Factbox: Senior Lebanese Shia cleric Fadl Allah

Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadl Allah, one of Shia Islam's highest religious authorities, died on Sunday. He was 74.

By (Reuters)

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Published: Sun 4 Jul 2010, 2:29 PM

Last updated: Tue 18 Feb 2020, 12:40 PM

Here are some facts about Fadl Allah:
·Fadl Allah was a supporter of Iran's Islamic revolution and the spiritual leader of the Hezbollah movement when it was formed in 1982. His anti-Israeli rhetoric and calls for resisting Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon and the Palestinian territories prompted assassination attempts against him, including a 1985 car bomb that killed 80 people in southern Beirut. U.S. news reports said the attack was carried out by a U.S.-trained Lebanese intelligence unit after a series of attacks on U.S. targets in Lebanon.
·He distanced himself from the abduction of Westerners by Islamic militant groups in Lebanon during the 1980s, saying he was against kidnappings and repeatedly called for their release.
·A fierce critic of U.S. policy in the Middle East and its alliance with Israel, he first praised U.S. President Barack Obama for showing "sincerity" when he said the United States was not at war with Islam. However he later criticised the U.S. administration, saying it had deluded Arabs and Muslims into believing it would chart a course away from the policies of former President George W. Bush. He was once a classmate of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
·Known in Shia religious circles for having more moderate views, especially on women, than his conservative counterparts. He banned the Shia practice of shedding blood during Ashura, when Shi'ites mourn the killing of Hussein, grandson of Prophet Mohammad. He also issued a fatwa, or religious opinion, against honour killings and said women who are abused by their husbands could hit their husbands in self-defence.
·He founded several religious schools and the Mabarrat Association, a centre that provided social and medical services for the poor and built orphanages. A prolific writer, he wrote more than 40 books on Islam, politics and women, as well as many poems.
·He was born in the Iraqi city of Najaf in 1935 where he studied religious sciences. He also studied jurisprudence, logic, Arabic and philosophy before moving back to Lebanon in 1966.


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