By Meagan Dashcund

The Shiʿi community, despite its long survival within Lebanon and throughout specific areas of the Middle East, has always held significant minority status to Sunni Islam. While the concepts of governance for Sunnis and Shi’a do not diverge greatly, the cultural characters of the communities developed in very different ways. Shiʿi Islam, particularly its majority sect, Twelver Shiism, was influenced significantly by the discrimination and persecution they received from the earliest Sunnis. The Shiʿi grandsons of Mohammad were often harassed by the Sunni Ummayyads, with the youngest of them, Hussein, being martyred. It was in the Safavid period that the suffering of the Twelver Shiis became institutionalized. Hussein was the Third Imam, and was killed in Karbala in 680. The story claims that Hussein was contesting Caliph Yazid’s right to rule. The story often portrays Yazid as an oppressive, corrupt ruler and Hussein as the hero who comes to Karbala from Medina at the behest of many of Yazid’s subjects. They convince Hussein to travel to Iraq and lead them in an uprising. However, Hussein was eventually betrayed by his allies and although he realized the impending death of his family and himself, he sacrificed himself rather than live under the unjust political authority.

The tenuous relationship between the Sunni and Shiʿi communities within Lebanon has continued throughout history, and greatly influences modern Shiʿi Islam. While the character of Shiism was fundamentally revolutionary from its inception, the major shift in the identity of Shiʿi Islam began during the 19th century with the influence of Musa al-Sadr and the Movement of the Deprived. This movement suggested that Shiism was not only a minority doctrine, but also a rebellious one by interpreting the death of Hussein as more than simply a rejection of established social order. Musa al-Sadr and the Movement of the Deprived utilized the story to encourage others to combat injustice and the social order without concession. It was around this time that Musa al-Sadr also attempted to bridge the gap between contemporary ritual and political consciousness. These concepts, mixed with communal solidarity, gained significant popularity after the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

Another influential component in the development of Shiism in Lebanon was the popularity of communism and Marxism. The French public schools in southern Lebanon, the Syro-Lebanese madrasas, and the Najaf seminar all generated religious modernists and Marxist thinkers who emphasized the need for the Islamic society to evolve and progress within modern society. It was the socioeconomic and political status of the Shi’a that drew them to the Marxist ideology before and after the French colonization. The ideas of secularization, fulfillment of justice, lack of material desires, and the rebellion against illegitimate authority were all concepts that aided in the merging of Shiism and communism. This type of protest was particularly related to the Shiʿi rejection of Islamic governments after the death of Imam Ali, and was further empowered by the fall of the British rule and Iraq monarchy in 1958. 

It is important here to note the pathos of Shiism in southern Lebanon and how that has become characteristic of Shiism worldwide. This includes high emotion and the ritual or popular elements within Shiism that often center on the martyrdom of Hussein. The most prominent Shi’i ritual today is the taʿziyah, a theatrical performance intended to relive the Battle of Karbala. In the first ten days of the Islamic month, Moharram, all Shia celebrate Ashura in commemoration of the battle. These celebrations include public and private gatherings for communal mourning of Hussein and culminate on the tenth day, which is symbolic for the day the battle actually took place. It is during this period that the story of Hussein’s sacrifice is retold and men take part in latam, a ritual of striking themselves in grief.