comparison between hassan nasrallah and muqtada al-sadr

UNIVERSITY OF KALAMOON
FACULTY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY
JOINT SEMINAR: RECENT TRENDS IN MIDDLE EAST POLITICS
STUDENT EXCHANGE UvA – UOK 2008
COMPARISON BETWEEN
HASSAN NASRALLAH AND
MUQTADA AL-SADR
by
FARAH AQL
Hezbollah emerged as ideological of the Islamic revolution, which achieved a
large victory in Iran 1979, it was establish as reaction on the Israel invasion in
1982. the old goal of Hezbollah was to make Islamic state in Lebanon such as
Iran but after many years his goal has been changed and be fighting back
movement . Nasrallah
announced that the organizing don’t
want to build
Islamic state in Lebanon and he took as account the multiple back-ground of
religious sects and historical for Lebanese people.
Usually the caste of religionist which was neglected, try to take the chance to
fight in the way which can give them the security in their society, such as
what occurred in Iraq; The young Muqtada took over after his father's
assassination in 1999, created the Mahdi Army in June 2003.
•
Do the reigning circumstances in Iraq will make the Mhdy Army as
Hezbollah in Lebanon?
•
Does Mouqtada al-Sadr have the same characteristics of Hasan Nasrallah?
Nasrallah became a member of the central military committee of
Hezbollah at the age of 29, in 1989. that was only achieved after he led
Hezbollah troops during the Lebanese civil war. He projected courage and
shortly after work, at the age of 31, became the secretary general of Hezbollah
, after the assassination of his predecessor Abbas al-Musawi. Nasrallah was born
on August 31, 1960.
Nasrallah proved himself as a strong leader, he has captivated millions
of Muslims with his inflammatory speeches- and anti-Israeli military activitysince 1992. Nasrallah has scored mastering skills that can not be found in any
other present-day Arab public figure. That explained why Hezbollah is so
powerful and popular in today's Muslim and Arab world.
However the liberation of South Lebanon in May 2000 by Hezbollah ; an
event that by all standards had a very strong effect on the world street in general and
on the Arab Islamic street especially, Hezbollah was the first who forced Israel army
on withdrawal from Arab lands in history.
Reportedly, according to US journalist Seymour Hersh, Washington wanted
Israel to destroy Hezbollah in 2006 to prevent the creation of Hezbollah-like groups in
"failed states" such as Iraq.
The same applied to Iraqi Shiites since the modern state was created in
the 1920s. Sunnis, starting with their first king Faysal I and ending with
Saddam Hussein, had always ruled them. Before that, and like everybody else,
the Shiites of both countries was ruled for 400 years by the Ottoman Empire,
which was also Sunni.
The Mahdi Army it stands today where Hezbollah stood in the 1982.
There was chaos in Lebanon, frustration among ordinary Shi'ites, Iranian
influence, and plenty of arms use for two purposes: 1) Protect Shi'ites from
external violence 2) Fight the enemy. In 1982, it was the Israelis in Lebanon.
Early fame
Both men rose to fame at a very young age. Muqtada was born on August 12, 1973,
and rose to fame in 2003, after the US invasion, at the age of 30. Elderly, more
established clerics helped both men establish themselves in their respective
communities. With Muqtada, it was his father, Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr With
Nasrallah, it was Mohmmad al-Ghrawi (the cleric who helped him continue his
studies in Najaf), Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr (who took him under his wing when
he was studying at the seminary in Iraq), and Abbas al-Musawi (whom he met in
Najaf and with whom he later co-founded Hezbollah).
Both groups have managed to expand their powerbases to different parts of
their respective countries, through a massive educational and social network of
schools, charities, hospitals and mosques. Millions of poor people - grassroots
Lebanese and Iraqis - rely on the Mahdi Army and Hezbollah for their livelihood.
Nasrallah sends a monthly stipend to orphans, poor people and the families of those
who have been killed in combat with Israel. In April 2003, Muqtada organized the
Sadr Bureau, based on the Hezbollah model, providing services to poor people in Sadr
City in Baghdad, ranging from health care to education.
That has continued, and become all the more easier when the Sadrists gained
control of the ministries of Health, Education and Commerce. One thing that
Hezbollah posses and Muqtada lacks, however, is a strong media machine - al-Manar
TV, with an viewership in excess of 10 million people worldwide. The station never
portrays the Arabs - or Shi'ites -as defeated.
After Nasrallah became a celebrity in Lebanon, his patron became Grand
Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. It took four clerics to promote Nasrallah,
whereas it has taken only one - his father - to make Muqtada the man he is today.
Both men came out of seemingly nowhere to challenge more established religious
authorities. That often created envy, but within a remarkably short period, nobody in
either Lebanon or Iraq could disregard Nasrallah and Muqtada. They became "kingmakers" and enforced their will on others - using their strong characters, powerbases
and the plenty of the arms at their disposal.
