Hizbullah and martyrdom

In: Orient: deutsche Zeitschrift für Politik, Wirtschaft und Kultur des Orients = German journal for politics, economics and culture of the Middle East, Band 45, Heft 1, S. 47-74

Abstract

The basic question of this article is to study how religious, political, and national discourse is used to justify martyrdom for Islamic movements, in particular the Lebanese Hizbullah. The author's main concern is to analyse how the religious authorities of Hizbullah deal with this question, and how this discourse changes overtime. It is argued, that martyrdom operations - whether carried out by Islamic movements or resistance movements - are altruistic, self-sacrificial operations conveyed in the form of symbolic capital (honour and dignity). (Orient/DÜI-Hns)