Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah

Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadl-Allāh
Personal
Religion	Twelver Shi`a Islam
Other names	Arabic: السيد محمد حسين فضل الله
Senior posting
Based in	Beirut, Lebanon
Period in office	1989–2010
Post	Grand Ayatollah
Website	bayynat.org.lb (Arabic, French, English) bayynat.ir (Persian , Urdu)

Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadl-Allāh (Arabic: محمد حسين فضل الله) (also Muhammad Husayn Fadl-Allāh or Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadl-Allāh) (November 16, 1935 – July 4, 2010) was a prominent Lebanese Twelver Shi'a marja.

From a Lebanese family, but born in Najaf, Iraq, Fadlallah studied Islamic sciences in Najaf before moving to Lebanon in 1952. In the following decades, he gave many lectures, engaged in intense scholarship, wrote dozens of books, founded several Islamic religious schools, and established the Mabarrat Association. Through that association he established a public library, a women's cultural center, and a medical clinic.

He was the target of several assassination attempts, including the 1985 Beirut car bombing that killed 80 people.

Biography

Early life

Fadl-Allāh was born in the Iraqi Shia shrine city of Najaf on November 16, 1935. His parents, Abdulraouf Fadlullah and al-Hajja Raoufa Hassan Bazzi, had migrated there from the village of 'Aynata in South Lebanon in 1928 to learn theology. By the time of his birth, his father was already a Muslim scholar.

Education

Fadl-Allāh went first to a traditional school (Kuttāb) to learn the Quran and the basic skills of reading and writing. These schools were run by traditional sheiks and probably left a bad impression on him so Fadl-Allāh soon left and went to a modern school that was established by the publisher Jamiat Muntada Al-Nasher where he remained for two years and studied in the third and fourth elementary classes.

Thus he began studying the religious sciences at a very young age. He started to read the Ajroumiah when he was nine years old, and then he read Qatr al-Nada wa Bal Al-Sada (Ibn Hisham).

He completed Sutouh in which the student reads the book and listens to his teacher’s explanation. He also studied the Arabic language, logic and Jurisprudence, and did not need another teacher until he studied the second part of the course known as Kifayat at Usul which he studied with an Iranian teacher named Sheikh mujtaba Al-Linkarani. He attended the so-called Bahth Al-Kharij in which the teacher does not restrict himself to a certain book but gives more or less free lectures. Fadl-Allāh published a minor periodical before going to Lebanon. At the age of ten, he put out a handwritten literary journal with some of his friends.

Return to Lebanon

After 21 years of studying under the prominent teachers of the Najaf religious university he concluded his studies in 1966 and returned to Lebanon. He had already visited Lebanon in 1952 where he recited a poem eulogizing Muhsin Al-Amin at his funeral.

In 1966 Fadl-Allāh received an invitation from a group who had established a society called ”Usrat Ataakhi” (The family of Fraternity) to come and live with them in the area of Naba’a in Eastern Beirut. He agreed, especially as the conditions at Najaf impelled him to leave.

In Naba’a Fadl-Allāh began his work, by organizing cultural seminars and delivering religious speeches that discussed social issues as well.

Nevertheless, Fadl-Allāh’s main concern was to continue to develop his academic work. Thus he founded a religious school called The Islamic Sharia Institute in which several students enrolled who later became prominent religious scholars including Martyr Sheikh Ragib Harb. He also established a public library, a women’s cultural center and a medical clinic.

When the Lebanese Civil War forced him to leave the area, he moved to the Southern Suburbs where he started to give priority to teaching and educating the people. He used the mosque as his center for holding daily prayers giving lessons in Qur'anic interpretation, as well as religious and moral speeches, especially on religious occasions such as Ashura. He soon resumed his academic work and began to give daily lessons in Islamic principles, jurisprudence and morals.

Assassination attempt

Further information: 1985 Beirut car bombing

As one of the alleged leaders of Hezbollah, which is something they both denied he was the target of several assassination attempts, including the allegedly CIA-sponsored and Saudi-funded March 8,1985 Beirut car bombing that killed 80 people.

