How one Palestinian sheikh hopes to unite Sunnis, Shiites
In an interview with Al-Monitor, the founder of Jama’at al-Muslimin, Sheikh Mahmoud Jouda, talks about his party being religious and strictly nonpolitical and denies accusations of him converting to Shiism, saying he is neither Sunni nor Shiite.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Mahmoud Jouda, a controversial Palestinian sheikh, was born in 1960 and grew up in the Rafah refugee camp. He majored in Sharia studies at Umm al-Qura University in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. In 1985, he established and spearheaded the religious group Jama’at al-Muslimin (Society of Muslims), which was known among citizens under the name of Takfir wal Hijra (Excommunication and Exodus). He preached and practiced religious work in the group, far from politics.
Jouda was jailed several times. The first time, Egyptians held him captive when he returned from Iran in the early 1980s. He claimed that he had visited Iran to learn and delve into some Shiite confessions such as Twelver Islam. Israel also jailed him on several occasions.
He recently became a topic of discussion in the Palestinian and Israeli press. The Palestinian public was preoccupied with his religious views and with him wearing a black turban that resembled the Shiite turban. The media also claimed Jouda was converting to Shiism, while Gazan society is Sunni.
Al-Monitor interviewed him in Rafah, where he lives, to get to know him and his views.
