Hizbu'llah Politics and Religion by Amal Saad-Ghorayeb (London: Pluto Press, 2002. 254 pages.)

Abstract

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb's recently published and extensively researched
study of the Lebanese lslamist group Hizbu'llah is a welcome addition to
the literature on lslamist groups, especially given the present global climate
that instinctively - but usually unsubstantially - associates Islamist groups
with antiwestern terrorist activities. Based as it is on a select number of
high-level interviews with senior Hizbu'llah leaders; numerous interviews
with local, regional, and, functional Hizbu'llah officials; and an extensive
analysis of Hizbu'llah's publications in both print and television media,
Saad-Ghorayeb offers us a rare but thorough glimpse into "the political
mind of Hizbu'llah," one that its officials themselves must have endorsed,
given the ready availability of the book in Lebanese bookstores.
This is a work, first and foremost, about Hizbu'llah's political thought,
which is designed to unravel the "central pillars of Hizbu'llah's intellectual
stnicture." In addition to an introduction and a conclusion, there are eight
chapters that examine several issues and moral precepts that feature prominently
in the deliberations and pronouncements of Hizbu'llah officials. The
first four chapters focus on broader, more timeless questions that confront
Islamic - particularly Shi'ah Islamic - groups, such as the choice between ...