On 8 March 1985, a car bomb equivalent to 440 lb (200 kg) of dynamite exploded 9–45 metres from his house in Beirut, Lebanon. The blast destroyed a 7 story apartment building, a cinema, killed 80 people and wounded 256. The attack was timed to go off as worshippers were leaving Friday Prayers. Most of the dead were girls and women, who had been leaving the mosque, though the ferocity of the blast "burned babies in their beds," "killed a bride buying her trousseau," and "blew away three children as they walked home from the mosque." It also "devastated the main street of the densely populated" West Beirut suburb. but Fadl-Allāh escaped injury. One of his bodyguards at the time was Imad Mughniyeh, who was later assassinated in a car-bombing in February 2008.

According to Bob Woodward, CIA director William Casey was involved in the attack, which he suggests was carried out with funding from Saudi Arabia. Former Lebanese warlord and statesman Elie Hobeika was fingered as one of those likely responsible for the actual operation.

During the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, Israeli warplanes bombed his two-story house in Beirut's southern Haret Hreik neighborhood. Fadlallah was not at home at the time of the bombing, which reduced the house to rubble.

Views

He supported the ideals of Iran's Islamic Revolution and advocated the corresponding Islamic movement in Lebanon. In his sermons, he called for armed resistance to the Israeli occupations of Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, along with opposition to the existence of Israel. Although he held relatively liberal views on the status of women.

US foreign policy

Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah opposed US foreign policy: "I say that America, in its policy that aspires to impose hegemony on the world is an evil with no good in it." and "After the tragic slaughter in Karbala and Qadhimiyya [suicide bombings], I said that the CIA, which was in Iraq even during the time of the previous regime, as was Israeli intelligence, the Mossad" In the past he has issued a fatwa forbidding Muslims from helping the USA in its occupation of any Muslim country. Also, he has asked for a boycott of American products.

All American and Israeli goods and products should be boycotted in a way that undermines American and Israeli interests so as to act as deterrence to their war against Muslims and Islam that is being waged under the pretense of fighting terrorism.

This boycott should become an overwhelming trend that makes these two states feel that their economies are in a real and actual danger.

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."

Though he welcomed the election of Barack Obama as the American president, the following year he expressed disappointment with Obama's lack of progress in the Middle East peace process saying he appeared to have no plan to bring peace to the region.

9/11 criticism

Despite his harsh criticism of U.S. foriegn policy in the Middle east, he condemned the September 11 attacks in the United States as acts of terror.

Israel and the Holocaust

In an interview with Al-Manar TV on March 21, 2008 (as translated by the MEMRI), Fadlallah stated that:

"The Hebrew state is preparing to celebrate its 60th anniversary – 60 years since it plundered Palestine – in a festival, which will be attended by the countries of the world, most of which still support the Jewish state and consider the resistance movement to be terrorism. This is what led German Chancellor Merkel to visit that plundering country, which extorted and continues to extort Germany, using as a pretext the German Hitlerist-Nazi past, and the placing of the Jews in a holocaust. Zionism has inflated the number of victims in this holocaust beyond imagination. They say there were six million Jews – not six million, not three million, or anything like that... But the world accepted this [figure], and it does not allow anyone to discuss this."

Wilayat al-Faqih

Despite his ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran, Fadlallah distanced himself from Khomeini legacy of Veleyat-e Faqih as theocratic rule by Islamic clerics and now is said to argue that "no Shia religious leader, not even Khomeini ... has a monopoly on the truth." He also first endorsed Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani rather than Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the marja for Shia in matters of religion, before claiming the role for himself. In an 2009 interview, Fadlallah said that he does not believe wilayat al-faqih has a role in modern Lebanon.

Women

Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah is known for his relatively liberal views on women, such as that they are equal to men. He believed that women have just as much of a responsibility towards society as men do, and women should be role models for both men and women. Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah also believed that women have the same exact ability as men to fight their inner weaknesses. He saw Hijab as something that makes a man see a woman not as a sex object, but instead as a human being. He believes that women should cover their entire body except for their face and hands, and that they should avoid wearing excessive make-up when they go out in public.

