Muslims attend Friday prayers outside the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, in Istanbul, Turkey, July 24, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Umit Bektas.

JNS.org – Abd Al-Hamid Dabbou, an Islamic scholar in the Gaza Strip, pronounced that jihad is the “pinnacle of Islam” and makes Islam “glamorous, strong and lovable.”

According to a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), on an April 10 show on Al-Quds Al-Youm TV (Palestinan Islamic Jihad), Dabbous said that jihad is how Muslims defend their lands and spread Islam to the entire world.

He explained that Muslims don’t want to terrorize people but convert them to Islam. He said that if non-Muslims do not accept Islam and refuse to pay the jizya poll tax “in humiliation,” then they will fight them until they attain martyrdom or victory.

“Through jihad, Allah conquers lands as well as hearts and minds,” stated Dabbous. “Jihad is the means by which the Muslims, first of all, defend their lands, their lives, their honor and their religion. It is a means to spread this religion because the bottom line is that Allah sent down this religion so it would spread throughout the world until all the people become Muslims.”

The show featured footage of fighters from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades in military exercises, praying and launching rockets, as well as footage from Israeli infantry training and an Israeli military funeral.