Wife of Hamas Politician Says Woman's Role Is to Instill Love of Jihad and Martyrdom in Her Children

A Palestinian woman named Umm Osama, the wife of Hamas Member of Parliament Khalil Al-Hayya, says in a television interview that a woman's role is to instill a love of jihad and martyrdom in her children.

In an interview that was originally broadcast last month, which the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has now translated, Umm Osama said:

Women in Palestine play a great role in raising their children and in encouraging them to wage Jihad for the sake of Allah. This is absolutely the most glorious thing a woman can do. Women play their role and are not inferior to men. When a man goes to wage Jihad, his wife does not say "Don't go" or try to stop him. She encourages and supports him. She is the one who prepares his equipment, bids him farewell, and welcomes [his Jihad].

She instills in her children the love of Jihad and martyrdom for the sake of Allah. If every mother were to prevent her son from waging Jihad for the sake of Allah, who would wage Jihad? Who would support Palestine? Palestine is dear to us, and its price is paid with our body remains and our lifeblood.

Is not Allah's reward precious? Allah's reward is Paradise. Paradise requires from us our blood, our body remains, and our efforts for its sake.[...]

Sister, Jihad is ordained for us. It is our duty to wage Jihad, because either we wage Jihad or...

Interviewer: We want to die as martyrs.

Umm Osama: Indeed we do. I am constantly praying: "Allah, make the end of our days be in martyrdom." I pray for this even for my husband and my children. None of us want to die in our beds. We pray that Allah will grant us Paradise.

The interview originally aired on Al-Aqsa TV, the official Hamas television station that is based in Gaza.

In November, two Al-Aqsa TV cameramen were killed in an Israeli air raid on Gaza during the escalation in violence in which Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists rained more than 1,500 rockets and missiles at Israeli towns.

Watch the translated interview clip courtesy of MEMRI: