Palestinian media continue to disseminate messages glorifying militancy, as a Palestinian researcher encouraged Palestinian women to raise their children to be jihadists.
Preparations should begin before the women even get pregnant, instructed Khaled Al-Khaldi, head of the Center for Palestinian Historiography and Documentation. His July 10 article, "How did the Sahabiyat Rear their Sons," was published on the website of a Gaza newspaper and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
Palestinian women, he wrote, should follow the example of the sahabiyat in hopes of raising mujahideen. Sahabiyat were considered "pure, virtuous crusaders of Islam" during the life of the prophet Muhammad.
"The women who lived in the time of the Prophet reared their sons with a religious and jihad-based education, raising a generation that defeated two empires - the Persian and the Byzantine - and led [the Muslims] out of the darkness and into the light." Al-Khaldi wrote. "The education they gave their children began even before conception, as even prior to pregnancy, they would resolve to give birth to mujahideen for the sake of Allah."
Using hadiths to support each claim, al-Khaldi provides additional instructions for Palestinian mothers. In order to raise children who could physically bear the burden of jihad, mothers are told to watch what they eat during pregnancy and ensure they breastfeed long enough for their sons to grow strong.
On a spiritual and psychological level, al-Khaldi advises teaching one's children the military exploits of Muhammad as examples to be emulated as well as ensuring children can keep secrets and live a disciplined life free from pleasure and temptation.
"These women taught their children Muhammad's life story and war [exploits], so that they would follow in his path of jihad," claimed al-Khaldi. "They taught [their children] good values... and to keep secrets...So that their children would be mujahideen who were stronger than the infidels, they raised them to live a hard life and distanced them from pleasure and luxury."
Al-Khaldi concludes by appealing to the Palestinian mothers as essential to the effort of raising "a new generation that will liberate the [Muslim] lands and holy places."