Yemen’s last Zaydī Imām

The shabāb al-muʾmin, the Malāzim, and ‘hizb allāh’ in the thought of Ḥusayn Badr al-Dīn al-Ḥūthī

Bibliographic Data

ID12923964
AuthorsAbdullah Lux (Centre for Arab Unity Studies, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume2
Issue3
Pages369-434
Publication date2009-07-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueContemporary Arab Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1755-0920 • E-ISSN: 1755-0912
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17550910903106084
OpenAlexW2038568721
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited2

Excerpted from the manuscript of a forthcoming book project, this article provides essential English-language source material on Ḥusayn Badr al-Dῑn al- Ḥῡthῑ and an alternative framework to that of the mainstream media for exploring what are likely the genuine causes and nature of the wars against Ṣaꜥdah, Yemen, undertaken with backing and technical assistance from the United States, if not direct complicity in the name of then President George W. Bush’s administration’s ‘war on terror’. In addition to shedding light on the voluminous Malāzim of Ḥusayn Badr al-Dῑn and providing analysis of its various influences including Khomeini and Lebanon’s Ḥizb Allāh, while at the same time demonstrating a lack of evidence for direct support by either Ḥizb Allaāh or Iran, the article examines the distinct Jārῡdῑ Zaydῑ nature of the only contemporary Zaydῑ political discourse and formulation of its kind, which is distinct from Twelver Shῑꜥism and antithetical to the ‘wilaāyat al-faqῑ h’ in Iran. The article examines the origins of the Lebanese group known as al-Shabā b al-Mu ࣿ min that would later evolve into Ḥizb Allāh and the history of Yemen’s Tanẓῑm al-Shabāb al-Mu ࣿ min from which al-Hῡthῑ would draw his core group of supporters, and it aims to decipher the nature of the relation between al-Hῡthῑ’s thought and Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution in Iran as well as its grounding in the Jārῡdῑ Zaydῑ sect and the Zaydῑyah at large. The article includes excerpts from an interview with Ayatollah Mu ḥammad Ḥusayn Faḍlallah on the subject, new statements from the Office of Abd al-Mālik al- Hῡthῑ in Ṣaꜥdah, and in-depth analysis of the Malāzim with exhaustive citations in translation – all never before published – all of which provide essential reading for understanding the objective historical conditions as well as the political, cultural, tribal, ideological, and sectarian dimensions of the wars against Ṣaꜥdah

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