Martyr Cults and Political Identities in Lebanon: "Victory or Martyrdom" in the Struggle of the Amal Movement

378 Pages·2020·18.488 MB·English

by  Sabrina Bonsen

Politik und Gesellschaft des Nahen Ostens
Sabrina Bonsen
Martyr Cults and
Political Identities
in Lebanon
“Victory or Martyrdom” in the Struggle
of the Amal Movement
Politik und Gesellschaft des
Nahen Ostens
Reihe herausgegeben von
Martin Beck, Odense, Dänemark
Cilja Harders, Berlin, Deutschland
Annette Jünemann, Hamburg, Deutschland
Rachid Ouaissa, Marburg, Deutschland
Stephan Stetter, München, Deutschland
Die Reihe beschäftigt sich mit aktuellen Entwicklungen und Umbrüchen in Nord-
afrika, dem Nahen Osten, der Golfregion und darüber hinaus. Die politischen, sozialen
und ökonomischen Dynamiken in der Region sind von hoher globaler Bedeutung und
sie strahlen intensiv auf Europa aus. Die Reihe behandelt die gesamte Bandbreite sozi-
opolitischer Themen in der Region: Veränderungen in Konfliktmustern und Koope-
rationsbeziehungen in Folge der Arabischen Revolten 2010/11 wie etwa Euro-Ara-
bische und Euro-Mediterrane Beziehungen oder den Nahostkonflikt. Auf nationaler
Ebene geht es um Themen wie Reform, Transformation und Autoritarismus, Islam
und Islamismus, soziale Bewegungen, Geschlechterverhältnisse aber auch energie-
und umweltpolitische Fragen, Migrationsdynamiken oder neue Entwicklungen in der
Politischen Ökonomie. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf innovativen politikwissenschaft-
lichen Werken, die die gesamte theoretische Breite des Faches abdecken. Eingang
finden aber auch Beiträge aus anderen sozialwissenschaftlichen Disziplinen, die rele-
vante politische Zusammenhänge behandeln.
This book series focuses on key developments in the Middle East and North Africa
as well as the Gulf and beyond. The regions’ political, economic and social dynamics
are of high global significance, not the least for Europe. The book series covers the
whole range of the ongoing transformations in the region, such as new developments
in regional conflict and cooperation after the uprisings of 2010/2011 including Euro-
Arab and Euro-Mediterranean relations, or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On a (trans)
national level, volumes in the series look at authoritarianism and reform, social move-
ments, gender dynamics, Islam and Islamism, political economy, migration, as well as
energy and environmental issues. The series focuses on innovative work in all sub-di-
sciplines of political science and other social sciences disciplines that address political
developments in the Middle East.
Dr. Martin Beck ist Professor für gegenwartsbezogene Nahost-Studien an der Univer-
sity of Southern Denmark in Odense, Dänemark.
Dr. Cilja Harders ist Professorin für Politikwissenschaft und Leiterin der „Arbeits-
stelle Politik im Maghreb, Mashreq, Golf“ am Otto-Suhr-Institut für Politikwissen-
schaft der Freien Universität Berlin, Deutschland.
Dr. Annette Jünemann ist Professorin für Politikwissenschaft am Institut für Interna-
tionale Politik der Helmut-Schmidt-Universität Hamburg, Universität der Bundeswehr
Hamburg, Deutschland.
Dr. Rachid Ouaissa ist Professor für Politik des Nahen und Mittleren Ostens am Centrum
für Nah- und Mittelost-Studien der Philipps-Universität Marburg, Deutschland.
Dr. Stephan Stetter ist Professor für Internationale Politik und Konfliktforschung an
der Universität der Bundeswehr München, Deutschland.
Weitere Bände in der Reihe http://www.springer.com/series/12508
Sabrina Bonsen
Martyr Cults and Political
Identities in Lebanon
"Victory or Martyrdom" in the
Struggle of the Amal Movement
With a foreword by Prof. Dr. Martin Beck
Sabrina Bonsen
Mühlacker, Germany
Dissertation Philipps-Universität Marburg (Hochschulkennziffer 1180) / 21.06.2016 als
Dissertation angenommen
ISSN 2626-224X ISSN 2626-2258 (electronic)
Politik und Gesellschaft des Nahen Ostens
ISBN 978-3-658-28097-0 ISBN 978-3-658-28098-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-28098-7
Springer VS
© Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt
from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained
herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with
regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This Springer VS imprint is published by the registered company Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden
GmbH part of Springer Nature.
The registered company address is: Abraham-Lincoln-Str. 46, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany
Foreword by Martin Beck
Sabrina Bonsen’s thoroughly revised doctoral dissertation focuses on the rather
under-researched narrative of the Lebanese Amal movement as constructed by
the fostering of its martyr cult. Amal has attracted much less attention,
particularly among political scientists, than Hizbullah, the other major Shiʿa
political party in Lebanon, which has proven to be much more powerful and
influential in Lebanese politics and regional affairs of the Levant. Another reason
why Amal’s martyr cult is often paid less regard than that of Hizbullah lies in the
latter’s outspoken religious identity. However, one of the major achievements of
Bonsen’s analysis is to thoroughly discard the prejudice that politicized Islam
and Shiʿa have a hegemony over the development of martyr cults. Bonsen’s
knowledge of the religious history of martyrdom, not only in Islam but also in
Christianity, is extensive. Drawing on a wide array of scholarly literature and
highly enriched by her field work and examination of primary sources, Bonsen
shows that other religions in Lebanon have also been politicized. This applies in
particular to the Lebanese Forces’ politicization of the Christian faith, in which
the cultivation of political martyrdom is crucial. In her impressive attempt to
contextualize Amal’s martyr cult, Bonsen also shows that some of the most
outspoken secular Lebanese parties and movements, such as the Syrian Social
Nationalist Party, have a strong martyr cult record. What Amal’s cult shares with
all the others is the constitutive feature of being the outcome of an identity-
forming process of politicization.
Sabrina Bonsen unfolds a complex, multi-faceted political history of Amal
through the lenses of its martyr cult. She shows how the appropriation of Amal’s
martyr leader Musa al-Sadr played an important role in the political career of
Amal’s long-time leader Nabih Berri, who managed to embed authoritarian rule
over ‘his’ people in a personality cult of his own, not least by instrumentalizing
Amal’s martyr cult. It is fascinating to follow Bonsen’s reconstruction of Amal’s
politics of memory, which is Berri’s attempt to represent the contemporary
history of Lebanon in terms of Amal’s martyrdom by building memorials and
upholding political myths. Amal also underlines its connection to the martyr
narrative by providing the families of martyrs with financial aid and access to its
educational institutions. Bonsen goes on to show how Amal’s scout movement
plays an important role in nourishing Amal’s political martyr cult and how this
politicized cult is upheld by collective performative acts, for instance on the
occasion of ʿAshuraʾ day. Throughout the book, the reader benefits from the fact
that Bonsen’s selection of relevant cases to scrutinize is based on thorough field
work. Another valuable outcome of the author’s extensive field work is the
book’s rich visualization of the Amal martyr cult by including figures of almost
VI Foreword
one hundred posters, graffiti and calligraphy images, memorials, and public and
private ritualized performances of political martyrdom. Sabrina Bonsen’s
publication enriches the research on the contemporary political history of
Lebanon by applying an approach that maintains the delicate balance between
empathy for a political movement’s narrative and the necessary scholarly
distance to the research subject.
Martin Beck
Odense, August 2019
Acknowledgments
I am indebted to people in Lebanon and Germany for their support and
encouragement, which was important for the successful completion of this
dissertation. A great debt of gratitude goes to Prof. Dr. Rachid Ouaissa, who
supervised my project over the last years and Prof. Dr. Friedericke Pannewick as
my second supervisor.
I would like to wholeheartedly thank Prof. Dr. Stefan Leder and Dr. Thomas
Scheffler. In 2012 and 2014, during my inspiring stays as a junior research
fellow at the Orient-Institut Beirut, I received fruitful contributions to my
research. In addition, I thank Prof. Dr. Sami Baroudi for supporting my stay as a
visiting researcher at the Lebanese American University in 2012. This stay was
funded by a three-month scholarship for which I want to express my thanks to
the German Academic Exchange Service. I am also in gratitude for the funding
of the Marburg University Research Academy with which I was able to conduct
field research for another two months in 2012 and to participate in a conference
on the subject of "Identity and Conflict" in Balamand in 2014.
Concerning my research in the field, I would like to express my thanks to the
Amal movement for cooperating and sharing valuable information with me.
Moreover, deepest thanks to those who helped in my research efforts in concrete
ways by making introductions and answering my incessant questions. In
particular, I thank Nabih Berri, ʿAtef ʿAoun, Jamil Hayek, Hani Qubaysi, Fatima
Qabalan, Qabalan Qabalan, Khalil Hamdan, ʿAli Hamdan, Shaykh Hasan al-
Masri, Dr. Talal Hatoum, Sayyed Rabiʿ Nasir, Anis Mouallem, ʿAli Diab, ʿAli
ʿIssa and Khalil ʿAjami. I would like to extend my gratitude to Sadr al-Din al-
Sadr as well as Dr. Hussein Gharbieh who supported my research and discussed
my considerations on several occasions. Additionally, I wholeheartedly thank the
relatives of Mahmud Faqih, Dawud Dawud, Hisham Fahs, Hasan Qasir,
Muhammad Saʿd and Khalil Jrade. They all welcomed me warmly and gave me
insights into the perspectives and narratives of martyrdom shaped by Amal’s
cause. Concerning the SSNP, I thank ʿAli Kansoh, Dr. Sophia Saadeh, Dr. Kamil
Naboulsi, the SSNP office stuff in Beirut and relatives of SSNP martyrs.
I am particularly indebted to Jehad Moallem, Anne Grau, Christoph J. König and
Jonas Weber for reading and commenting on drafts of the manuscript. Last but
not least, I am truly grateful to my family in terms of general encouragement and
financial assistance. This book is dedicated to my daughter.
Sabrina Bonsen
Content
PART I 1
1 Introduction: Political Cults, Identities and Martyrdom in
Lebanon 1
2 Theoretical Framework, State of Research and Method 7
2.1 Political Cults, Identities and Concepts of the Nation ............................ 7
2.2 Myths, Rites and Symbols................................................................... 12
2.3 Literature Review on Martyr Cults and the Amal Movement .............. 19
2.4 Method, Research Questions, Assumptions and Structure ................... 28
3 Dying for God? – The Meaning of Martyrdom 35
3.1 Martyrdom in Christianity................................................................... 36
3.2 Martyrdom in Islam ............................................................................ 40
3.2.1 "Lord of the Martyrs" Imam Husayn ........................................... 45
3.2.2 Jihad, Martyrdom and ʿAshuraʾ in Contemporary Shiʿite
Concepts ..................................................................................... 49
3.3 Modern Martyrdom in Lebanon .......................................................... 55
4 Contextualizing the Emergence of Martyrs in Lebanon 59
4.1 The Martyrs of Jabal ʿAmil and the Formation of Lebanon ................. 62
4.2 From One Civil War to Another: Political Identities in Conflict
(1958-1975) ........................................................................................ 70
4.3 Civil War Years and Martyrs (1975-1990) .......................................... 77
4.3.1 Actors of the Lebanese Civil War or Who with Whom? .............. 80
4.3.2 Palestinian Martyr Cults in Lebanon ............................................ 90
4.3.3 The Rise of Leader Martyr Cults and Three Examples:
Saadeh, Junblat and Gemayel ...................................................... 96
4.3.4 Inventing "Martyrdom Operations" ........................................... 107
4.4 Martyrs after Taʾif and the Challenge of "Political Amnesia" ............ 113
4.5 A Summary with the Categorization and Contribution of Political
Party Martyrs .................................................................................... 123
X Content
5 Martyr Cults and Political Identities in Lebanon 127
5.1 Transregional Identities and SSNP Martyrs ....................................... 128
5.2 Lebanese Forces Martyrs: Dying for the "Lebanese Nation" ............. 139
5.3 Islamism and Hizbullah Martyrs ....................................................... 147
5.4 Summary: The Competition of Identities and Martyr Cults ............... 159
PART II 163
6 The Amal Movement and its Cult of Martyrs 163
6.1 The Emergence of Amal, its Political Identity and Early Concept
of Martyrdom ................................................................................... 163
6.2 Musa al-Sadr and the Movement of the Deprived .............................. 165
6.3 The First Amal Martyrs in ʿAyn al-Bunayya ..................................... 172
6.4 Amal’s Political Identity and "Why we Fight and When" .................. 179
6.5 Karbalaʾ: Lessons for War, Resistance and Martyrdom ..................... 186
7 Following the Path of Martyrs 191
7.1 The Personality Cult of al-Sadr ......................................................... 192
7.2 The Leadership of Nabih Berri .......................................................... 198
7.3 Amal’s Resistance and its Martyrs 1977-2006................................... 203
7.4 Narratives on Conflict and the "Legitimate" Use of Political
Violence during Civil War ................................................................ 222
7.5 Amal and Hizbullah: From Conflict to Fusion? ................................. 231
7.6 Amal Martyrs: Numbers, Killed by Whom and Categories ................ 240
8 Myths and Memorials 249
8.1 Mustafa Shumran: Role Model of a Leader ....................................... 249
8.2 The Istishhādiyyān Bilal Fahs and Hasan Qasir ................................. 255
8.3 "Half of the South was martyred ": Muhammad Saʿd and
Khalil Jrade ...................................................................................... 263
8.4 The "Leader Martyrs" Dawud and Faqih ........................................... 271
8.5 "Prince of the Sea" Hisham Fahs ....................................................... 279
8.6 Summary: Conveying a Message ...................................................... 283
9 The Significance of Martyrs in Amal Institutions 287
9.1 The Oasis of the Lebanese Martyr ..................................................... 288
9.2 Amal Scouts: Paving the Way to Become a Martyr? ......................... 292
9.3 Amal Educational Institutions ........................................................... 296