Shi'ite Lebanon

Shi'ite Lebanon
Author: Roschanack Shaery-Eisenlohr
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2011
Genre: History
ISBN: 023114427X

Annotation By providing a new framework for understanding Shi'ite national politics in Lebanon, Roschanack Shaery-Eisenlohr recasts the relationship between religion and nationalism in the Middle East

The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman Rule, 1516–1788

The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman Rule, 1516–1788
Author: Stefan Winter
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2010-03-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1139486810

The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman Rule provides an original perspective on the history of the Shiites as a constituent of Lebanese society. Winter presents a history of the community before the 19th century, based primarily on Ottoman Turkish documents. From these, he examines how local Shiites were well integrated in the Ottoman system of rule, and that Lebanon as an autonomous entity only developed in the course of the 18th century through the marginalization and then violent elimination of the indigenous Shiite leaderships by an increasingly powerful Druze-Maronite emirate. As such the book recovers the Ottoman-era history of a group which has always been neglected in chronicle-based works, and in doing so, fundamentally calls into question the historic place within 'Lebanon' of what has today become the country's largest and most activist sectarian community.

Shia Islam and Politics

Shia Islam and Politics
Author: Jon Armajani
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2020-05-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1793621365

This book argues that ever since Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, which established a Shia Islamic government in Iran, that country’s religious and political leaders have used Shia Islam as a crucial way of expanding Iran’s objectives in the Middle East and beyond. Since 1979, Iran’s religious and political leaders have been concerned about Iran’s security in the face of the hostility and expansionism of the United States and other western countries, and the threats from powerful neighboring Sunni leaders and countries. While Iran’s government has attempted to align itself with Shia Muslims in various countries, such as Iraq and Lebanon, against American and Sunni expansionism, the Iranian government has attempted to religiously nourish and politically mobilize those Shias as a matter of principle, not only because of the Iranian government’s desires to protect Iran from external threats. The book analyzes Shia Islam and politics in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon which have among the largest proportional Shia populations in the Middle East and are vibrant centers of Shia intellectual life. The book's clear and jargon-free approach make it especially accessible for students and general readers who would like an introduction to the book's topics.

The Shi'a of Lebanon

The Shi'a of Lebanon
Author: Rodger Shanahan
Publisher: I.B. Tauris
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2011-06-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781848858145

The Shi'a of Lebanon have emerged in the last 20 years to become a major force in Lebanese politics, having long been a marginalised political community. Rodger Shanahan's book examines the reasons behind this transformation from a largely rural population dominated by a handful of elite families, to an assertive sectarian force whose new found power is exemplified by the emergence of Shi'a parties such as Amal and Hizballah. In this highly useful and timely study Rodger Shanahan explores the development of the Shi'a community from the imposition of French mandatory rule, through independence and the bloody civil war to the withdrawal of Israeli forces from South Lebanon in 2000.

The Vanished Imam

The Vanished Imam
Author: Fouad Ajami
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2012-04-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 080146515X

In the summer of 1978, Musa al Sadr, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Shia sect in Lebanon, disappeared mysteriously while on a visit to Libya. As in the Shia myth of the "Hidden Imam," this modern-day Imam left his followers upholding his legacy and awaiting his return. Considered an outsider when he had arrived in Lebanon in 1959 from his native Iran, he gradually assumed the role of charismatic mullah, and was instrumental in transforming the Shia, a quiescent and downtrodden Islamic minority, into committed political activists. What sort of person was Musa al Sadr? What beliefs in the Shia doctrine did his life embody? Where did he fit into the tangle of Lebanon's warring factions? What was behind his disappearance? In this fascinating and compelling narrative, Fouad Ajami resurrects the Shia's neglected history, both distant and recent, and interweaves the life and work of Musa al Sadr with the larger strands of the Shia past.

Leisurely Islam

Leisurely Islam
Author: Lara Deeb
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2013-10-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0691153663

How the rise of leisure is changing contemporary Lebanon South Beirut has recently become a vibrant leisure destination with a plethora of cafés and restaurants that cater to the young, fashionable, and pious. What effects have these establishments had on the moral norms, spatial practices, and urban experiences of this Lebanese community? From the diverse voices of young Shi'i Muslims searching for places to hang out, to the Hezbollah officials who want this media-savvy generation to be more politically involved, to the religious leaders worried that Lebanese youth are losing their moral compasses, Leisurely Islam provides a sophisticated and original look at leisure in the Lebanese capital. What makes a café morally appropriate? How do people negotiate morality in relation to different places? And under what circumstances might a pious Muslim go to a café that serves alcohol? Lara Deeb and Mona Harb highlight tensions and complexities exacerbated by the presence of multiple religious authorities, a fraught sectarian political context, class mobility, and a generation that takes religion for granted but wants to have fun. The authors elucidate the political, economic, religious, and social changes that have taken place since 2000, and examine leisure's influence on Lebanese sociopolitical and urban situations. Asserting that morality and geography cannot be fully understood in isolation from one another, Leisurely Islam offers a colorful new understanding of the most powerful community in Lebanon today.

