Hezbollah: A Rhetoric Analysis

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When dissecting religious resistance groups it is important to understand their ideology and its role in motivating and mobilizing it members. While religion itself does not usually lead to violence, given the correct combination of political, social, and ideological circumstances it has the potential to breed unthinkable atrocities. In the case of Hezbollah, the Islamic rhetoric is used to legitimize atrocities and propagate the religion, which ultimately furthers their political agenda. Consequently, “murder can become a holy war and suicide seen as martyrdom,” when their followers accept a divine mandate from Allah (5). Without a firm understanding of their rhetoric, which is inextricably intertwined with their ideology, their actions will…show more content…
Since Hezbollah’s Open Letter in 1982, the organization has undergone drastic changes, most of which can be seen through their political affiliation. Because Hezbollah evolved out of the 1979 Shi’ite Revolution in Iran, was founded in 1982 with Iranian funds, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards trained the followers, the organization has often been referred to as an extension of the Iranian government. However, Nassrallah, one of the leaders in Hezbollah, has assured the media on multiple occasions that the $100 million dollar donations it has received annually from Iran have been accepted without “political conditions” and has not influenced their political stand on recent issues (Cohler 7). It is important to note that state sponsorship of a terrorist organization is not a new concept in the Middle East. This technique has been employed for the past twenty years in order to export state’s political agenda and perpetuate war crimes by “non state actors,” such as Hezbollah. Iran has capitalized on the similarities it shares with Hezbollah, such as religion and ideology, which has allowed them to further their political agenda and destroy the enemy without “waging full fledge war” with their name attached to it. So…show more content…
Additionally, it minimizes expenses, lowers security risks, and most importantly because it boosts the organizations morale (Moghadam 8). Self-chosen martyrdom was initially popularized by Ali and his son Hassain in 733 AD and made a comeback during the Iranian Revolution in 1979, just prior to the official founding of Hezbollah in 1982. “It is a reflection, a result, and a concentrate of all the main political pathologies of the twentieth century.” (Murawiec 324/Salman 12) Hezbollah has particularly enforced Jihad to its members, stating that ‘it was a religious duty to defend the Islamic faith and represented honor, pride, dignity, and wealth.’ (Salman 12) Those who deny the opportunity would experience divine punishment and be “severely tortured on Judgment Day” for forsaking the Islamic faith (Alagha 2006/Salman

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