Mus'ab Hassan Yousef: "My name is Mus'ab Hassan
Yousef. I am the eldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef. I was born
in the village of Bir Zeit, near Ramallah.
[...]
"My father began his Islamic activity from the
very beginning by founding the [Palestinian branch] of the Muslim
Brotherhood, by preaching to join it, and by recruiting young
Muslim men for the sake of Allah and Islam.
[...]
"To be honest, I hated the occupation. I hated
every Israeli soldier carrying a gun, and every settler. I threw
stones, and I participated in the Intifada in all its forms. Call
it peaceful activity if you like, or call it violence, but I participated
in the Intifada in most of its forms. This included throwing stones,
burning tires, and so on - activities in which most of the youth
took part. I was a child, not even a young man, in that period,
which lasted six years. I used to go to the mosque all the time.
When I was five, I fasted for the first time in the month of Ramadhan.
Until my conversion to Christianity, I used to fast during the
entire month of Ramadhan.
[...]
"I did not know that my father was one of the
founders of Hamas. It was a secret, and I did not know anything
about it. [...]"
"I never joined Hamas, but I loved the movement
because of my love for my father. I started high school. During
that period, due to my father, my knowledge of Islam and the Koran,
and my personality, I became a leader of the Islamic bloc. I was
head of the Islamic bloc at Ramallah high school. We were involved
in the rivalry between Fatah and Hamas, which has existed since
Hamas was founded - internal struggles for power and for influence
over the public.
[...]
"About 10 days before the end of final exams,
I was arrested by the [Israeli] special forces. They gave me a
brutal beating, and broke my jaw. They interrogated me for three
months at the Russian Compound detention centre, where I was held
in solitary confinement.
[...]
"After three months of interrogation, I was transferred
to a prison where Palestinian prisoners from all factions were
held. Even though the prison is run by the Israelis, the prisoners
manage affairs on their own. Each faction plays a role in the
management of the prisoners' affairs. Hamas was the majority in
the prison. This was not the case at the beginning of the Intifada,
when Fatah was the majority, but later, Hamas became the majority
and had control of the prison - especially over its own people,
who were the majority. This was the beginning of my awakening.
[...]"
"As a child, I believed that all Muslims are like
my father. If you are brought up on Islamic values - how do you
turn out? You will be like my father, who is my role model, and
whom I love very much.
"But then, my surprise began. After three days
or so, [I began witnessing] greed and avarice, prisoners stealing
food from others, prisoners enjoying things that not all prisoners
could enjoy, such as visits inside the wings, which were restricted
to some leaders of the Islamic movement in the prison.
"Such things may happen. People may become greedy
sometimes, and their faith weakens, and they eat more. This is
not our business.
"But the problematic thing was the interrogation
of people suspected of collaborating with Israel. That was one
of the most serious things, which led to a fundamental change
in my life - not just in my life, but in the lives of many. Beatings,
floggings, needles under the fingernails, the melting of plastic
on the body, days and weeks of sleep deprivation...
"Hamas - or to be more precise, the Hamas leadership
in prison - all played a role in this. They all praised and applauded
the Hamas security apparatus, and even backed them fully when
they tortured prisoners. I don't want to mention names. The Palestinian
people are unaware of this.
"To be honest, I am sorry that the Palestinian
press, which is supposed to be free, has not shed light on what
goes on in prison. These people have made sacrifices. Some of
them have been in prison for 20 years. How can you interrogate
them, accusing them of collaborating with the occupation? He made
sacrifices, just like you and me, and is a human being, like you
and me. How can you place yourself above these people, and torture
them, flog them, and interrogate them? We are talking about brutal,
violent torture. Imagine, all night long..."
"I was only 18 years old, sleeping in my bed under
conditions... In a prison of the occupation... But that was not
enough - they had to create a prison within the prison, and inflict
torture in addition to the [Israeli] torture. For a whole year,
I would hear people being tortured screaming all night long. Sometime
they interrogated three people at the same time, and they would
torture them in the most brutal ways. In approximately three years,
no fewer than 16 people were killed.
"I say to the people of my region, Ramallah, if
they are watching this show - who killed brother Muhammad Abu
Shakra? Outside prison, people believed Israel killed him, but
in fact, it was Hamas. Later, Hamas paid 'blood money' as compensation
for its crime.
[...]
"I call upon the Palestinian people to open its
eyes and see what Hamas was doing, when it functioned as a mini-state
within the prison, and was in control inside the prison. [...]"
"Usually, if you leave an Islamic group, the Muslim
Brotherhood, Hezb ul-Tahrir, or Islam itself - you are considered
an apostate. Some of them may feel sorry for you and try to talk
to you, but if you are adamant and stick to your position, you
are considered an enemy."
[...]
Interviewer: "What made you accept Christ as your
savior, in an extremist Islamist environment?"
Yousef: "I have accepted Christ as my personal
savior, but as far as Muslims are concerned, accepting Christ
is like an elephant passing through the eye of a needle. What
does this mean? That's what I've been trying to explain. The mentality
with which Islam perceives Christ and God Himself is distorted.
[...]
"When I got to the US, I followed the news from
Palestine closely, especially what was going on in the Gaza Strip.
Without going into the anarchy over there, or the fact that Hamas
was "forced" to reach a military resolution in Gaza, what was
going on there was painful - assassinations, people being thrown
from tall buildings... The world's reaction to this organisation
and its actions was very passive."
