Nizar Rayan
Encyclopedia
Nizar Rayan (March 6, 1959–January 1, 2009) was a top Hamas
leader who served as a liaison between the Palestinian
organization's political leadership and its military wing. Also a professor of Islamic law
, he came to be considered a top clerical authority within Hamas after the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin
in 2004. Rayan was a strong advocate between 1994 and 2004 or 2005 of suicide attacks on Israel, and his son killed himself on one such mission. Rayan and most of his family were killed in an Israeli airstrike during the Gaza War.
, Gaza Strip
on March 6, 1959. In 1982, he received a BA
in Religious Principles from the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While there he was influenced by Wahhabism. He then attended the University of Jordan
in Amman
and in 1990 received a masters
degree with honors. In 1994, Rayan completed his PhD
in Islamic studies
at the Omdurman Islamic University
in Omdurman, Sudan. His dissertation topic was Future of Islam: Objective Analysis.
After his studies, Rayan returned to Gaza and was employed as a preacher at several local mosque
s, Jabalia's Imad Aqil Mosque (also known as the "Mosque of martyrs") among them. He later became a professor of Islamic law
at the Islamic University of Gaza
. Rayan was a leading authority on Hadith
(sayings of the Islamic prophet Muhammad), and he amassed a 5,000-book library in his home. An Israeli intelligence source describes Rayan as a strong opponent of Shia Islam, who opposed allowing the Shia branch of Islam to establish a foothold in Palestinian territories.
Eventually, according to the Jerusalem Post, Rayan became an important leader in Hamas, in particular a spiritual leader of Hamas's military wing, and he regularly went on patrol with Hamas militia after delivering lectures at the Islamic University. He arguably became Hamas's leading clerical authority after an Israeli airstrike killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004.
Rayan and Hamas began to strongly advocate for suicide bombing attacks to be carried out against Israel in 1994. According to Chris Hedges
who interviewed him, Rayan constantly recalled that Hamas, "began to target Israeli civilians in 1994 only after Palestinian worshipers were gunned down in a Hebron
mosque by a Jewish settler, Baruch Goldstein
."
In 2001, with Rayan's backing his 22-year-old son went on a suicide bombing mission in which he died and killed two Israelis at the former Israeli settlement
Elei Sinai
in the Gaza Strip. Rayan is alleged to have directed the 2004 Ashdod Port attack
which killed ten people. Hamas ceased its suicide attacks against Israel in 2005, but Rayan advocated for their renewal after the 2008-2009 Gaza conflict began.
Rayan was one of the principal architects of the 2007 Battle of Gaza, in which Fatah
security forces were routed and between 116 and 400 Fatah
and Hamas
fighters and civilians lost their lives. Both Hamas and Fatah were accused of atrocities, including torture, during that conflict. According to The Jerusalem Post
, Rayan, "boasted that the Strip had been 'cleansed' of 'traitors' and 'CIA agents' - a reference to Abbas and his former security chiefs." According to a Hamas spokesperson, it's possible the Fatah-dominated Palestinian National Authority
asked Israel to kill Rayan due to his role in the Hamas-Fatah clashes. He added that Rayan was one of the main reasons why many of Mahmoud Abbas
's men "did not sleep well at night."
Rayan was fundamentally opposed to the state of Israel. According to writer Jeffrey Goldberg
, he at one time stated, "True Islam would never allow a Jewish state to survive in the Muslim Middle East. Israel is an impossibility. It is an offense against God." Goldberg also reported that Rayan said he believed Jews are a "cursed people" some of whom were transformed into pigs and apes by Allah
, and that Jews must pay for murdering the prophets of Islam and "closing [their] ears to the Messenger of Allah."
Rayan married four women with whom he had twelve children.
members expressed fear that Hamas would transform Gaza into a Taliban-style Islamic emirate with Iranian and Syrian support.
