 For 25 years he has been a member of Hamas, and he is the former editor-in-chief of the Hamas weekly newspaper "Ar-Risala".As of October 2004, Hamad was also the head of the Islamic Salvation Party.He assumed the role of a spokesman for Hamas, having gained considerable credibility through the popularity of his newspaper, his imprisonment by the Palestinian National Authority under the Fatah administration as well as his five-year detention by the Israelis for activities related to Hamas.