Sheikh Ahmad Yassin
(1937-2004)
He joined the Muslim Brotherhood while studying at Cairos Al-Azhar University and adopted the movements belief that the rule of Islam should be imposed everywhere. After returning to Gaza, Yassin became actively involved in politics. He founded of the Islamic Centre in Gaza in 1973, which soon controlled all religious institutions.
"In 1979, he founded the "Islamic Organization", Gil Sedan noted, "a body Israeli military authorities initially hoped would reduce the political influence of Yasser Arafats Fatah movement. At the time, the Islamic Organization dealt mostly with welfare. But the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood fueled Yassins belief that the Israelis occupied an Islamic land whose ownership was not negotiable, and the sheik gradually shifted from social and religious activity to clandestine activities against Israeli rule in the West Bank and Gaza.
During the first intifada in 1987, Sedan notes, "Yassin transformed his Islamic Organization into a new body called Hamas. An acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas means zeal in Arabic. In Hebrew, it means evil.