Quotes from Son of Hamas

“I asked myself what Palestinians would do if Israel disappeared -- if everything not only went back to the way it was before 1948 but if all the Jewish people abandoned the Holy Land and were scattered again. And for the first time, I knew the answer.

We would still fight. Over nothing. Over a girl without a head scarf. Over who was toughest and most important. Over who would make the rules and who would get the best seat.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“Palestinians no longer blamed Yasser Arafat or Hamas for their troubles. Now they blamed the Israelis for killing their children. But I still couldn't escape a fundamental question: Why were those children out there in the first place? Where were the parents? Why didn't their mothers and fathers keep them inside? Those children should have been sitting at their desks in school, not running in the streets throwing stones at armed soldiers.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“Jesus said in Matthew 5:45, “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” This was certainly a far cry from the cruel and vengeful god of the Qur’an.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“Then I read this: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:43-45). That’s it! I was thunderstruck”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“I tell my story as well to let the Israeli people know that there is hope. If I, the son of a terrorist organization dedicated to the extinction of Israel, can reach a point where I not only learned to love the Jewish people but risked my life for them, there is a light of hope.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“كان واضحاً أن عرفات يريد ان يكون بطلاً يُكتب عنه في كتب التاريخ. ولكن كلما عرفته أكثر، كلما اقتنعت بأن كتب تاريخنا ستكتب عنه بالتأكيد، ولكن ليس كبطل، بل كخائن باع أبناء شعبه ليتسلق على اكتافهم لتحقيق مآربه. وعلى عكس روبن هود، فهو نهب الشعب الفقير ليصبح غنياً. وكخنزير سافل، اشترى مركزه على حساب دماء الفلسطينيين”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“Traditional Muslims stand at the foot of the ladder, living in guilt for not really practicing Islam. At the top are fundamentalists, the ones you see in the news killing women and children for the glory of the god of the Qur’an. Moderates are somewhere in between. A moderate Muslim is actually more dangerous than a fundamentalist, however, because he appears to be harmless, and you can never tell when he has taken that next step toward the top. Most suicide bombers began as moderates.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“As long as we continue to search for enemies anywhere but inside ourselves, there will always be a Middle East problem. Religion is not the solution. Religion without Jesus is just self-righteousness. Freedom from oppression will not resolve things either. Delivered from the oppression of Europe, Israel became the oppressor. Delivered from persecution, Muslims became persecutors. Abused spouses and children often go on to abuse spouses and children. It is a cliché, but it’s still true: hurt people, unless they are healed, hurt people.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“Hamas, on the other hand, Islamized the Palestinian problem, making it a religious problem. And this problem could be resolved only with a religious solution, which meant that it could never be resolved because we believed that the land belonged to Allah. Period. End of discussion. Thus for Hamas, the ultimate problem was not Israel’s policies. It was the nation-state Israel’s very existence.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“I asked myself what Palestinians would do if Israel disappeared—if everything not only went back to the way it was before 1948 but if all the Jewish people abandoned the Holy Land and were scattered again. And for the first time, I knew the answer. We would still fight. Over nothing. Over a girl without a head scarf. Over who was toughest and most important. Over who would make the rules and who would get the best seat.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“I realized that suspects under torture were being asked things they couldn’t possibly know about and giving answers they thought their torturers wanted to hear. It seemed obvious that they would say anything just to make the torture stop.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“Many people in the West who stereotype all Muslims as terrorists don’t know about the side of Islam that reflects love and mercy. It cares for the poor, widows, and orphans. It facilitates education and welfare. It unites and strengthens. This is the side of Islam that motivated those early leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. Of course, there is also the other side, the one that calls all Muslims to jihad, to struggle and contend with the world until they establish a global caliphate, led by one holy man who rules and speaks for Allah.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“Islamic life is like a ladder, with prayer and praising Allah as the bottom rung. The higher rungs represent helping the poor and needy, establishing schools, and supporting charities. The highest rung is jihad.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“Do you remember where you started? You saw all those lost people, your heart broke for them, and you wanted them to come to Allah and be safe. Now suicide bombers and innocent blood? Is this what you set out to do? But speaking to one’s father about such things is not done in our culture. And so he continued on that dangerous path.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“What I didn't know at the time was that no matter how much we weighed on Allah's scale, all of our righteousness and good works were like filthy rags to God. Even”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“What my father saw in those early days was the part of Islam that reflects love and mercy. What he didn’t see, what he perhaps has never yet allowed himself to see, is the other side of Islam.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“I understood fighting and killing out of hatred, rage, revenge, or even necessity. But I had done nothing to these soldiers. I had not resisted. I had done everything I was told to do. I was no threat to them. I was bound, blindfolded, and unarmed. What was inside these people that made them take such delight in hurting me? Even the basest animal kills for a reason, not just for sport.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“A torrent of questions and cries raced through my mind even as the blows continued to fall: Why are you doing this to me? What have I done? I am not a terrorist! I’m just a kid. Why are you beating me like this?”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“The fact is, few Westerners can come close to understanding the complexities of the Middle East and its people.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“Allah had given us the responsibility of eradicating the Jews, and my father didn’t question that, though he personally had nothing against them.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“we must love people—on all sides of the world—unconditionally.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“As long as we continue to search for enemies anywhere but inside ourselves, there will always be a Middle East problem.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“Truth and forgiveness are the only solution for the Middle East. The challenge, especially between Israelis and Palestinians, is not to find the solution. The challenge is to be the first courageous enough to embrace it.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“If I continued the way I was going, I would end up dead. The trail out there was too long. Somebody was sure to stumble across it. Somehow I needed to be sanitized.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

“I felt a stab of regret when I imagined how terrified my mother and little brothers and sisters would be within moments. As usual, they would have to pay the price for everything my father and I did.”
― Mosab Hassan Yousef, quote from Son of Hamas

Video

About the author

Popular quotes

“What was the point of a sacrifice if it wasn't meant for the ones you loved?”
― Jana Oliver, quote from Forgiven

“She can't wear that dress! It's indecent. Her ass is hangin' out."
...
"Son, take my advice, you gotta get this girl in hand. You can't let her run around with her ass hangin' out. You allow it once, she'll do it again. Trust me, I know.”
― Kristen Ashley, quote from Rock Chick Redemption

“When compared to the fact that he might very well be dead by this time tomorrow, whether he was courageous or not today was pointless, empty. When compared to the fact that he might be dead tomorrow, everything was pointless. Life was pointless. Whether he looked at a tree or not was pointless. It just didn't make any difference. It was pointless to the tree, it was pointless to every man in his outfit, pointless to everybody in the whole world. Who cared? It was not pointless only to him; and when he was dead, when he ceased to exist, it would be pointless to him too. More important: Not only would it be pointless, it would have been pointless, all along.”
― James Jones, quote from The Thin Red Line

“Raphael, in case you're getting ideas - I won't be this civilized if you decide you need a concubine. In fact, it's a good bet I'll turn homicidal.
He didn't look up from his conversation with Astaad as he said, A pity, in that cool "Archangel" tone of his. I will now have to ask the pilot to empty the hold of my chosen females.
We're going to have to talk about this new sense of humor of yours.”
― Nalini Singh, quote from Archangel's Legion

“You did so good.” I press my lips to her shoulder, drag my nose up her neck, and groan in her ear. “You did so fucking good, sweet girl.”
― Christina Lauren, quote from Dirty Rowdy Thing

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.