Hizbu'Llah: Politics and Religion
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 volume, 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 Lebanese territory in May 2000. Saad-Ghorayeb explores the nature of the party’s struggle against the West by studying, among other issues, its views on the use...
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'Her dissection of Hizbullah's worldview is instructive. She treads carefully.' --The Jerusalem Post Foreign Affairs The value of this book lies in the author's reconstruction of Hezbollah ideology as gleaned from interviews, party speeches, publications, and the daily press. Readers will find especially compelling chapters on the underpinnings of Hezbollah's anti-Western and anti-Israeli stance.
AcknowledgementsIntroduction11Political Accommodation and Violence in Non-Islamic States162The Islamic State and Democracy343The Concept of the Guardianship of the Jurisprudent594Islamic Universalism and National Identity695The Struggle with the West886The Resistance to the Israeli Occupation of South Lebanon1127Anti-Zionism and Israel1348Anti-Judaism168Conclusion187App. 1Miladi Equivalents to Hijri Years192App. 2List of Hijri Months193Glossary194Notes196Select Bibliography235Index243
\ P. ClawsonSaad-Ghorayeb has written the most detailed and scholarly analysis to date of the ideology of the Lebanese Shi'a radical Hizbu'llah (literally, Party of God. He presents Hizbu'llah's reasoning with understanding rather than condemnation. That said, he tackles head on the issues that Westerners may find least attractive in Hizbu'llah's politics. For instance, he shows that Hizbu'llah sees democracy as, in the end, a less valid form of government than the guardianship of the religious jurisprudent, as preached by the leader of the Iranian revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Much of Saad-Ghorayeb's book is devoted to Hizbu'llah's struggle with the West and Israel. He explains its rejection of Western culture and its resistance to Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon and analyzes in detail its rejection of the very existence of Israel. Further, he explains that Hizbu'llah's anti-Judaism [is] as intrinsic a part of its intellectual structure as is its anti-Zionism, with Jews regarded as deceitful, treacherous aggressors cursed by God, following a counterfeit and deviant religion, to use its leaders' words. Saad-Ghorayeb's account is about ideology, with relatively little about Hizbu'llah's activities and structure. Recommended for upper-division undergraduates and above. \ —CHOICE\ \ \ \ \ Foreign AffairsThe value of this book lies in the author's reconstruction of Hezbollah ideology as gleaned from interviews, party speeches, publications, and the daily press. Readers will find especially compelling chapters on the underpinnings of Hezbollah's anti-Western and anti-Israeli stance.\ \
