Hizbu'llah

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb

Description

Hizbu'llah is the largest and most prominent political party in Lebanon, and one of the most renowned Islamist movements in the world. In this book, Amal Saad-Ghorayeb examines the organisation's understanding of jihad and how this, together with its belief in martyrdom, brought about the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from Lebanon in May 2000.



Saad-Ghorayeb explores the nature of the party's struggle against the West by studying its views on the use of violence against Westerners. Crucially, she also addresses the question of whether Hizbu'llah depicts this struggle in purely political or civilisational terms. The existential nature of the movement’s conflict with Israel is analysed and the Islamic roots of its anti-Judaism is unearthed.



The author explores the mechanics and rationale behind the party's integration into the Lebanese political system, and sheds light on how it has reconciled its national idenitity with its solidarity with the Muslim umma.

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. Political Accommodation And Violence In Non-Islamic States

2. The Islamic State And Democracy

3. The Concept Of The Guardianship Of The Jurisprudent

4. Islamic Universalism And National Identity

5. The Struggle With The West

6. The Resistance To The Israeli Occupation Of South Lebanon

7. Anti-Zionism And Israel

8. Anti-Judaism

Conclusion

Appendix 1: Miladi Equivalents To Hijri Years

Appendix 2: List Of Hijri Months

References

Glossary

Index

Sujets

• Islamic Studies
• Social Science
• Lebanon

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 12 janvier 2001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781849641210
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Hizbu’llah Politics and Religion

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb

P Pluto Press LONDON • STERLING, VIRGINIA

First published 2002 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166–2012, USA

www.plutobooks.com

Copyright © Amal Saad-Ghorayeb 2002

The right of Amal Saad-Ghorayeb to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Hizbullah : politics and religion / Amal Saad-Ghorayeb. p. cm. — (Critical studies on Islam) ISBN 0–7453–1793–6 (hard) — ISBN 0–7453–1792–8 (pbk.) 1. Hizballah (Lebanon) 2. Islam and politics—Lebanon. 3. Shiites—Lebanon—Political activity. 4. Israel–Arab Border Conflicts, 1949—Lebanon. I. Title. II. Series. BP194.185 .S23 2001 322.4'2'095692—dc21 2001

ISBN 0 7453 1793 6 hardback ISBN 0 7453 1792 8 paperback

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services, Fortescue, Sidmouth EX10 9QG Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Towcester Printed in the United States of America by Phoenix Color

002257

To my father

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction Background of the Study Objectives and Methodology The Politicisation of the Lebanese Shi’ites and Subsequent Rise of Hizbu’llah

1 Political Accommodation and Violence in Non-Islamic States The Oppressors versus the Oppressed Justifications for Political Violence and Accommodation in Relation to State Oppression Political Accommodation with the Lebanese state

2 The Islamic State and Democracy The Islamic State Ideal The Endorsement of Democracy

3 The Concept of the Guardianship of the Jurisprudent The Origins of the Concept of theWilayat alFaqih Khumayni’s Conceptualisation of theWilayat alFaqih The Role of theWilayat alFaqihin the Political Thought of Hizbu’llah

4 Islamic Universalism and National Identity The Pan-Islamic Concept of Hizbu’llah The Universalism of theWilayat alFaqihand the Islamic Republic of Iran The Pan-Islamic Dimension of the Palestinian Cause Solidarity with the MuslimUmma The Primacy of Islamic Identity National Identity and Nationalism

vii

x

1 1 3

7

16 16

22 25

34 34 46

59 59 61

64

69 69

71 72 74 76 78

viii

Hizbu’llah

5 The Struggle with the West The origins of Hizbu’llah’s Anti-Westernism The Western Conspiracy Against Islam The Double Standards of the West Views on Political Violence as a Means of Confronting the West The Rejection of Western Culture The Struggle with the West as a Civilisational Dispute

6 The Resistance to the Israeli Occupation of South Lebanon The Resistance Priority The Logic of Resistance The Resistance to Israel as a DefensiveJihadand as the Fulfilment of the Religious Legal Obligation The Centrality of the Notion of Martyrdom

7 Anti-Zionism and Israel The Excoriation of Israeli State and Society The Zionist Essence of Israeli State and Society Existential Dimensions of the Struggle with Israel

8 Anti-Judaism The Identification of Zionism with Judaism Anti-Zionism versus Anti-Judaism The Islamic Roots of Hizbu’llah’s Anti-Judaism Judaism as a ‘Deviation’ from the Revelation of Moses