Rayan was killed in an Israeli Air Force
strike on 1 January 2009 during the Gaza War. The day before the attack, Rayan had advocated renewal of suicide attacks on Israel, declaring, "Our only language with the Jew is through the gun". A 2,000-pound bomb was dropped on his house by an Israeli F-16 fighter jet, also killing his 4 wives (Hiam 'Abdul Rahman Rayan, 46; Iman Khalil Rayan, 46; Nawal Isma'il Rayan, 40; and Sherine Sa'id Rayan, 25) and 11 of their children (As'ad, 2; Usama Ibn Zaid, 3; 'Aisha, 3; Reem, 4; Miriam, 5; Halima, 5; 'Abdul Rahman, 6; Abdul Qader, 12; Aaya, 12; Zainab, 15; and Ghassan, 16).
Unlike other Hamas leaders at risk of being targeted by Israel, Rayan did not go underground after the armed conflict with Israel began in late December. According to a Hamas spokesperson and Rayyan's son, the IDF warned Rayan, by contacting his cell phone, that an attack on his house was imminent. An Israeli military spokesperson interviewed by The International Herald Tribune "could not give details or specify whether Rayyan's family had been warned."
Israeli security sources stated that Rayan's house, at the time of the attack, was an arms warehouse and government communications center, and contained a tunnel opening. The sources also stated that a weapons stockpile in the house triggered many secondary explosions immediately after the missile attack. The New York Daily News commented that Rayan had "sacrificed his children - in a vain attempt to protect a weapons cache beneath his home." Israeli security forces legal officials regard striking homes used for weapons storage, when sufficient warning is given to the residents, as falling within the boundaries of international law and a legitimate act of war. However, according to B'Tselem
(The Israeli Center for Human Rights Information in the Occupied Territories), even if the Israeli charge that Rayan's house was a munitions warehouse were true, the large number of civilian lives taken rendered the attack "a grave breach of international humanitarian law." The Israeli NGO added that, given the Israeli military "knew or should have known" that civilians had not left Rayan's house, warning Rayan of the impending attack did not exempt Israeli forces from responsibility for the civilian deaths. According to the Israeli Government report published in July 2009, Nizar Rayan was not the target of the attack; instead, the operational goal of the strike was to destroy Hamas’ central compound which included several buildings that served as storage sites for weapons. The report further states that specific phone calls to the residents of the targeted buildings were made, as well as two rounds of preliminary warning shots, 13 minutes and 9 minutes before the strike, were fired; a group of the residents leaving the building were seen by IDF surveillance, leading to a reasonable conclusion that the buildings were empty. The IDF suggests that in this case laws of armed conflict were not violated, as the strike was directed at proper military objective and at-risk civilians were issued effective advance warnings.
Rayan was the most senior Hamas member killed since Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi
was killed in Israeli airstrikes in 2004. Hamas said that Israel would pay a "heavy price" for his death.
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
leader who served as a liaison between the Palestinian
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
organization's political leadership and its military wing. Also a professor of Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
, he came to be considered a top clerical authority within Hamas after the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin
Ahmed Yassin
Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin was a founder of Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian paramilitary organization and political party. Yassin also served as the spiritual leader of the organization...
in 2004. Rayan was a strong advocate between 1994 and 2004 or 2005 of suicide attacks on Israel, and his son killed himself on one such mission. Rayan and most of his family were killed in an Israeli airstrike during the Gaza War.
Personal life and background
Rayan was born in JabaliaJabalia
Jabalia also Jabalya is a Palestinian city located north of Gaza City. It is under the jurisdiction of the North Gaza Governorate, in the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Jabalia had a population of 82,877 in mid-year 2006...
, Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
on March 6, 1959. In 1982, he received a BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Religious Principles from the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While there he was influenced by Wahhabism. He then attended the University of Jordan
University of Jordan
The University of Jordan , is a government-supported University located in Amman, Jordan...
in Amman
Amman
Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...
and in 1990 received a masters
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
degree with honors. In 1994, Rayan completed his PhD
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in Islamic studies
Islamic studies
In a Muslim context, Islamic studies can be an umbrella term for all virtually all of academia, both originally researched and as defined by the Islamization of knowledge...
at the Omdurman Islamic University
Omdurman Islamic University
Omdurman Islamic University is built on an area of size about 500 acres in Omdurman, Sudan. The school is basically oriented toward Islamic studies, yet, it serves other fields of studies as well such as engineering , agriculture and medicine ....
in Omdurman, Sudan. His dissertation topic was Future of Islam: Objective Analysis.
