Abstract
Prior to the organisational formation of Hizb’allah in June 1982, the Lebanese Shi’a community was largely regarded, by other militias as well as outside observers, as politically irrelevant in Lebanon.1This came as no surprise given the Shi’a community’s historical background as socially excluded, economically deprived and politically marginalised within Lebanon, itself reinforced by the institutionalized political system of confessionalism which disadvantaged the representation of the Muslims. Apart from the Harakat al-Mahrumin (Movement of the Dispossessed) and later its militia Amal movement, founded in 1974 by Imam Musa alSadr,2 the Shi’a of Lebanon remained a predominantly poor and disorganized religious community. When the political mobilization of the Shi’a into militant Islamic movements occurred, it was largely overshadowed by the dimensions of civil war in Lebanon. Subsequently, the emergence of Hizb’allah in 1982•was perceived by the West largely within the context of Iran’s revolutionary efforts to export its revolution following Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon. However, it would be erroneous, as pointed out by Augustus Richard Norton, to assume that the Shi’a emerged to prominence on the Lebanese scene in 1982 as a mere creation by Iran.3
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Notes for Chapter 2
See: Augustus Richard Norton, “Changing Actors and Leadership Among the Shiites of Lebanon”, The Annals of the American Academy of Political Sciences, Vol. 482 (November 1985: pp. 109–121).
The Amal movement (Harakat AMAL-Movement for the Dispossessed) was formed by Imam Musa al-Sadr, the president of the Higher Shi’i Islamic Council from 1969 until his disappearence in Libya in August 1978. See: Marius Deeb, “Lebanon: Prospects for National Reconciliation in the mid-1980’s”, The Middle East Journal, Vol. 38 (1984): pp. 268–9.
Also see: Shimon Shapira, “The Imam Musa al-Sadr: Father of the Shiite Resurgence in Lebanon”, Jerusalem Quarterly, No.44 (Fall 1987): pp. 121–44.
See: Hanna Batatu, “Shi’i Organizations in Iraq: al-Da’wah al-Islamiyya and al-Mujahidin”, in Juan R.I. Cole and Nikki R. Keddie (eds.), Shi’ism and Social Protest (New Haven, CT.: Yale University, 1986): p.191; and Le Monde Diplomatique, April 1984.
See: Hanna Batatu, “Iraq’s Underground Shi’a Movements: Characteristics, Causes and Prospects”, Middle East Studies, Vol.35, No.4 (Autumn 1981).
Amazia Baram, Culture, History and Ideology in the Formation of Ba’athist Iraq: 1968–89 (New York, NY.: St. Martins Press, 1991): p. 138.
Shimon Shapira, “The Origins of Hizballah”, The Jerusalem Quarterly, Vol.46 (Spring 1988): p.130.
Xavier Raufer, La Nebuleuse: Le Terrorisme du Moyen-Orient (Paris: Libraire Artheme Fuyard, 1987): pp. 160–1.
See: Fouad Ajami, The Vanished Imam: Musa al Sadr & the Shia of Lebanon (Ithaca, NY.: Cornell University Press, 1986);
and Majed Halawi, A Lebanon Defied: Musa al-Sadr and the Shi’a Community (Oxford: Westview Press, 1992).
See: Fouad Ajami, “Lebanon and Its Inheritors”, Foreign Affairs, Vol.63 (Summer 1985): pp. 778–99.
For the attitude of the southern Shi’i population following Israel’s invasion, see: Augustus Richard Norton, “Making Enemies in South Lebanon: Harakat Amal, the IDF, and South Lebanon”, Middle East Insight, Vol.3, No.3 (January-February 1984): pp. 1–19.
See: Nassif Hitti, “Lebanon in Iran’s Foreign Policy: Opportunities and Constraints”, in Hooshang Amirahmadi and Nader Entessar (eds.), Iran and the Arab World (London: Macmillan, 1993): pp.182–3; and al-Watan al-Arabi, 11 December 1987.
Marius Deeb, Militant Islamic Movements in Lebanon: Origins, Social Basis, and Ideology, Occasional Paper Series (Washington, DC.: Georgetown University, 1986): p. 12.
As’ad AbuKhalil, “Ideology and Practice of Hizballah in Lebanon: Islamization of Leninist Organizational Principles” Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 27 (July 1991): p. 391.
Augustus Richard Norton, Amal and the Shi’a: Struggle for the Soul of Lebanon (Austin, TX.: University of Texas Press, 1987): p. 88.
