The ideological roots of Hamas are the Islamic religion as updated and politicized. The most influential thinker in this tradition is Sayyid Qutb, who was executed by the Egyptian government. Qutb’s thought was incorporated into Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda, the Ayatollah Khomeini’s theocratic Iran, and, among others, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
Here is my close reading primer of Qutb’s call-to-arms-and-martyrdom, Milestones:
Irony: Interesting that the fundamental anti-intellectualism of religious faith, including that of the technically secular Marxist revolution of human nature, requires the writings of intellectuals for their popularity.