Conclusion

Appendix One:Miladi Equivalents to Hijri Years Appendix Two:List of Hijri Months

Glossary Notes Select Bibliography Index

88 89 90 93

95 102 106

112 112 118

121 127

134 134 138 142

168 168 171 173 182

187

192 193

194 196 235 243

Critical Studies on Islam

Series Editors: Azza Karam and Ziauddin Sardar

Islam is a complex, ambiguous term. Conventionally it has been used to describe religion, history, culture, civilisation and worldview of Muslims. But it is also impregnated with stereotypes and post- modern notions of identity and boundaries. The diversity of Muslim peoples, cultures, and interpretations, with their baggage of colonial history and post-colonial present, has transformed Islam into a powerful global force. This unique series presents a far-reaching, critical perspective on Islam. It analyses the diversity and complexity of Islam through the eyes of people who live by it. Provocative and thoughtful works by established as well as younger scholars will examine Islamic movements, the multilayered questions of Muslim identity, the transnational trends of political Islam, the spectre of ethnic conflict, the political economy of Muslim societies and the impact of Islam and Muslims on the West. The series is built around two fundamental questions. How are Muslims living, thinking and breathing Islam? And how are they rethinking and reformulating it and shaping the global agendas and discourses? As Critical Studies on Islam seeks to bridge the gap between academia and decision making environments, it will be of particular value to policy makers, politicians, journalists and activists, as well as academics. Azza Karam is the Director of the Women’s Programme at the World Conference on Religion and Peace, New York. She has published extensively on development, conflict, gender and democ- ratisation issues. She is also author ofIslamism, State and Womenand co-author ofIslam in a NonPolarized Society. Ziauddin Sardar is a well-known writer, broadcaster and cultural critic. A Visitng Professor of Postcolonial Studies at the City University, he is considered a pioneering writer on Islam. He is the author of several books for Pluto Press, most recentlyAliens R Us.

ix

Acknowledgements

This book would not have been possible without the assistance of Professor Jorgen Nielsen, Director of the Centre for Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at the University of Birmingham, whom I had the privilege of having as the supervisor for my PhD disserta- tion, upon which this book is based. The time and energy he exerted to offer me insightful comments and sound suggestions, in spite of his heavy workload, not to mention his prompt responses to my constant stream of e-mail queries, were of invaluable use to me. I am also very much indebted to Professor Ghassan al-Zayn, who clarified various concepts to me and helped me organise the numerous ideas in my head into a comprehensive and meaningful whole. Another person I owe great thanks to is my father, Abdo Saad. His extensive contacts with Hizbu’llah officials provided me with unpar- alleled access to many leading figures in the party, without whom this work would not have borne fruition. Yet over and above such concrete assistance, my father has indirectly helped me in completing this book by being my strongest source of intellectual inspiration. Finally, but by no means last, I would like to thank my husband, Abdullah Ghorayeb, for his loving support. His patience (in enduring my fouler moods!), encouragement and motivation every step of the way were indispensable to the progression of my work.

x

Introduction

Background of the Study

The subject of this work is the largest and most prominent political party in Lebanon, and perhaps the most renowned Islamist movement in the world, the Hizbu’llah. The movement rose to notoriety because of its alleged involvement in the kidnapping of over 80 Westerners throughout the 1980s, including such prominent hostages as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s special envoy, Terry Waite. Hizbu’llah’s purported culpability for the attack on the US embassy in Beirut in April 1983, which killed 63 people, as well as the bombing of the US Marines’ barracks in Beirut in October that same year, which resulted in the deaths of 241, also earned it world- wide infamy. The deaths of 29 people in the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Argentina, and another 100 in the 1994 attack on a Jewish cultural centre in London, did nothing to temper the opprobrium heaped upon Hizbu’llah, despite the absence of any concrete evidence connecting the organisation to either incident. Public interest in the party was also sustained by its 18-year-long military struggle against Israeli occupation forces in South Lebanon. Hizbu’llah’s unanticipated triumph over Israel, whose military forces prematurely withdrew from Lebanese territory in May 2000, further placed the movement under the international media’s spotlight. The ability of a small and ill-equipped guerrilla group to thwart one of the most powerful armies in the world was met with astonishment by the international community and widespread acclaim in the Arab and Islamic world. Hizbu’llah’s capture of three Israeli soldiers 1 in the disputed territory of the Shiba‘ Farms on 7 October 2000, and its seizure of a retired Israeli colonel who was supposedly lured into Lebanon, a few days later, also served to highlight the movement’s continued importance as a strategic regional player, and hence its newsworthiness. In Lebanon, Hizbu’llah’s renown is not only attributable to such incidents, but also to its integration into the secular Lebanese political system as of 1990. The party’s overall ‘pragmatisation’, or what many in Lebanon have called its ‘Lebanonisation’, after almost a decade of political radicalism, has rendered it a particularly

