"Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, leading Shi’ite cleric in Lebanon" by Bassem Mroue and Zeina Karam, Associated Press | July 5, 2010
And the website does not give me the handsome photograph of the bearded old man with the caption:
"Shi'ite women mourned near a poster of Ayatollah Fadlallah yesterday in Beirut."
I'm only going to color-code green in this post in deep respect for the great leader.
BEIRUT — The leading Shi’ite cleric in Lebanon and one of the sect’s most revered religious authorities, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, died yesterday after a long illness. He was 75.
Ayatollah Fadlallah’s doctor, Hashem Noureddine, told the Associated Press that the cleric, who had been hospitalized for the past two weeks with a liver problem, died from internal bleeding in his stomach.
Seen by some as a spiritual mentor to the Hezbollah militant movement and by others as a voice of pragmatism and religious moderation, Ayatollah Fadlallah enjoyed a following that stretched beyond Lebanon’s borders to Iraq, the Persian Gulf, and as far as central Asia.
He played a key role in the rise to prominence of Lebanon’s Shi’ite community over the past 30 years, and was one of the founders of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s governing Dawa Party. He was believed to be the party’s religious guide until the last days of his life.
No kidding. The spiritual guide to our marionette Maliki (not so much now).
Known for his staunch anti-American views, he was described by Western media in the 1980s as a spiritual leader of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah — a claim both he and the group denied.
Ayatollah Fadlallah was born in Iraq in 1935 and lived in the country’s Shi’ite holy city of Najaf, where he was considered one of the leading clerics, until the age of 30. He then moved to Lebanon — his family hailed from the southern Lebanese village of Ainata — where he began lecturing on religion.
In the ensuing decades, he would prod Lebanon’s Shi’ites, who today make up a third of the country’s population of 4 million, to fight for their rights.
During Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war, he was linked to Iranian-backed Shi’ite militants who kidnapped Westerners and bombed the US Embassy and Marine base in Lebanon, killing more than 260 Americans.
Western intelligence sources at the time said....
Who cares what western liars say anymore?
With age, his views mellowed, and he lost much of his 1980s militancy. His sermons, once fiery diatribes denouncing American imperialism, took on a pragmatic tone as he urged dialogue among nations.
And here comes the lump.
The stocky, gray-bearded cleric, with piercing brown eyes below his black turban, rejected being described in Western media as Hezbollah’s mentor. He insisted his relationship with the group was the same as with any other Shi’ite faction, but was simply more obvious because of his physical presence in Lebanon.
“I reject it not because I reject Hezbollah, but because I refuse to be given a title that I don’t possess,’’ he said.
While Ayatollah Fadlallah’s exact role with the militant group remains unclear, Hezbollah mourned his passing. The group’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, said yesterday that Hezbollah had lost “a merciful father, a wise leader, and . . . a strong backer.’’
Ayatollah Fadlallah escaped several assassination attempts, including a March 1985 car bomb that killed 80 people near his home in the Bir el-Abed district of south Beirut.
The bomb, planted between his apartment block and a nearby mosque he was attending that day, was timed to go off as he passed by. But Ayatollah Fadlallah stopped to listen to an old woman’s complaints and escaped the blast.
I think we know who was behind the attempts.
During the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, Israeli warplanes bombed his two-story house in Beirut’s southern Haret Hreik neighborhood. Ayatollah Fadlallah was not at home at the time of the bombing, which reduced the house to rubble.
That is an assassination attempt!!!
Were members of his family killed?
Despite his harsh criticism of US policy, he condemned the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States as acts of terror.
He probably instinctively knew the hidden hand behind it!
Announcing Mr. Fadlallah’s death at a Beirut news conference, Bahraini Shi’ite cleric Abdullah al-Ghuraifi described him as a “father, religious authority, and spiritual leader to all Islamic movements in the Arab and Islamic world.’’
That's why I don't buy the MSM sectarian s*** anymore.
These folks INTERMARRIED and LIVED TOGETHER for CENTURIES and were not blowing up mosques until Israel showed up on the map!
And ever notice WHEREVER the U.S. INVADES the "terrorists" are sure to follow?
Sunnis VACATION in IRAN, for Allah's sake!
Black banners were hung in a sign of mourning outside the hospital and at the Al-Hassanayn mosque in Haret Hreik, where Ayatollah Fadlallah gave religion lessons and led Friday sermons. Thousands of the cleric’s supporters wept openly. His Al-Bashaer radio station and Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV aired Koranic verses.
And there go my eyes!
Will Fatima collect my tears even though I am (nominally) Catholic?
A grandfatherly figure, Ayatollah Fadlallah was also known for his bold fatwas, or religious edicts, including one that gave women the right to hit their husbands if they attacked them, and another that banned smoking.
I assume we are applauding him on these, right?
He STOOD UP for WOMEN, huh?
He supported the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 but distanced himself from the key principle advocated by its leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which placed the Iranian cleric as a supreme, undisputed spiritual leader for the world’s Shi’ites.
Oh, he was NOT a Khomeini fan, huh?
The ENEMY of my ENEMY, America?
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri called Ayatollah Fadlallah “a voice of moderation and an advocate of unity’’ among Lebanese and Muslims in general.
And that is OUR GUY in Lebanon, America!!!!
In Iraq, Ali al-Adeeb, a prominent figure in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawa Party, said Ayatollah Fadlallah “will be hard to replace,’’ while Iraq’s hard-line Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for three days of mourning.
Ayatollah Fadlallah’s title was “sayyed’’ — reflecting a claim of direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter Fatima and her husband Imam Ali, revered by Shi’ites as a saint.
In his youth, Ayatollah Fadlallah worked closely with Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr, a cofounder of the Dawa Party that Saddam Hussein later crushed.
Muqtada's father-in-law?
In Lebanon, he founded the Al-Mabarrat network of charities, orphanages, schools, and religious institutions in Beirut, south Lebanon, and the eastern Bekaa Valley, where many Shi’ites live.
Ayatollah Fadlallah leaves his wife and 11 children. A funeral will be held tomorrow, with burial at the Imamayn al-Hassanayn mosque south of Beirut, his office said.--more--"
"GRAND AYATOLLAH MOURNED IN BEIRUT -- Shi'ites carried Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah of Lebanon at his funeral yesterday. Fadlallah, 75, was viewed as a modern face of Islam, but was on a US terrorist list."
Like that last bit is supposed to mean something?
Related: CNN’s Octavia Nasr Leaving Network praise of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah
Oh, oh, oh, I don't want to read or watch AmeriKan news anymore!!!!
Related: Chinese News Channel
Worth a shot!