After his studies, Rayan returned to Gaza and was employed as a preacher at several local mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s, Jabalia's Imad Aqil Mosque (also known as the "Mosque of martyrs") among them. He later became a professor of Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
at the Islamic University of Gaza
Islamic University of Gaza
Islamic University of Gaza is an independent Palestinian university established in 1978 in Gaza City, Palestinian territories. The university, according to its website, has 10 faculties capable of awarding either B.A., B.Sc., M.A., M.Sc., Diploma and higher diploma in their respective disciplines...
. Rayan was a leading authority on Hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
(sayings of the Islamic prophet Muhammad), and he amassed a 5,000-book library in his home. An Israeli intelligence source describes Rayan as a strong opponent of Shia Islam, who opposed allowing the Shia branch of Islam to establish a foothold in Palestinian territories.
Eventually, according to the Jerusalem Post, Rayan became an important leader in Hamas, in particular a spiritual leader of Hamas's military wing, and he regularly went on patrol with Hamas militia after delivering lectures at the Islamic University. He arguably became Hamas's leading clerical authority after an Israeli airstrike killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004.
Rayan and Hamas began to strongly advocate for suicide bombing attacks to be carried out against Israel in 1994. According to Chris Hedges
Chris Hedges
Christopher Lynn Hedges is an American journalist, author, and war correspondent, specializing in American and Middle Eastern politics and societies...
who interviewed him, Rayan constantly recalled that Hamas, "began to target Israeli civilians in 1994 only after Palestinian worshipers were gunned down in a Hebron
Hebron
Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
mosque by a Jewish settler, Baruch Goldstein
Baruch Goldstein
Baruch Kopel Goldstein was an American-born Jewish Israeli physician and mass murderer who perpetrated the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in the city of Hebron, killing 29 Palestinian Muslim worshipers and wounding another 125....
."
In 2001, with Rayan's backing his 22-year-old son went on a suicide bombing mission in which he died and killed two Israelis at the former Israeli settlement
Israeli settlement
An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
Elei Sinai
Elei Sinai
Elei Sinai was an Israeli settlement in the north of Gaza Strip. It was established in 1982 by a group who had been evicted from Yamit. It was named for the yearning to return to the Sinai desert, where Yamit was located....
in the Gaza Strip. Rayan is alleged to have directed the 2004 Ashdod Port attack
Ashdod Port attack
The 2004 Ashdod Port bombings were two suicide bombings carried out nearly simultaneously on March 14, 2004 at the Port of Ashdod in Ashdod, Israel. 10 people were killed in the attack, and 16 were injured...
which killed ten people. Hamas ceased its suicide attacks against Israel in 2005, but Rayan advocated for their renewal after the 2008-2009 Gaza conflict began.
Rayan was one of the principal architects of the 2007 Battle of Gaza, in which Fatah
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
security forces were routed and between 116 and 400 Fatah
Fatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
and Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
fighters and civilians lost their lives. Both Hamas and Fatah were accused of atrocities, including torture, during that conflict. According to The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on December 1, 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. The daily readership numbers do not approach those of the major Hebrew newspapers....
, Rayan, "boasted that the Strip had been 'cleansed' of 'traitors' and 'CIA agents' - a reference to Abbas and his former security chiefs." According to a Hamas spokesperson, it's possible the Fatah-dominated Palestinian National Authority
Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
asked Israel to kill Rayan due to his role in the Hamas-Fatah clashes. He added that Rayan was one of the main reasons why many of Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas , also known by the kunya Abu Mazen , has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation since 11 November 2004 and became President of the Palestinian National Authority on 15 January 2005 on the Fatah ticket.Elected to serve until 9 January 2009, he unilaterally...
's men "did not sleep well at night."
Rayan was fundamentally opposed to the state of Israel. According to writer Jeffrey Goldberg
Jeffrey Goldberg
Jeffrey Mark Goldberg is an American journalist. He is an author and a staff writer for The Atlantic, having previously worked for The New Yorker. Goldberg writes principally on foreign affairs, with a focus on the Middle East and Africa...
, he at one time stated, "True Islam would never allow a Jewish state to survive in the Muslim Middle East. Israel is an impossibility. It is an offense against God." Goldberg also reported that Rayan said he believed Jews are a "cursed people" some of whom were transformed into pigs and apes by Allah
Allah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
, and that Jews must pay for murdering the prophets of Islam and "closing [their] ears to the Messenger of Allah."
