This weekend, Lebanese Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah died at the age of 75. The following are excerpts from his obituary in the New York Times, followed by a list of reports from the MEMRI TV archives of his interviews and sermons:
"Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the top Shiite cleric in Lebanon, whose writings and preachings inspired the Dawa Party of Iraq and a generation of militants, including the founders of Hezbollah, died Sunday morning in Beirut. He was 75.
"Hezbollah called for three days of mourning, while clerics and political figures from Iran, Iraq, the Persian Gulf states, Lebanon and around the Middle East issued condolences. 'Today we lost a merciful father and a wise guide,' the Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a statement...
"Ayatollah Fadlallah was often mistakenly identified by Western governments as the spiritual guide of Hezbollah, the militant Islamist organization that was founded in 1982 with Iranian help and that spearheaded a violent campaign against Western and Israeli targets in Lebanon. But his relationship with Hezbollah was much more complicated and far-reaching. He never considered himself to have any authority over the group and denied any operational links to it...
"Western intelligence services, however, held the ayatollah responsible for attacks against Western targets, including the 1983 bombings of two barracks in Beirut in which 241 United States Marines and 58 French paratroopers were killed. The C.I.A. is thought to have carried out an assassination attempt against the ayatollah in 1985, in which a 440-pound car bomb was placed along the short route between his apartment and mosque. Ayatollah Fadlallah narrowly escaped the explosion, but 80 other people were killed. The administration of President Bill Clinton froze the ayatollah's assets in 1995 because of his suspected involvement with terrorists. And in 2006, Israel bombed his house in south Beirut, but he was not there at the time..."
To read in full, visit http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/05/world/middleeast/05fadlallah.html.
The following are sermons and interviews from the MEMRI TV archives from Ayatollah Fadlallah.
MEMRI TV No. 1817 - Lebanese Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadhlallah: In the Arab World, Dictatorship Begins at Home, Al-Massar (Iraq)
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1817.htm.
To read a full transcript of this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/1817.htm.
MEMRI TV No. 1792 - Lebanese Shiite Religious Authority Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadhlallah Explains His Fatwa Which Allows Women to Beat Their Abusive Husbands, Al-Jadid/New TV (Lebanon)
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1792.htm.
To read a full transcript of this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/1792.htm.
MEMRI TV No. 1748 - Lebanese Shiite Leader Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadhlallah: Jews Extort Germany, Inflating Number of Holocaust Victims, Al-Manar TV (Lebanon)
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1748.htm.
To read a full transcript of this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/1748.htm.
MEMRI TV No. 1265 - Lebanese Shiite Leader Muhammad Hussein Fadhlallah: The Jews and Some American Powers May Be Behind 9/11, Al-Alam TV (Iran)
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1265.htm.
To read a full transcript of this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/1265.htm.
MEMRI TV No. 1208 - Lebanese Shiite Leader Muhammad Hussein Fadhlallah: The International Forces Only on the Israeli Side of the Border, Al-Jazeera TV (Qatar)
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1208.htm.
To read a full transcript of this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/1208.htm.
MEMRI TV No. 807 - Al-Arabiya TV Special on the Culture of Martyrdom and Suicide Bombers, Al-Arabiya TV (Dubai/Saudi Arabia)
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/807.htm.
To read a full transcript of this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/807.htm.
MEMRI TV No. 1 - Lebanese Shiite Leader, Sheikh Fadhlallah: The CIA is Behind Terror Attacks in Iraq, Al-Jazeera TV (Qatar)
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1.htm.
To read a full transcript of this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/1.htm.
