The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice ( ''hayʾa al-ʾamr bil-maʿrūf wan-nahī ʿan al-munkar'') is a group in the Palestinian territory of

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

, responsible for enforcing traditional

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

codes of behavior (

Sharia Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and th ...

). According to journalist Khaled Abu Toameh and Middle East researcher Dr. Jonathan Spyer, the group forms part of the police forces of the

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni- Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Br ...

de facto government.Jonathan Spyer
Analysis: The Islamic republic of Gaza
, Jerusalem Post 29-09-2009 In 2009, the Hamas government’s "Islamic Endowment Ministry" deployed Virtue Committee members to warn citizens of the alleged "dangers" of immodest dress, card playing, and dating.Hamas Bans Women Dancers, Scooter Riders in Gaza Push
By Daniel Williams, Bloomberg, November 30, 2009 The force was aimed to "fight those who are being corrupted by

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehood. ...

, and do not observe sharia law."Khaled Abu Toameh
'They accused me of laughing in public'
, Jerusalem Post 04-08-2009 Jonathan Spyer, Analysis: The Islamic republic of Gaza, Jerusalem Post 29-09-2009AKI
Middle East: New Jihadi Cells Multiply in the Gaza Strip
October 8, 2007. "In Gaza, there also appears to be a morality police, or "authority for the propagation of morality and the prohibition of vice," a name frequently used by Saudi Arabia's religious police and used by

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is border ...

under the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

regime, to impose and respect Islamic rules."Hamas Rules: The Talibanization of Gaza
by J. Schanzer,

National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief ...

. August 15, 2007

Overview

The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice was mentioned in a 2007 report on

Al-Arabiya Arabiya ( ar, العربية, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is an international Arabic news television channel, currently based in Dubai, that is operated by the media conglomerate MBC. The channel is a fl ...

. They were described as an "unknown" group that have released a statement declaring a campaign to hunt down all, "slaves of the devil who commit blasphemy and roam the streets". Their statement called upon youth to resist temptation from the

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...

as, "the devil's path leads to perdition ... Young people are our main target since they commit many transgressions whether name calling that involves God or through hanging out late at night in the streets, smoking and disturbing people." The group also claimed responsibility for severely beating up two members of a

Khan Younis Khan Yunis ( ar, خان يونس, also spelled Khan Younis or Khan Yunus; translation: '' Caravansary fJonah'') is a city in the southern Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Khan Yunis had a population of 142,6 ...

clan, "for committing sins such as disrespect for God and disturbing people ... That was a warning for them. Hopefully, they will come to their senses."Gaza gets its own 'religious police'
Al-Arabiya 08-10-2007 Citing a report in '' Al-Quds Al-Arabi'', Al-Arabiya said one of the first acts of the group was to beat up a singer in Gaza after he gave a concert in Khan Younis. Al-Arabiya noted that "There was no official comment from Hamas leaders on the acts or declarations of Gaza's self-styled religious police."

Detention of Asma al-Ghul

In 2009, ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper ...

'' reported that the Committee is a police force that operates under the command of the Hamas Ministry of the

Waqf A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or '' mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitabl ...

(Islamic Endowment), and includes dozens of plainclothes police officers who patrol public places such as beaches, parks, restaurants, hair salons and cafes to ensure that males and females are not mixing together and that the women are dressed modestly. A special all-female unit within the force is said to number 100-150 officers who enforce female modesty and handle female suspects, with uniforms that include a niqab and gloves, "with only an eye slit visible". Citing unnamed local Gaza reporters, the newspaper states that the Hamas de facto government has not publicly acknowledged the force's existence because it fears being branded fundamentalist. Another incident attributed to the group by ''The Jerusalem Post'' concerns Asma al-Ghul, a female Palestinian journalist, who stated that policemen from the force:

attempted to arrest her under the pretext that she came to a Gaza beach dressed immodestly and was seen laughing in public..."They accused me of laughing loudly while swimming with my friend and failing to wear a hijab," Ghul told a human rights organization in the Gaza Strip. "They also wanted to know the identity of the people who were with me at the beach and whether they were relatives of mine."

Al-Ghul added that the officers confiscated her passport, and that she had received death threats from anonymous callers following the incident. Regarding the incident, "Hamas security commanders initially said that l-Ghuland her friends were stopped because they were having a mixed party at the beach. Later, one of the commanders said that al-Ghul was stopped ornot wearing a

hijab In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While s ...

while swimming. Another commander claimed" that the offense was "

smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke is typically breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have bee ...

nargila A hookah ( Hindustani: ( Nastaleeq), (Devanagari), IPA: ; also see other names), shisha, or waterpipe is a single- or multi-stemmed instrument for heating or vaporizing and then smoking either tobacco, flavored tobacco (often '' muʽassel' ...

s and partying in a public place". ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' reported the same incident also citing al-Ghul, but attributing it only to "Hamas police". Their report noted that Islam Shahwan, the Hamas police spokesman, denied it ever happened.Hamas tries to detain woman walking with man
July 8, 2009, Diaa Hadid,

References

{{Authority control Islamist groups Hamas Human rights in the Gaza Strip Sex segregation enforcement Islamic religious police

Overview

Detention of Asma al-Ghul

See also

References