Operating in the Palestine Mandate in the 1930s, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam (1882–1935) organized and established the Black Hand, a Palestinian nationalist militia. He recruited and arranged military training for peasants, and by 1935 had enlisted between 200 and 800 men. Al-Qassam obtained a fatwa from Shaykh Badr al-Din al-Taji al-Hasani, the Mufti of Damascus, authorizing an armed insurgency against the British and against the Jews of Palestine. Black Hand cells were equipped with bombs and firearms, which they used to kill Jews. Although al-Qassam's revolt was unsuccessful in his lifetime, many organizations gained inspiration from his example. He became a popular hero and an inspiration to subsequent Arab militants, who in the 193639 Arab revolt, called themselves Qassamiyun, followers of al-Qassam. The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, as well as the rockets they developed, take their names after Qassam.