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Between Islam and Socialism: The Intellectual Journey of Hussein Muruwwa
Abstract
The proposed paper is a critical examination of the intellectual history of Jabal Amel (South Lebanon) during over half a century, from the late 1920s through the early 1980s. I seek to explore the subject by exploring the role played by Hussein Muruwwa in the interaction between the Islamic heritage and secular and progressive ideas and concepts. Through this paper, I will show the intellectual and discursive processes of shaping a Lebanese Shiite political discourse by Muruwwa. First, I will elicit how the principles of Islamic turath, Socialism, liberalism, citizenship (muwatna), nationalism (wataniyya), democracy (dimuqratiyya), and feminism interacted through his ideas. Second, I will explore the modes through which Muruwwa understood these ideas and practices and how he helped in assimilating them into the local culture. Finally, I will answer why he assumed that these ideas/practices were critical to bringing about progress and modernity for the Shiites in Jabal Amel in particular, as well as for the entire Arab world.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Lebanon
Sub Area
None