Robin Wright, “Lebanon”, in Shireen T. Hunter (ed.), The Politics of Islamic Revivalism (Indianapolis, IN.: Indiana Univérsity Press, 1988): p. 63.
Nassif Hitti, “Lebanon in Iran’s Foreign Policy: Opportunities and Constraints”, in Hooshang Amirahmadi and Nader Entessar (eds.), (1993), op. cit p.183.
Hussein J. Agha and Ahmad S. Khalidi, Syria and Iran: Rivalry and Cooperation (London: Pinter, 1995): p. 38.
R.K. Ramazani, Revolutionary Iran: Challenge and Response in the Middle East (Baltimore, MD.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986): p. 156.
Robin Wright, In the Name of God: the Khomeini Decade (New York, NY.: Simon & Schultz, 1989): pp.108–9; Radio Free Lebanon, 23 November 1982; and Voice of Lebanon, 10 December 1982.
See: William Harris, “The View from Zahle: Security and Economic Conditions in the Central Bekaa 1980–1985”, Middle East Journal, Vol.39, No.3 (Summer 1985): pp.270–86; Time, 15 August 1984; and AP, 24 April 1984.
See: Middle East International, 19 December 1987; and Augustus Richard Norton, “Lebanon: The Internal Conflict and the Iranian Connection”, in John L. Esposito (ed.), The Iranian Revolution: Its Global Impact (Miami, fl.: florida University International Press, 1990): pp.126–27. Also see: Middle East Reporter, 22 March 1986; Financial Times, 25 July 1987; al-Dustur, 14 October 1985; and Jerusalem Post, 22 July 1987.
See: Martin Kramer, “The Pan-Islamic Premise of Hizballah”, in David Menashri (ed.), (1990), op. cit.: p.128; Shimon Shapira, (1988), op. cit.: pp.128–29; and Liberation, 19 March 1985.
On the Nabatiya incident, see: Augustus Richard Norton, External Intervention and the Politics of Lebanon (Washington, DC.: Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy, 1984): pp. 12–3.
See: Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah, Al-islam wa-mantiq al-quwwa (Beirut: 1981 (2nd ed.)): p.246.
Amir Taheri, Holy Terror: The Inside Story of Islamic Terrorism (London: Sphere Books, 1987): p.125. For meetings of Hizb’allah’s Majlis al-Shura, see: al-Watan al-Arabi, 11December 1987.
Augustus Richard Norton, “Lebanon: The Internal Conflict and the Iranian Connection”, in John L. Esposito (ed.), (1990), op. cit.: p.125; and Martin Kramer, “The Moral Logic of Hizballah”, in Walter Reich (ed.), (1990), op. cit.: p.134–35.
and Martin Kramer, “The Moral Logic of Hizballah”, in Walter Reich (ed.), (1990), op. cit.: p.134–35.
See: James Piscatori, Islam in a World of Nation-States (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986): pp.114–15;
and Martin Kramer, “Redeeming Jerusalem: The Pan-Islamic Premise of Hizballah”, David Menashri (ed.), (1990), op. cit.: pp.105–30.
Martin Kramer, “Redeeming Jerusalem: The Pan-Islamic Premise of Hizballah”, David Menashri (ed.), (1990), op. cit.: pp.105–30.
See: Chibli Mallat, Shii Thought from the South of Lebanon. Papers on Lebanon, no.7 (Oxford: Centre for Lebanese Studies, 1988): pp. 36–7.
See: John L. Esposito, Islam and Politics (Syracuse, NY.: Syracuse University Press, 1991): p. 252.
See: Mohssen Massarrat, “The Ideological Context of the Iran-Iraq War: Pan-Islamism versus Pan-Arabism”, in Hooshang Amirahmadi & Nader Entessar (eds.), (1993), op. cit.: pp.28–41; and al-Ahd, 29 August 1985.
See: Shireen T. Hunter, “Islamic Iran and the Arab World”, Middle East Insight, Vol.5, No.3 (1987); and idem, “After the Ayatollah”, Foreign Policy, Vol.66 (Spring 1987): pp. 741–2.
Martin Kramer, “The Pan-Islamic Premise of Hizballah”, in David Menashri (ed.), (1990), op. cit.: p.118.
Martin Kramer, “The Moral Logic of Hizb’ allah”, in Walter Reich (ed.), (1990), op. cit.: p.134;
and Ali al-Kurani, Tariqat Hizballah fil-Amal al-Islami (Beirut, 1986).
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© 1997 Magnus Ranstorp
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Ranstorp, M. (1997). Background to the Formation of the Hizb’allah in Lebanon. In: Hizb’allah in Lebanon. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230377509_2
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