Terrorism and fundamentalism in the Middle East

Khattari, S

Abstract

The phenomenon of terrorism in the Middle East historically
has involved violent confrontation not only between
governments and politically disaffected groups and movements
but also between ethnically and ideologically differentiated
communities. More recently governments both within and
without the region have had to reckon with the rise of
Islamic fundamentalism which under certain conditions has
led to terrorist acts motivated by strict religious
prescription.
Terrorism carried on by adherents of a religious sect in
response to divine ordinance is not new in the region; the
assassin movement, springing from a branch of Isma'ili
Shi'ism, thrived from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries.
Members of this group, the fedai, believed that the killing
of the unrighteous was a holy act meriting salvation. This
study focusses on the Shi'a of Lebanon; it analyses their
resurgence as a consequence of the clash between the
confessionalism of the modern Lebanese political system and
their own traditional feudal organisation, and seeks to
establish the linkage between their perception of religious
prescription and current terrorism in the Middle East which,
it is argued, is employed to obtain sectarian objectives.

Citation

Khattari, S. Terrorism and fundamentalism in the Middle East. (Thesis). Salford : University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 3, 2012
• Award Date: Jan 1, 1991