Hizbu'llah: Politics and Religion (Critical Studies on Islam Series)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This book examines the largest and most prominent political party in Lebanon, and perhaps the most renowned Islamist movement in the world, the Hizbu'llah. This Shiite movement-cum-party rose to notoriety by virtue of its alleged involvement in the Western hostage crisis of the 1980s, which led many Westerners to believe that Islam replaced Communism as the new threat to the US-led world order. Public interest in the party was also sustained by its eighteen-year long military struggle against Israeli occupation forces in South Lebanon. For these reasons the party has always figured prominently in the Western media and has recently been spotlighted by the international media for its unanticipated triumph over Israel, whose military forces unilaterally withdrew from Lebanese territory in May 2000, as a result of Hizbu'llah's incessant military campaign. This book explains the thinking within the Hizbu'llah, which has enabled its small and ill-equipped guerrilla group - Hizbu'llah's Islamic Resistance - to defeat one of the most powerful armies in the world. Chapters cover violence in non-Islamic states; Islam and democracy; Islamic universalism and national identity; the struggle with the West; the resistance to the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon; and anti-Zionism and Israel.

SYNOPSIS

This book examines the largest and most prominent political party in Lebanon, and perhaps the most renowned Islamist movement in the world, the Hizbu'llah. This Shiite movement-cum-party rose to notoriety by virtue of its alleged involvement in the Western hostage crisis of the 1980s, which led many Westerners to believe that Islam replaced Communism as the new threat to the US-led world order. Public interest in the party was also sustained by its eighteen-year long military struggle against Israeli occupation forces in South Lebanon. For these reasons the party has always figured prominently in the Western media and has recently been spotlighted by the international media for its unanticipated triumph over Israel, whose military forces unilaterally withdrew from Lebanese territory in May 2000, as a result of Hizbu'llah's incessant military campaign.This book explains the thinking within the Hizbu'llah, which has enabled its small and ill-equipped guerrilla group - Hizbu'llah's Islamic Resistance - to defeat one of the most powerful armies in the world. Chapters cover violence in non-Islamic states; Islam and democracy; Islamic universalism and national identity; the struggle with the West; the resistance to the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon; and anti-Zionism and Israel.

FROM THE CRITICS

P. Clawson - CHOICE

Saad-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.

Foreign Affairs