http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=125332A child preacher on the Egyptian Al-Rahma television station has praised martyrdom for children, citing the story of a young boy who sought to be killed in battle after saying, "My mother has presented me as a gift to Allah this year."
The Feb. 5 broadcast was captured by the Middle East Media Research Institute, which has posted a video and a script online.
The child preacher, identified as Abd al-Fattah Marwan, appears to be elementary-school age.
"We meet today to talk about the love of martyrdom for the sake of Allah. Yes, the love of martyrdom for the sake of Allah. Dearly beloved, Allah said: 'Allah has bought from the believers their lives, their property, because they shall have paradise," he says.
"They shall fight for the sake of Allah, and slay and be slain."
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He gives as an illustration a story about a boy who came up to a commander of an army and said, "I implore you, in the name of Allah, to take me with you on the jihad for the sake of Allah."
The commander allows him to come, and the child preacher recites how the boy "shot one arrow, killing a Byzantine soldier. Then he said it again, shot another arrow and killed another Byzantine soldier. Then he said it a third time, shot another arrow and killed a third Byzantine soldier. Then the Byzantines saw him and killed him."
But the child preacher glorified the concept of death, explaining how, in the story, the boy dreamed about resurrection and paradise and "saw a scented bouquet of black-eyed virgins, whose beauty I could never even begin to describe."
The boy, in the story, according to the child preacher, was directed in his dream to a palace, where he was given a glimpse of his "wife."
"If Allah had not ordained that we should not be blind in [paradise], I would have become blind from the light radiating from her face. If Allah had not ordained that we keep our sanity, I would have gone mad from the intensity of her beauty."
According to MEMRI, the legend glorifies jihad and martyrdom.
"In the program, Abd Al-Fattah Marwan – himself a child – recounts that the boy smiled in his sleep when he dreamt that he would be martyred the next day," reported MEMRI.
It is not the first time the legend has been used to promote martyrdom for children. MEMRI reported a video in 2006 in which Egyptian cleric Sheik Muhammad Nassar recounted how when adults came to bury the boy, "the corpse got out of the grave all by itself."
The program aired on Al-Naz television June 15, 2006. The speaker related how, "After they covered him and began to walk away, the ground shuddered, and threw out the corpse again. They were all frightened, and began to shiver. Allah be praised. Allah Akbar. Then they all stood there in amazement."
WND previously has reported on television programs in the Middle East that taught children "death is honor and victory."
WND also has reported on a character on Hamas' "Pioneers of Tomorrow" children's television program that explained a teddy bear named Nassur wants to be an Islamic "holy warrior."
Before that, it was the martyrdom of Assud, a bunny character, as well as the martyr's death of a Mickey Mouse-lookalike for the Palestinian cause.
WND also reported Hamas launched a children's website in 2002 that encourages kids to follow the example of terrorist suicide bombers.
Topic: Muslim child praises martyrdom on TV (Read 2163 times)