He was a prominent Twelver Shiite Marja (or person of influence), who was born and raised in Najaf, Iraq. He is of Lebanese origin, and grew to become the self-proclaimed leader of the Shiites. However, he was not just a religious man, he also was the spiritual leader of Hezballah. Yes, the organization that ranks high up there with Al-Qaeda as a terrorist organization. Personally, I feel Hezballah, with the help of Iran, is far more a threat than Al-Qaeda. Anyways, after 21 years of studying with the prominent Shiite scholars of Iraq, he returned to Lebanon, and rose to power with the heavy influence he had on Hezballah. Many argue that Hezballah and Fadlallah were two separate entities, having nothing to do with eachother, I beg to differ. I think they were one. In proof of this I will provide a quote from their TV channel Al Manar. They said he had at least "inspired the leaders" of the group. It added that "From the pulpit of the Imam Rida mosque in the Bir al-Abd neighborhood, Sayyed Fadlullah’s sermons gave shape to the political currents among mainly the Muslim Shiite sect [of Lebanon], from the latter half of the 1980s till the last days of his life." WOW, doesnt that seem to be exactly what Hezballah does? Considering they mentioned "the later half of the 1980's, and Hezballah was created officially in 1985, this provides me with enough knowledge that he was behind the Hezballah organization from it's early days, until his death last week.
What did he stand for? He stood and supported the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Hezballah, and when he was interviewed once, he mentioned his dream was to have an Islamic Shiite Republic of Lebanon where "there will be room for other faiths". Yeah okay. We seen the room "other faiths" have in Iran, and guess what? We aren't impressed. Considering Lebanon has 18 different religious faiths stretching from Christians, Muslims, Jews and anything in between where did he plan on putting us? Before I get back to him, I would like to say, that as a Muslim (not Shiite), I really am scared by his notion of an Islamic Lebanon. Anyways, Fadlallah later earned himself a place on the list of terrorists and was strongly opposed by the USA. He had his fair amount of opposing the USA back, including boycotting American products, American foreign policy, and what he called "American Intervention in Lebanon". He seemed to have forgotten Iranian intervention in Lebanon...not surprised. In November 2007 Fadlallah accused the United States of trying to sabotage the elections going on in Lebanon. He stated "The insanity of the US president and its administration is reflected in Lebanon by their ambassador pressuring the Lebanese people and preventing them from reaching an agreement over the presidential election."I believe Hezballah was preventing Lebanon from agreeing on a president if I remember correctly, I also remember them in May running around in Beirut with weapons and explosives, bringing Lebanon closer than ever to civil war since 1990. Must have slipped his mind as well.
Fadlallah also had many views about women's rights, abortion and stated that Iran's "Waliyat el Fakih" had no role in "Modern Lebanon". This I do give him props for. However, as a young Lebanese, I wonder, what form will Hezballah take now, will his death change anything in their extremist Shiite Islamic views? In their power hungry state of mind, I think his death will change very little. He may be gone now, but his ideas, books, interviews, website, and so on are still here. Not to mention the thousands of people he had schooled himself. What is it that will change? Well, I think Hezballah will become much "wilder" if you will, as Fadlallah was a spiritual leader, and theological writer more than he was political. He was much more "peaceful" than Hassan Nasrallah ever will be, and he did have much acceptance to other faiths (even if it was just for media purposes). Personally, I think Lebanon is closer now to destruction after his death than before it. With Hezballah becoming stronger and stronger by the minute, and threatening Lebanese democracy and peace in the region, one can sit around and hope for the best. What do you guys think?
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