COMPARISON OF SHIITE GROUP HEZBOLLAH WITH THE PALESTINIAN GROUP HAMAS
KUNJA RAI “The earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed”
Mahatma Gandhi
Abstract: Hamas and Hezbollah are assessed on various bases to compare them. Two of these groups who have their own ideological stand has been compared functionally and ideologically in this article. The aspects of these groups are assessed on categories of historical, ideological and military keeping in mind the weight and nature of the actions taken.
Keywords: Hamas, Hezbollah, Israel, Iran
I. Introduction
Hezbollah and Hamas share interesting similarities and contrasts. The main difference being Hezbollah a left wing Shia group and the latter being far right Sunni; …show more content…
The ideological difference between Hezbollah and Hamas truly depends on the understanding of Shiism and Salafism. Palestine is the “turf” for Hamas while the whole region is Hezbollah’s area of activity. Hezbollah is specific and clear in identifying its enemies. These two organizations can be differentiated and accessed by understanding the root of Salafism and Shiism.
Salafism, is fundamentalist approach to Islam, with Prophet Mohammad as their leader. They shun bid’ah, and support Sharia (Islamic law)4 (Alexandria and Amman, The Economist. 27 June 2015) Looking at the nass- known, or clear, legal injunction5 (Sachedina 1981: 137) and the apparent side is the basic stand to understand the faith. Their religious texts that are Quraan and Hadith are based on philosophy and history. To them truth of faith is the devotion toward Quraan and Hadith and not doing whatever those texts ask them not to do. In Salafism, faith means actions.
4ALEXANDRIA, AMMAN (2015) "Salafism: Politics and the puritanical", The Economist, 27 June …show more content…
"Hezbollah uses its military power in a contradictory manner" The Daily Star. Beirut.
whole. Historically Salafis and Shias may have clashed but in modern day Islamic movements have come together in their fight against the west and Israel. One of the similarities between these organizations is the merciless way of attacking against their target end. They are known for suicide attacks, kidnapping in exchange for prisoners.
Hamas’ targets are random, civilians or non-military personals. It can be called blind terror. They lack confidence about hitting civilian targets and have no successful actions outside Palestine. Hezbollah on the other side is more selective about its targets and selects military targets principally. It has had successful projects outside Lebanon, apart from its conflict with Israel. They were involved in conflict in foreign land notably 2006 Lebanon war, 2009 Egypt plot and most recently its 3000 men troop support in the 2011 Syrian Civil War. In terms of arsenal, Hezbollah has highly functional and heavy armory in comparison to Hamas and its programs are more
KUNJA RAI “The earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed”
Mahatma Gandhi
Abstract: Hamas and Hezbollah are assessed on various bases to compare them. Two of these groups who have their own ideological stand has been compared functionally and ideologically in this article. The aspects of these groups are assessed on categories of historical, ideological and military keeping in mind the weight and nature of the actions taken.
Keywords: Hamas, Hezbollah, Israel, Iran
I. Introduction
Hezbollah and Hamas share interesting similarities and contrasts. The main difference being Hezbollah a left wing Shia group and the latter being far right Sunni; …show more content…
The ideological difference between Hezbollah and Hamas truly depends on the understanding of Shiism and Salafism. Palestine is the “turf” for Hamas while the whole region is Hezbollah’s area of activity. Hezbollah is specific and clear in identifying its enemies. These two organizations can be differentiated and accessed by understanding the root of Salafism and Shiism.
Salafism, is fundamentalist approach to Islam, with Prophet Mohammad as their leader. They shun bid’ah, and support Sharia (Islamic law)4 (Alexandria and Amman, The Economist. 27 June 2015) Looking at the nass- known, or clear, legal injunction5 (Sachedina 1981: 137) and the apparent side is the basic stand to understand the faith. Their religious texts that are Quraan and Hadith are based on philosophy and history. To them truth of faith is the devotion toward Quraan and Hadith and not doing whatever those texts ask them not to do. In Salafism, faith means actions.
4ALEXANDRIA, AMMAN (2015) "Salafism: Politics and the puritanical", The Economist, 27 June …show more content…
"Hezbollah uses its military power in a contradictory manner" The Daily Star. Beirut.
whole. Historically Salafis and Shias may have clashed but in modern day Islamic movements have come together in their fight against the west and Israel. One of the similarities between these organizations is the merciless way of attacking against their target end. They are known for suicide attacks, kidnapping in exchange for prisoners.
Hamas’ targets are random, civilians or non-military personals. It can be called blind terror. They lack confidence about hitting civilian targets and have no successful actions outside Palestine. Hezbollah on the other side is more selective about its targets and selects military targets principally. It has had successful projects outside Lebanon, apart from its conflict with Israel. They were involved in conflict in foreign land notably 2006 Lebanon war, 2009 Egypt plot and most recently its 3000 men troop support in the 2011 Syrian Civil War. In terms of arsenal, Hezbollah has highly functional and heavy armory in comparison to Hamas and its programs are more