In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “top hamas leader who served as a liaison between the palestinian organization's political leadership and its mi”. Today it says “high-ranking hamas leader who served as a liaison between the palestinian organization's political leadership a”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-02. In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “top hamas leader who served as a liaison between the palestinian organization's political leadership and its mi”. Today it says “high-ranking hamas leader who served as a liaison between the palestinian organization's political leadership a”.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Nizar Rayan ( Arabic : نزار ريان , Nɩzár Rɑȋán , also transliterated Rayyan ; 6 March 1959 – 1 January 2009) was a high-ranking Hamas leader who served as a liaison between the Palestinian organization's political leadership and its military wing. Also a professor of Islamic law , he became a top Islamic cleric within Hamas after the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004. Rayan was a strong promoter between 1994 and 2004 of suicide bombings on Israel, and his son killed himself on one such mission. Rayan and most of his family were killed in an Israeli airstrike during the Gaza War .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1288839619.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Nizar Rayan ( , also transliterated Rayyan ) (March 6, 1959–January 1, 2009) was a top Hamas leader who served as a liaison between the Palestinian organization's political leadership and its military wing. Also a professor of Islamic law , he came to be considered a top clerical authority within Hamas after the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004. Rayan was a strong advocate between 1994 and 2004 or 2005 of suicide attacks on Israel, and his son killed himself on one such mission. Rayan and most of his family were killed in an Israeli airstrike during the Gaza War .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 365413066.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Nizar Rayan ( , Nɩzár Rɑȋán ; also transliterated Rayyan ) (6 March 1959–1 January 2009) was a top Hamas leader who served as a liaison between the Palestinian organization's political leadership and its military wing. Also a professor of Islamic law , he became a top clerical authority within Hamas after the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004. Rayan was a strong advocate between 1994 and 2004 or 2005 of suicide attacks on Israel, and his son killed himself on one such mission. Rayan and most of his family were killed in an Israeli airstrike during the Gaza War .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 664604559.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Nizar Rayan ( , Nɩzár Rɑȋán , also transliterated Rayyan ; 6 March 1959 – 1 January 2009) was a high ranking Hamas leader who served as a liaison between the Palestinian organization's political leadership and its military wing. Also a professor of Islamic law , he became a top Islamic cleric within Hamas after the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004.Rayan was a strong promoter between 1994 and 2004 of suicide bombings on Israel, and his son killed himself on one such mission. Rayan and most of his family were killed in an Israeli airstrike during the Gaza War .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 962069063.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Palestinian political and religious leader (1959–2009) Nizar Rayan ( , Nɩzár Rɑȋán , also transliterated Rayyan ; 6 March 1959 – 1 January 2009) was a high ranking Hamas leader who served as a liaison between the Palestinian organization's political leadership and its military wing. Also a professor of Islamic law , he became a top Islamic cleric within Hamas after the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004. Rayan was a strong promoter between 1994 and 2004 of suicide bombings on Israel, and his son killed himself on one such mission. Rayan and most of his family were killed in an Israeli airstrike during the Gaza War .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1175474198.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “top hamas leader who served as a liaison between the palestinian organization's political leadership and its mi”. Today it says “high-ranking hamas leader who served as a liaison between the palestinian organization's political leadership a”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2010 and 2025.
Then
top hamas leader who served as a liaison between the palestinian organization's political leadership and its mi
Now
high-ranking hamas leader who served as a liaison between the palestinian organization's political leadership a
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
