Gaza -
If you type in the search engines the name of Mahmoud Al-Zahar, you will see results, most of which are of a political nature, related to his membership in the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), his related activities, and his surviving several Israeli attempts to assassinate him, in one of which he lost his eldest son Khaled, before That an Israeli raid kidnapped his youngest and dearest son, Husam.
But, what do you know about Al-Zahar, the writer and novelist, the interpreter of the Noble Qur’an, the surgeon, the athlete, and the painter?
This is the other side of the seventy man, who still enjoys a lot of vitality and activity, and spends many hours a day reading and writing.
Al-Zahar as you did not know him before in this dialogue on Al-Jazeera Net from his home in Gaza City, which is a constant target of Israel in every war it wages on Gaza.
With great emotion, Al-Zahar spoke about the martyrdom of Husam, his youngest and dearest son (Al-Jazeera)
Birth and upbringing
Mahmoud Khaled al-Zahar was born on May 6, 1945 in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, to a father who grew up orphaned and alone, and an Egyptian mother.
He spent his childhood until the age of 12 in the Egyptian city of Ismailia, where he received a basic education in what was known as the "Kuttab".
The family returned to Gaza, where he finished his studies, ranking first in the three educational stages, primary, preparatory, and secondary.
He graduated with distinction from the Faculty of Medicine at Ain Shams University in 1971, from which he obtained a master's degree in 1984.
He is married and has 7 children;
4 males and 3 females.
In the eighties of the last century, the "Health Directorate" of the occupation dismissed him from his job as a doctor at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City for his political stances.
Away from political activity, how do you spend your day?
I perform my prayers in the "Mosque of Mercy" next to my house, and I dedicate 4 or 5 hours a day to reading, and I finally finished the interpretation of the Noble Qur'an, and it is located in 5 parts, entitled: "Facilitating the understanding of interpretation." I made a strenuous effort to complete it over 6 years, and it was printed. It is freely available on the Internet for anyone who wants to benefit from it, and I do not want any material profits from it.
After 6 years of effort, Al-Zahar completed the interpretation of the Noble Qur’an in 5 parts (Al-Jazeera)
How did the idea of interpretation begin?
What will he add to the Arab and Islamic library?
The idea began with an objective study of the scientific verses in the Noble Qur’an, especially the medical ones, and I was keen to give these scientific and medical topics their right to interpretation, and in it what is different from the rest of the interpretations, and adopted the explanation and interpretation reinforced with scientific facts, and an interpretation from a new angle for the cut letters and the keys to the fence.
As a surgeon, where did you acquire the Arabic language skills that helped you interpret the Qur'an and literary writing?
Throughout the school years, I excelled, and ranked first in the Gaza Strip, and was distinguished from my childhood by a love of the Arabic language and writing. I even wrote the first novel in the preparatory stage in 1962, and wrote it with a pencil, and preserved it for many years, about the life of Izz al-Din al-Qassam, which is the printed one. It is currently entitled "A Candle That Never Extinguishes", and it contains a true story of my father, "may God have mercy on him", who was accompanied by another transporting explosives made by "Hajj Diab al-Agha" to the Mujahideen groups affiliated with Izz al-Din al-Qassam to resist the British.
During my medical studies, I wrote the novel "The Sidewalk", which is also a true story of an Egyptian girl who was stranded on the road waiting for a taxi on a rainy day in Alexandria, and asked the driver to take her with us and take her to where she wanted.
The Arabic language was a reason for academic excellence, in addition to religious commitment and reading the Noble Qur’an. In my childhood in Ismailia, I used to recite the call to prayer in a mosque next to our house.
Al-Zahar has many books in different fields (Al-Jazeera)
Do you have many other books?
Yes, I have written about 29 books, including novels, movie scenarios, studies and political, scientific, social, medical and historical literature, and a translation of Wilhelm Dietl's book "The Holy War".
Among the novels is "Imad Aqel", which was converted into a film that tells the story of this martyr leader, one of the first founders of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and another novel that was turned into a film that has not yet been shown, entitled "The Lover of the Gun" and narrates the life of the martyred leader in the al-Qassam Brigades Awad Salmi. And I am related to him.
Do you have other hobbies and interests?
My uncle is Mustafa Darwish and he was a well-known player in the Egyptian Ismaili club, and during the early school stages I was fond of football, and I played in the “Ras Al Harbeh” center, and I have distinct goals that my generation still remembers, but I stopped playing the game in the secondary stage and during university when I needed to study Medicine is time and effort.
I also love to draw, and the school “hung” my paintings on the walls, and I had many paintings that were destroyed and disappeared under the rubble of my house, after it was exposed to the Israeli bombing.
Al-Zahar: This is the time of the promise of the Hereafter (Al-Jazeera)
In addition to the bombing of your home and the attempt to assassinate you, you went through many difficult experiences, which one left you the greatest impact?
(His eyes blushed and tears welled up at the moment of answering) The most difficult situation was the martyrdom of “Hossam”, the youngest of my sons, the closest to me, and the most obedient of them.
My eldest son "Khaled" was also martyred in the bombing of my house and an attempt to assassinate me, just one day before his marriage and his marriage to a girl who remained sad for him for years and refused to marry anyone, until I intervened myself and convinced her of the necessity of marriage.
Finally, what do the following terms mean to you?
“The Promise of the Hereafter”:
It is the promised divine day, and I see it soon, with the demise of Israel. I cannot determine the time, but the circumstances are favorable for that and this is its time.
National Unity:
It means nothing to me if the unity program is not the Book and the Sunnah.
The Liberation Organization:
It cannot be reformed, and it committed a crime that history will not forgive by recognizing the entity state.
Hamas:
A realistic translation of the Qur'an and Sunnah.
“Resistance”:
Idea, Doctrine, and Faith.
“Gaza”:
Glory and dignity, and it is the birthplace of my father and my grandfather.