send disciples as vigilantes to intercept caravans transporting alcohol which would then be disposed of. Despite the support for Arab nationalism from some of his fellow alumni at al-Azhar and among Syrian notables, al-Qassam's loyalties most likely laid with the Ottoman Empire as his relationship with the authorities would indicate. He was well-regarded among much of Jableh's population where he gained a reputation for piety, simple manners and good humor.