Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Louis Massignon, The Passion of al-

Hallaj: Mystic and Martyr of Islam, 4 vols. Translated by 

Herbert Mason (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University 

Press, 1982); Michael Sells, Early Islamic Mysticism: 

Sufi, Quran, Miraj, Poetic and Theological Writings (New 

York: Paulist Press, 1996), 266–280.

Hamas

Hamas, an Arabic acronym for the “Islamic Resis-

tance Movement,” emerged from the m

Uslim

b

rotherhood

 during the first Palestinian intifada 

(uprising of the West Bank and Gaza territories 

against Israeli occupation). With charitable, polit-

ical, and militant wings, Hamas became a contro-