Photo story: Symposium on Hamas’ political ideology

The Council on International Relations – Palestine held a symposium to present an academic study titled “The concept of the state according to Hamas’ thought” presented by Dr Husam Al-Dajani.

The forum began with a welcome from Council chief Basem Naim who congratulated Dr Dajani on receiving his doctoral degree.

In his speech before the attendees, Dr Dajani said that his study aims to understand the concept and development of the state according to Hamas’ thought. It also aims to either prove or disprove the study’s thesis which is mainly to do with how Hamas’ political thought and beliefs regarding democracy influence their idea of a state, and if this conflicts with Western democratic thought.

Dr Dajani noted that there has been a development and evolution of the concept of the state in Hamas’ thought. This development has created a divergence between Hamas’s political thought and that of the West. However, for Hamas, the complete adoption of a civil state like that found in the West is still far-fetched.

A number of intellectuals, activists, researchers, and journalists attended the forum and responded to the topic, which raised a number of questions and queries amongst them.

In his study, Dr Dajani recommended that Hamas move further towards adopting the idea of a civil state in a manner that does not conflict with international human rights laws. He also recommended that they benefit from the experience of the birth of modern civil states in Europe.

He also stressed the need for Islamist jurisprudence experts to engage with the idea in order to build a model of a civil state that uses Islam as an approach to life. Hamas must also, according to Dajani, take into consideration the uniqueness of the Palestinian society, as well as its diverse intellectual capabilities.

In his recommendations to the Islamists, Dr Dajani called on them to benefit from the experiences of Ennahda in Tunisia and the Justice and Development Party in Turkey in separating its religious work from its political work when governing the state.