Sheikh Ismail Hamdi said at a Friday, August 2, 2024 sermon at the Islamic Center of Passaic County (ICPC) in New Jersey that recently assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was a "great leader," a good man, and a martyr, and he said that fighting and getting killed for the sake of Allah is the best thing possible. He described the pleasures and "good time" of Paradise and said that getting killed for the sake of Allah is so much better, that the martyrs in Paradise ask Allah to be reincarnated so that they can be martyred for Him "over and over and over again." In addition, he said that the 150 "martyrs" killed in Gaza every day are so happy to be martyrs that they want all the people of Gaza to join them in dying. He added: "I would much rather die a martyr than die on my couch watching television… It's a beautiful thing to die a martyr." Asking Allah for martyrdom, he said that this can also be an "opening" to the liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestine. Sheikh Hamdi's sermon was livestreamed on the ICPC Masjid Younis YouTube channel.
Ismail Hamdi: "Passing away as a martyr, passing away fighting the cause of the Muslims, fighting against oppression and injustice, being a strong believer in dying in the way of Allah – there is nothing better than that.
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"Your injuries, and your scars will be a witness for you on the Day of Judgement.
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"The wounds and the blood of the martyr smell better than the greatest of all musk.
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"It is an honor to die a martyr, because I would rather die a martyr than die on my couch watching television, or die from a heart attack at old age, or die from any natural cause.
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"People die of natural causes, no problem, I’m saying it's a beautiful thing to die a martyr.
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"[The martyr] is so happy he died, because he got martyrdom.
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"Every day, there are 150 martyrs that pass away in Gaza.
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"But they are not dead, they’re alive. They’re all happy with what they got.
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"They're calling out all of Gaza to come die with them, because its amazing. They’re having a good time.
"But one of the great leaders and people of Palestine [Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh] passed away, he was killed.
"And what I want to say is that he was a good man, and we know good of him, and he was working on a peace treaty, and he was martyred, and we are happy for him that he was martyred, because we are Muslims and we have Islamic concepts. Islam is what teaches us how to think and how to have perspective. So we ask Allah to grant him [Haniyeh] and all of the martyrs of Gaza the highest levels of martyrdom.
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"Paradise is amazing. There’s no difficulty in Paradise. There’s no fatigue in Paradise, there’s no tiredness in Paradise. Meat, happiness, rivers, always happy, no bad sleep in Paradise, good sleep every day. Even if you don’t get good sleep, it’s still good.
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"[When] Allah said to [the martyr]: 'Ask what you want and I shall grant it,' [he responds:] 'I will not ask for anything, Allah, there's nothing that I could possibly want except for you to return me to the material world, please, let me go back to this material world so that I can fight again and die again as a martyr.'
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"'I want to go back and die ten times. I want to go back and get killed, and You resurrect me again, and I die and get killed again... I want it over and over and over again.'
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"However it is that the martyr gets killed in battle, he doesn’t find any pain to it, except as if you get pierced by an ant.
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"An ant bite is a small little bite, and you don’t realize it sometimes because of how light it is.
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"Reward. Reward. Reward. Every second he gets reward, and he’s dead, and he gets reward up until Judgement Day.
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"We ask Allah to grant us understanding and to grant us martyrdom, and to grant us to want to be martyrs.
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"And they can kill all they want. They can do all they want.
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"This is, inshallah, an opening to the liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestine, and we ask Allah to liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestine."
Ismail Hamdi: "Passing away as a martyr, passing away fighting the cause of the Muslims, fighting against oppression and injustice, being a strong believer in dying in the way of Allah – there is nothing better than that.
[...]
"Your injuries, and your scars will be a witness for you on the Day of Judgement.
[...]
"The wounds and the blood of the martyr smell better than the greatest of all musk.
[...]
"It is an honor to die a martyr, because I would rather die a martyr than die on my couch watching television, or die from a heart attack at old age, or die from any natural cause.
[...]
"People die of natural causes, no problem, I’m saying it's a beautiful thing to die a martyr.
[...]
"[The martyr] is so happy he died, because he got martyrdom.
[...]
"Every day, there are 150 martyrs that pass away in Gaza.
[...]
"But they are not dead, they’re alive. They’re all happy with what they got.
[...]
"They're calling out all of Gaza to come die with them, because its amazing. They’re having a good time.
"But one of the great leaders and people of Palestine [Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh] passed away, he was killed.
"And what I want to say is that he was a good man, and we know good of him, and he was working on a peace treaty, and he was martyred, and we are happy for him that he was martyred, because we are Muslims and we have Islamic concepts. Islam is what teaches us how to think and how to have perspective. So we ask Allah to grant him [Haniyeh] and all of the martyrs of Gaza the highest levels of martyrdom.
[...]
"Paradise is amazing. There’s no difficulty in Paradise. There’s no fatigue in Paradise, there’s no tiredness in Paradise. Meat, happiness, rivers, always happy, no bad sleep in Paradise, good sleep every day. Even if you don’t get good sleep, it’s still good.
[...]
"[When] Allah said to [the martyr]: 'Ask what you want and I shall grant it,' [he responds:] 'I will not ask for anything, Allah, there's nothing that I could possibly want except for you to return me to the material world, please, let me go back to this material world so that I can fight again and die again as a martyr.'
[...]
"'I want to go back and die ten times. I want to go back and get killed, and You resurrect me again, and I die and get killed again... I want it over and over and over again.'
[...]
"However it is that the martyr gets killed in battle, he doesn’t find any pain to it, except as if you get pierced by an ant.
[...]
"An ant bite is a small little bite, and you don’t realize it sometimes because of how light it is.
[...]
"Reward. Reward. Reward. Every second he gets reward, and he’s dead, and he gets reward up until Judgement Day.
[...]
"We ask Allah to grant us understanding and to grant us martyrdom, and to grant us to want to be martyrs.
[...]
"And they can kill all they want. They can do all they want.
[...]
"This is, inshallah, an opening to the liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestine, and we ask Allah to liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestine."