1

2

Hizbu’llah

compelling case for observation and study by Lebanese journalists and academics. Hizbu’llah’s political evolution, together with its resistance activity, has earned it widespread kudos amongst many sectors of Lebanese society. The once common Lebanese perception of Hizbu’llah as a fanatical religious Iranian surrogate organisation that sought to impose its Islamic vision of the socio-political order, modelled on the Islamic Republic of Iran, onto Lebanese society, underwent a gradual change in the post-war period. This transfor- mation was the product of the end of the civil war, which had effectively precluded the possibility of interreligious dialogue and reconciliation, as well as the change of the Hizbu’llah leadership. The politically exclusive and intolerant tone adopted by Hizbu’llah’s first secretary-general, Shaykh Subhi al-Tufayli, gave way to the politically inclusive and conciliatory discourse initiated by the party’s second secretary-general, al-Sayyid ‘Abbas al-Mussawi, who pursued the party’s participation in the secular, democratic political system. After Mussawi’s assassination by Israeli forces in February 1992, his successor, al-Sayyid Hassan Nasru’llah, continued this discourse and accentuated the themes of Christian-Muslim recon- ciliation and co-existence in a politically pluralist society, whilst overseeing the party’s political integration. The credibility of this discourse partly lay in the fact that Hizbu’llah’s hands had not been stained with Christian blood at any point in the civil war, since the only local group it was in direct conflict with was its Shi’ite counterpart, the Amal militia. Although this did nothing to appease the Christian inhabitants of the former ‘security zone’ in South Lebanon, who remained fearful of Hizbu’llah’s intentions in the event of an Israeli withdrawal from the area, these fears were laid to rest in the aftermath of Israel’s withdrawal from the region. The non-materialisation of the antici- pated hostilities between the Christian community in the liberated areas and Hizbu’llah’s cadres, came as a welcome surprise to many Lebanese, notwithstanding the Christians’ repeated call for the dis- armament of the Islamic Resistance in the border areas and the deployment of the Lebanese army in its place. Hizbu’llah’s political performance in the resurrected Lebanese parliament, from 1992 until the present day, has added further cred- ibility to its conciliatory discourse. Both the party’s admirers and detractors agree that, of all the political forces in Lebanon, Hizbu’llah is the only political party which has not been tainted by charges of

Introduction

3

corruption or political opportunism and which has resolutely stuck to its principles. This perceived moral and ideological integrity was epitomised by the death of Nasru’llah’s son in September 1997 whilst in combat with Israeli troops, which won the party leader the respect of all Lebanese sects. More recently, this image of Hizbu’llah has been reinforced by its liberation achievement, which was attributed to the party’s unswerving loyalty to its resistance priority. Thus, despite the fear of an Islamic or Muslim-dominated system, which continues to be harboured by Lebanon’s increasingly marginalised Christians, Hizbu’llah has succeeded in preserving its core support base, winning over those who were formerly indifferent to it, and earning the respect of many of its opponents.

Objectives and Methodology

My acute interest in Hizbu’llah was very much the product of my mixed cultural upbringing. As a Briton, born in England to Lebanese parents, I was fascinated by this staunchly anti-Western, anti-Zionist, martyrdom-loving organisation. As a Lebanese, I was appalled by the apparent ease with which this movement was accused of sundry terrorist activities by Western journalists and policy-makers, and their insistence on referring to its guerrilla fighters, who were practising their legitimate right to resist a foreign occupation, as ‘terrorists’. A few years after my family and I emigrated to Lebanon, Hizbu’llah contested the 1992 parliamentary election and won twelve seats, four of which it allocated to non-Shi’ite allies. In the 1996 election again, the party won nine seats and the government’s legitimisation of its Islamic Resistance. My initial interest in the party’s antagonism towards the West, its abomination of Israel and its apotheosis of martyrdom, was now conjoined with a profound curiosity about the party’s underlying political motives and strategy. This fascination impelled me to devote my PhD dissertation, which I began that same year and from which this book is adapted, to a study of Hizbu’llah. I sought to shift the focus away from the party’s alleged involve- ment in the Western hostage crises to an area which has not received the attention it deserves – the political mind of Hizbu’llah. In addition to studying the intellectual foundations of Hizbu’llah’s political thought, I sought to examine the extent to which its political transformation clashed with those foundations and Islamic