Can a Mother Pray for Her Son to Die as a Martyr? Palestinians Can

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is incredibly effective at brainwashing people across the generational spectrum to believe that achieving martyrdom, i.e., dying for Allah, is of supreme value.

Official Palestinian TV broadcasts this messaging regularly, making it difficult to miss. On the Moons of Palestine program, which focuses on promoting martyrdom, Hussein Fawaqa reminisced about how his terrorist brother, Muhammad, would tell his mother from a young age that she would miss him after he dies as a Martyr:

Hussein Fawaqa, brother of terrorist Muhammad Fawaqa: “Praise Allah’s name, He chose [Muhammad Fawaqa], and He chose a path for him that everyone wishes for but not everyone achieves. Ever since he was little he always would talk about Martyrdom: ‘I will die as a Martyr and you will miss me’… He wished for it and he achieved it…”

[Official PA TV, Moons of Palestine, April 9, 2024]

Fawaqa’s mother not only expressed pride about her son’s desires but prayed that her son’s request to die as a martyr would be granted:

“Um Hussein,” mother of terrorist Muhammad Fawaqa: “He would always tell me: ‘I want to be a Martyr, pray for me, mom, that I will die as a Martyr.’ I would tell him: ‘You’re making a precious request of me’; the truth is I prayed for him [that he be granted Martyrdom].” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV, Moons of Palestine, April 9, 2024]

Muhammad Fawaqa is a 21-year-old Palestinian terrorist who was killed while participating in violent confrontations with Israeli forces north of Ramallah on Oct. 18, 2023.

And Muhammad Fawaqa’s mother is not the only mother openly declaring how she wanted her son to die.

Uday Al-Zayyat’s mother also told Moons of Palestine about how she wanted her son to be a Martyr and that all the little children of the neighborhood want to become Martyrs as well, just like her son:

Mother of terrorist Uday Al-Zayyat “Abu Saqr”: “I told him: ‘Get married, let me hold your child.’ He said: ‘Allah willing, in Paradise’. I thought he was just saying that, and every time I said: ‘Get married,’ he would say: ‘In Paradise.’ … I congratulate him on the Martyrdom he achieved…

He would say: ‘Mom, don’t be sad, our paths are the paths of Martyrdom.’ …He only thought about the situation and the occupation [i.e., Israel] …

Ask the children of the neighborhood: ‘What do you want to be?’ [They say:] ‘Like [Uday] “Abu Saqr.”’ I ask: ‘What does that mean, like “Abu Saqr”?’ They are little and say: ‘He fought and went to Paradise, and we will fight and go to Paradise.’ … ‘I want my son to be a Martyr, this is [a source of] pride for Palestine and for me.’” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV, Moons of Palestine, March 19, 2024]

Uday Al-Zayyat “Abu Saqr” is a Palestinian terrorist and co-founder of a local terror cell who was killed together with five other terrorists in an Israeli drone strike in the Tulkarem refugee camp on Nov. 22, 2023.

On yet another episode of Moons of Palestine, Yanal Samhan, the granddaughter of terrorist Jihad Al-Abd Rushd Samhan, demonstrated how this ideal of Martyrdom gets spread across the generations:

I’m very happy that he’s my grandfather. I’m very proud of him … I’m happy that Allah chose us to be the family of a Martyr …He was a great leader, a Jihad fighter, a self-sacrificing fighter…He really loved to see people doing Jihad for Allah. Given how he loved this matter and aspired to Martyrdom, Allah chose him.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV, Moons of Palestine, April 8, 2024]

Jihad Al-Abd Rushd Samhanis was a Palestinian terrorist, PA Preventive Security Forces member, and Fatah member who was arrested in 1988 and served 10 months in prison for his role as a terror leader in a wave of Palestinian violence and terror against Israel, in which approximately 200 Israelis were murdered (the first Intifada, 1987-1993). Samhan was arrested again in 1992 on charges of terror activity, but was released in 1994 in a prisoner exchange deal, and joined the PA Preventive Security Forces the same year. Samhan was killed on Sept. 26, 1996, while attacking Israeli soldiers during the Western Wall Tunnel Intifada.

As if sacrificing one child on the altar of martyrdom were not enough, one father also prayed that his second son would become a Martyr as well.

In an interview on official PA TV, Yasser As’ous shared how he stood over the grave of one of his sons who had already been killed while shooting at Israeli soldiers and prayed that his other son, who was injured at the time, should die as a Martyr rather than recuperate.

Yasser As’ous: “The second [child], Allah willing, Allah will grant him Martyrdom. Allah willing, now before I leave [the cemetery], Allah will inform me that he became a Martyr. Praise Allah Master of the Universe, our God chose them.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Facebook page, Jan. 8, 2024]

Hazza Darwish, Rami Darwish, Ahmed Darwish, Alaa Darwish, Rizq Suleiman, Muhammad As’ous, and Wadi’ As’ous are Palestinian terrorists who shot and threw explosives at Israeli forces conducting a counter-terror operation in the Jenin refugee camp on Jan. 7, 2024. The terrorists were killed in an Israeli airstrike, thereby ending their attack. During the confrontations, Israeli border policewoman Shay Germay, 19, was killed and three other border police officers were wounded by an explosive.

The PA through all its outlets indoctrinates its population, especially its children, to die as Martyrs.

This has not changed ever since Palestinian Media Watch wrote in the The Jerusalem Post about the PA’s child soldier strategy. It has not changed ever since former Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) coined it “civilization abuse.” And it has not changed now with the PA’s supposed “revitalization.”

Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Itamar Marcus is PMW’s Founder and Director. A version of this article originally appeared at PMW.

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