Family legitimacy
While Nasrallah's father was an ordinary vegetable vendor, uninterested
in politics or religion, Muqtada's father was Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, a leader
with dramatic influence throughout the Muslim world. His assassination along
with his two sons (Muqtada's brothers) by Saddam in 1999 enabled the young
Muqtada to lead the family in the Iraqi Shi'ite community. Muqtada had a
family base to build on; Nasrallah created his leadership from scratch. Speaking
to the Cairo-based al-Ahram, he once said, "No one from my family had been a
cleric before. I am one of the few who have no family claim to this profession."
Whereas with Muqtada, Saad al-Hadeithi, a political scientist at Baghdad
University, explained, "The movement's strength and cohesion don't resolve around
Muqtada alone. Muqtada is leading a movement that's largely held together by the
historical legacy of his father." The one external factor that has helped both expand
their legitimacy has been Iran. With Nasrallah it was then-president Ali Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani. With Muqtada it is President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and Grand
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Since becoming secretary general of Hezbollah in 1992, Nasrallah has never
resorted to violence when dealing with rival Shi'ites in Lebanon. Muqtada's strategy is
different, however. Some of his followers were responsible for the assassination of
Imam Abdul-Majid al-Khoei in April 2003. An investigation implicated Muqtada
personally in the assassination, and a warrant was issued for his arrest (although
authorities at the time, fearing his influence, refused to advance a legal case against
him).
Image projection
Both Nasrallah and Muqtada are very clear not to sound or act sectarian, in two
countries where sectarianism is on the rise. Neither staff mentions pan-Shi'ite
loyalties, nor always claim to be speaking either for Lebanon or for Iraq. Both fully
understand the multitude of the confessional system in their respective countries, and
never call for the establishment of a Shi'ite theocracy, based on the Iranian model.
They insist - at least in rhetoric - on the right for all Lebanese or Iraqis to live in
peace, free from foreign occupation, while always safeguarding the rights of Shi'ites.
Politics
Both leaders realize that maintaining a military group, without being part of the
political process, is impossible. Muqtada originally shunned all collaboration with any
US-backed government after 2003. He realized, however, that he needed to advance
his program from within the government and legalize himself through holding
government office. He joined the parliamentary elections, won 30 seats for his team
and received major portfolios in the cabinet of current Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Through them, he tapped money for his followers, offered protection, indoctrination,
services and jobs.
In writing about Muqtada's religious and educational abilities, Juan Cole,
professor of modern Middle East and South Asian history at the University of
Michigan says: "It is not even clear that Muqtada is capable of producing the kind of
detailed scholarship that ordinarily is necessary to win the title of ayatollah. He does
not have the reputation of being a deep scholar."
Cole then notes that people might start calling him "ayatollah" before (if) he
reaches the honorific title. In addition to educating himself, Muqtada has started to
purge his Mahdi Army from undisciplined young men who have used his name for
personal gain since 2003. A filtering process has began, where all those unfit for
Sadrist affiliation will be expelled from the Mahdi Army. Members have to have according to Muqtada - a high moral fiber, a strong religious education and a
willingness to work with all parties to advance stability for Iraq and liberation from
US occupation. His senior militiamen have been ordered to take Islamic lessons three
hours a day, five days a week. Only those who pass seminary exams will be allowed
to remain in the Mahdi Army.
He announced he has re-started his academic and religious journey, aimed at
reaching the religious rank of mujtahid (Islamic jurisprudent), at the hands of the
Afghani Ayatollah Mohammad Ishaq al-Fayyad, one of the most senior clerics in
Najaf. Muqtada has not been seen in public since May, believed to be spending a lot
of time in Iran, polishing his religious credentials. He started religious studies in 2000,
but they were cut short by the US invasion of 2003.
By Iraqi standards, Muqtada is a charismatic young man, although many in the
Arab world would disagree, and when compared to Nasrallah he scores poorly.
Slightly more than 10 years his junior, Muqtada looks up to Nasrallah and sees him as
a role model. That is a fact. Reportedly, the two men are good friends, although there
is no record of any encounters between them, or any photograph or visual material
proving that they have ever met.
Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has been trying to copy what Nasrallah has
achieved, in terms of organization, legitimacy and charisma, for his own
military/political organ, the Mahdi Army. The Western media - alarmed at the
growing influence of Muqtada and the British withdrawal from Basra at the
weekend(where he is "king"), have started to fear the creation of a new Hezbollah in
Iraq, mirroring that of Nasrallah.
A close look shows that there are some similarities between the Mahdi Army
and Hezbollah, but they are still a long way from becoming sister organizations - or
even, mirror-image ones.