Man of Fantasy

Man of Fantasy
Author: Rochelle Alers
Publisher: Kimani Press
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2009-08-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1426837607

Close friends since childhood, Kyle, Duncan and Ivan have become rich, successful co-owners of a beautiful Harlem brownstone. The one thing each of them lacks is a special woman to share his life with—until true love steps in to transform three sexy single guys into grooms-to-be…. Handsome psychotherapist Ivan Campbell could diagnose his own issues in a heartbeat—fear of commitment. Every woman he meets is convinced he's the complete package, yet no one has been able to get past the wall he built around himself long ago. But Nayo Goddard isn't looking for marriage. The petite, stylish photographer plays by her own rules and makes it crystal clear she has no interest in settling down. A fun, passionate, no-strings relationship with Nayo should be the perfect solution for Ivan—except suddenly he wants more, much more. And this time, the love 'em and leave 'em bachelor may be the one who's left heartbroken….

The Shi'ites of Lebanon

The Shi'ites of Lebanon
Author: Rula Jurdi Abisaab
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2014-12-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 0815653018

The complex history of Lebanese Shi‘ites has traditionally been portrayed as rooted in religious and sectarian forces. The Abisaabs uncover a more nuanced account in which colonialism, the modern state, social class, and provincial politics profoundly shaped Shi‘i society. The authors trace the sociopolitical, economic, and intellectual transformation of the Shi‘ites of Lebanon from 1920 during the French colonial period until the late twentieth century. They shed light on the relationship of contemporary Islamic militancy with traditions of religious modernism and leftism in both Lebanon and Iraq. Analyzing the interaction between sacred and secular features of modern Shi‘ite society, the authors clearly follow the group’s turn toward religious revolution and away from secular activism. This book transforms our understanding of twentieth-century Lebanese history and demonstrates how the rise of Hizbullah was conditioned by Shi‘ites’ consistent marginalization and neglect by the Lebanese state.

Lightning Out of Lebanon

Lightning Out of Lebanon
Author: Tom Diaz
Publisher: Presidio Press
Total Pages: 363
Release: 2005-03-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0345481852

Before September 11, 2001, one terrorist group had killed more Americans than any other: Hezbollah, the “Party of God.” Today it remains potentially more dangerous than even al Qaeda. Yet little has been known about its inner workings, past successes, and future plans–until now. Written by an accomplished journalist and a law-enforcement expert, Lightning Out of Lebanon is a chilling and essential addition to our understanding of the external and internal threats to America. In disturbing detail, it portrays the degree to which Hezbollah has infiltrated this country and the extent to which it intends to do us harm. Formed in Lebanon by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in 1982, Hezbollah is fueled by hatred of Israel and the United States. Its 1983 truck-bomb attack against the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut killed 241 soldiers–the largest peacetime loss ever for the U.S. military–and caused President Reagan to withdraw all troops from Lebanon. Since then, among other atrocities, Hezbollah has murdered Americans at the U.S. embassy in Lebanon and the Khobar Towers U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia; tortured and killed the CIA station chief in Beirut; held organizational meetings with top members of al Qaeda–including Osama bin Laden–and established sleeper cells in the United States and Canada. Lightning Out of Lebanon reveals how, starting in 1982, a cunning and deadly Hezbollah terrorist named Mohammed Youssef Hammoud operated a cell in Charlotte, North Carolina, under the radar of American intelligence. The story of how FBI special agent Rick Schwein captured him in 2002 is a brilliantly researched and written account. Yet the past is only prologue in the unsettling odyssey of Hezbollah. Using their exclusive sources in the Middle East and inside the U.S. counterterrorism establishment, the authors of Lightning Out of Lebanon imagine the deadly future of Hezbollah and posit how best to combat the group which top American counterintelligence officials and Senator Bob Graham, vice-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, have called “the A Team of terrorism.”

Islam and New Kinship

Islam and New Kinship
Author: Morgan Clarke
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2009-06-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1845459237

Assisted reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization have provoked global controversy and ethical debate. This book provides a groundbreaking investigation into those debates in the Islamic Middle East, simultaneously documenting changing ideas of kinship and the evolving role of religious authority in the region through a combination of in-depth field research in Lebanon and an exhaustive survey of the Islamic legal literature. Lebanon, home to both Sunni and Shiite Muslim communities, provides a valuable site through which to explore the overall dynamism and diversity of global Islamic debate. As this book shows, Muslim perspectives focus on the moral propriety of such controversial procedures as the use of donor sperm and eggs as well as surrogacy arrangements, which are allowed by some authorities using surprising and innovative legal arguments. These arguments challenge common stereotypes of the rigidity and conservatism of Islamic law and compel us to question conventional contrasts between ‘liberal’ and Islamic notions of moral freedom, as well as the epistemological assumptions of anthropology’s own ‘new kinship studies’. This book will be essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary Islam and the impact of reproductive technology on the global social imaginary.