“Son of Hamas” is the story of Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, co-founder of Hamas, the Islamic Palestinian terrorist group opposed to the Israeli occupation of lands believed to belong to the Palestinians. It is this feud that is at the heart of the Middle East conflict today and is the backdrop for this book.

 More than a true story, “Son of Hamas” is a book about a journey. It is a journey of two men. For the father, it is a journey from the moderate religious side of Islam merely leading prayers and overseeing the community mosque to the political side of Islam. For the son, it is a much more complicated journey. Yousef loved Islam and loved only his father more. He saw the purity and ideal nature of Islam in his father; the love for the people and compassion for the poor and fatherless. As his father journeyed, so did he. “Son of Hamas” chronicles, as Yousef himself describes it, the climbing of the ladder of the Islamic faith.  His journey is one from faithful Muslim, to Israeli spy working for the Shin-Bet, to Christ-follower. This book is filled with real-life accounts of imprisonments (both of his and his father’s), torture, secret plans and operations, and acts of violence that would lead anyone to question whether or not the fighting was worth the end result.

I really enjoyed this book. It is a very quick and easy read that holds your attention. Anyone who even pays casual attention to world news has heard the name Hamas. This book does a very good job describing what Hamas is and how it relates to other organizations we hear about regularly. Well worth your time.