“A Strong Believer Is Better Than a Weak One”: Strength and Power in the Ideas of Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah on International Relations
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Natalia Berenkova
Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod (Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Federation)
The article explores the views of the Lebanese Shiite jurist-theologian Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah (1935–2010) on the nature of international relations in the 20th century. The article’s focus is on his concept of power and its role in defining the place of Muslim countries on the international stage. Two works by Fadlallah, “Islam and the Logic of Power” and “The Will for Power,” are under consideration. In these books he defines the nature of power and its practical implementation in the existing political world order. As an Islamic theologian, Fadlallah looks at religion’s significant role in public life. He formulates the concept of a “dynamic Islam” that responds to the changing historical context and the balance between the strong and the weak, which are in constant struggle. Such a “dynamic Islam” encourages resistance of the oppressed. The most important component of power, according to Fadlallah, is its intangible, non-material side — the spiritual strength of individual believers and the cohesion of society based on common ideas and goals.
Keywords: Shiism, Islam, foreign relations, strength, Fadlallah, Lebanon, Islamic resistance
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© Article. Natalia Berenkova, 2024.