Fadlallah also issued a fatwa on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women that supports the right of a woman to defend herself against any act of violence whether social or physical. The fatwa reaffirms the rights of women, both at their workplace and at home, and states that Islam forbids men from exercising any form of violence against women and forbids men from depriving women of their legal rights. In his words "physical violence in which women are beaten, proves that these men are weak, for only the weak are in need of unjust violence". He also issued fatwas (religious edicts) forbidding female circumcision and honour killings.

Abortion

In most cases he was opposed to abortion, however, in some circumstances he viewed as being permissible. In cases where the women is put in an abnormal amount of danger by the pregnancy, he believed it is permissible to have an abortion.

Controversial views regarding Shia doctrine

Fadlallah held many controversial views regarding Shia doctrine, as espoused in some of his works and speeches. These included denying the infallibility of such people as the prophets (including Muhammad), Ali and the other Imams. He also issued many fatwas and opinions that courted controversy, for which he was rebuked by other eminent Shia scholars, including the representatives of Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani.

Social work

In addition to the academic work that Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah did, he also opened up schools, Islamic centers, and Orphanages.

Schools

1. The Imam Al-Khoei Orphanage, Beirut (Dawha)
2. Imam Al-Baqir Secondary school, Beka`a (Hirmil)
3. Imam Al-Jawed Secondary school, Beka`a (Ali Nahri)
4. Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib school, South Lebanon (Ma`roub)
5. Imam Hassan Secondary school, Beirut (Ruwais)
6. Al-Mujtaba Secondary School, Beirut (Hay Al-Salum)
7. Imam Ja`afar As-Sadiq school, South Lebanon (Jwaya)
8. Al-Kauther Secondary school, Beirut (Bir Hassan)
9. Imam Hussein School, Beka`a (Suh`mour) under construction
10. Ali Al-Akbar Vocational Institute Beirut (Doha)

Islamic centres

1. The large Islamic Center, Beirut (Haret Hreik: Consists of the Al-Imamain Hassnian Mosque, the Zah`ra Hall and the Islamic Cultural Center.
2. Imam Hasan Askari Center Beka`a’(Sira’in)
3. Imam Hussein Center-Beka`a(Jlala)
4. Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib center South Lebanon.(AL-Hawzah-Sour)
5. Ahl Al-Beit Mosque Beka`a’ (Rayak)
6. Imam Ja’far Al-Sadiq Mosque Beka`a (Hirmil)
7. Ahl Al-Beit Center, North Lebanon (Tripoli)
8. Sayyida Zaynab Mosque, Beka`a (Baalbeck)

Orphanages

1. Imam Al-Khoei Orphanage (Beirut-Doha)
2. Imam Zein Al-Abidine (A.S.) Orphanage Biqaa(Hirmil).
3. Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib (A.S.) Orphanage, South Lebanon. (The Ma`roub-Sour road)
4. Virgin Mary Orphanage (A.S.) South Lebanon(Jiwaya).
5. Al- Sayyida Khadijah Al-Kubraa (A.S.) Orphanage, Beirut (Bir-Hassan).
6. The Zaynab (A.S.) Orphanage West Biqaa (Suh`mour) Under construction.

Death

He died on July 4, 2010 at the age of 74 in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. Fadlallah was admitted to hospital the month before his death for suffering from internal bleeding.

Thousands of his followers gathered outside his mosque in Haret Hreik. Al-Manar broadcasted the events. Prime Minister of Lebanon Saad Hariri, called him "a voice of moderation and an advocate of unity" for the Lebanese people. In Iraq, Ali al-Adeeb, a senior member of the Dawa party, called his a major loss to the Islamic world adding that "It will be hard to replace him". His followers remembered him fondly for his compassion, his support of women's rights, and his teachings on topics such as sex and smoking.

See also

• Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, maternal cousin of Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah.

External links

• Official Website (Arabic, English, French, Persian)
• Official Website (Persian, Urdu)
• The Oracle of Hizbullah: Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah by Martin Kramer