Rayan married four women with whom he had twelve children.
Islamization of the Gaza Strip
Following the 2007 takeover of Gaza, Rayan said that "In a few hours, the secular era in Gaza will end without leaving a trace... Today heresy ends. Today the struggle is between Islam and the infidels, and it will end with the victory of the faith." He added that he will transform the PA security forces headquarters in Gaza to a mosque. Following the speech, FatahFatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
members expressed fear that Hamas would transform Gaza into a Taliban-style Islamic emirate with Iranian and Syrian support.
Israeli attack
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...
strike on 1 January 2009 during the Gaza War. The day before the attack, Rayan had advocated renewal of suicide attacks on Israel, declaring, "Our only language with the Jew is through the gun". A 2,000-pound bomb was dropped on his house by an Israeli F-16 fighter jet, also killing his 4 wives (Hiam 'Abdul Rahman Rayan, 46; Iman Khalil Rayan, 46; Nawal Isma'il Rayan, 40; and Sherine Sa'id Rayan, 25) and 11 of their children (As'ad, 2; Usama Ibn Zaid, 3; 'Aisha, 3; Reem, 4; Miriam, 5; Halima, 5; 'Abdul Rahman, 6; Abdul Qader, 12; Aaya, 12; Zainab, 15; and Ghassan, 16).
Unlike other Hamas leaders at risk of being targeted by Israel, Rayan did not go underground after the armed conflict with Israel began in late December. According to a Hamas spokesperson and Rayyan's son, the IDF warned Rayan, by contacting his cell phone, that an attack on his house was imminent. An Israeli military spokesperson interviewed by The International Herald Tribune "could not give details or specify whether Rayyan's family had been warned."
Israeli security sources stated that Rayan's house, at the time of the attack, was an arms warehouse and government communications center, and contained a tunnel opening. The sources also stated that a weapons stockpile in the house triggered many secondary explosions immediately after the missile attack. The New York Daily News commented that Rayan had "sacrificed his children - in a vain attempt to protect a weapons cache beneath his home." Israeli security forces legal officials regard striking homes used for weapons storage, when sufficient warning is given to the residents, as falling within the boundaries of international law and a legitimate act of war. However, according to B'Tselem
B'Tselem
B'Tselem is an Israeli non-governmental organization . It calls itself "The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories"...
(The Israeli Center for Human Rights Information in the Occupied Territories), even if the Israeli charge that Rayan's house was a munitions warehouse were true, the large number of civilian lives taken rendered the attack "a grave breach of international humanitarian law." The Israeli NGO added that, given the Israeli military "knew or should have known" that civilians had not left Rayan's house, warning Rayan of the impending attack did not exempt Israeli forces from responsibility for the civilian deaths. According to the Israeli Government report published in July 2009, Nizar Rayan was not the target of the attack; instead, the operational goal of the strike was to destroy Hamas’ central compound which included several buildings that served as storage sites for weapons. The report further states that specific phone calls to the residents of the targeted buildings were made, as well as two rounds of preliminary warning shots, 13 minutes and 9 minutes before the strike, were fired; a group of the residents leaving the building were seen by IDF surveillance, leading to a reasonable conclusion that the buildings were empty. The IDF suggests that in this case laws of armed conflict were not violated, as the strike was directed at proper military objective and at-risk civilians were issued effective advance warnings.
Rayan was the most senior Hamas member killed since Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi
Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi
Dr. Abdel Aziz Ali Abdulmajid al-Rantissi ; 23 October 1947 – 17 April 2004) was the co-founder of the militant Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin....
was killed in Israeli airstrikes in 2004. Hamas said that Israel would pay a "heavy price" for his death.
See also
- Khalid Ibrahim Ahmed Hyacinth AlasiriKhalid Ibrahim Ahmed Hyacinth AlasiriIbrahim Hassan al-Asiri is a citizen of Saudi Arabia. He is suspected of being chief bomb-maker of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, responsible for making the bombs in his brother's suicide bombing, the 2009 Christmas Day bomb plot, and the 2010 cargo plane bomb plot.-Biography:The Saudi Gazette...
, who successfully recruited his brother for a suicide bombing mission