Izz ad-Din al-Qassam (19 December 1882-20 November 1935) was a Syrian Islamic revivalist preacher and a militant leader in Mandatory Palestine who attacked both British Army soldiers and Jewish settlers in Palestine. He was killed by the British on 20 November 1935 after he killed a British policeman.
Biography[]
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam was born on 19 December 1882 in Jableh, Beirut Vilayet, Ottoman Empire. He studied at al-Azhar University in Egypt before becoming an Islamic revivalist preacher back in Jableh, and he raised funds to aid the Senussi in their fight for Libyan independence from Italy, also penning an anthem for them. From 1919 to 1920, he took part in the Hananu Revolt in northern Syria alongside Ibrahim Hananu's rebels, and al-Qassam fled to Mandatory Palestine after the revolt was crushed. al-Qassam led a band of Palestinian fighters against the United Kingdom, attacking both British and Jewish targets in a campaign of anti-Zionism, and on 20 November 1935 he was killed in a manhunt by British forces after he killed a British policeman. His death led to the 1936-39 Arab revolt in Palestine, and the terrorist group Hamas named their armed wing the "Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades" after him.