Factional politics in lebanon: the case of the 'islamic society of benevolent intentions’ (al-maqāşid) in beirut1

Middle Eastern Studies

Volumn 14, Issue 1, 1978, Pages 56-75

  Johnson, Michael ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84972990215     PISSN: 00263206     EISSN: 17437881     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00263207808700365     Document Type: Article

References (28)

1. I am very grateful to the Social Science Research Council which financed the research for this article. In 1972-1973 I spent fifteen months in Beirut, studying the politics of the Sunni community as part of a Manchester University project investigating the politics and society of Lebanon. The SSRC gave generous support to the project, but I owe that body a particular debt because as the result of its financial support I was first introduced to the politics of the Middle East.
2. This is the way the Lebanese usually spell Maqāsid in Latin script, and the word is often used on its own as a shorthand name for the Society.
3. Much of this information about the Makassed's welfare activities comes from Linda Schatowski's excellent thesis. The Islamic Maqased of Beirut, unpublished M.A. thesis, American University of Beirut, 1969, pp. 139–40.
4. The information in this section comes from the Society's Yearbook for 1971. The Makassed Society's Headquarters in Beirut has a more or less complete set of Yearbooks, as well as other documents. These were invaluable in providing me with information about the Society's history, and particularly about the past members of the Makassed Board of Directors. My thanks are due to all the Makassed employees who helped me in my work in the Society's archives.
5. The percentages are estimates made on the basis of figures from a variety of sources. Schatowski, op. cit., p. 124 has 70 per cent and 30 per cent for the year 1968–1969, but I think 70 per cent is too high a figure.
6. Most information on the Hospital is from Schatowski, op. cit., pp. 137–138.
7. Interview (14.2.1973) with a doctor who resigned for this reason.
8. Schatowski, op. cit., (p. 115) estimates 850 professionals, 75 office employees and 100 blue collar workers.
9. Carl H. Landé, Leaders, Factions and Parties, (New Haven, 1965) for an analytic distinction between dyadic and class/pluralist systems.
10. 1920, Constitution, Article 1; 1948 Constitution, Article 4; and the 1968 Constitution, Article 4. They all lay down that the Society 'is never involved in polities'.
11. For a distinction between 'moral' and 'transactional', see F. G. Bailey, Stratagems and Spoils (Oxford, 1970) pp. 28 and 37 ff.
12. Sālam's candidate was Ridā as–Sulh, the father of Riyād as-Sulh, the first Prime Minister of Independent Lebanon in 1943.
13. The sources for this paragraph are too numerous and varied to give in full. Background to the parliamentary and Mufti 'elections' can be found in local newspapers, and I used Le Reveil (Nov.-Dec. 1908,paxs/m; 10.3.1909 and 20.3.1909)in particular. Information on the role of Salam and Bayhum in these conflicts comes from interviews with: Muhammad Jamīl Bayhum, 5.6.1973; 'Anbarah Khālidī (Salīm Salām 's daughter), 1.6.1973; Malik Salam (Salim's son), 22.2.1973; and Sa'ib Salam (Salīm 's son and political heir), 16.7.1973 and 27.7.1973. Information on the 1908 and J909 Makassed Boards can be found in al-lqbdl, 19.10.1908, 19.4.1909, 6.12.1909 and 13.12.1909. {Al-lqbdl was a newspaper founded and edited by Shaykh 'Abd al-Basit al-Unsi who was a member of the 1908 and 1909 Makassed Boards.) The best account of the Makassed during this period is in Juhaynah Ayubi, Jam'iyyat al-Maqasid al-Khayriyyah al-hldmiyyah fi Bayriil, unpublished M.A. thesis (in Arabic), American University of Beirut, 1966.
14. I suspect that such an interpretation oversimplifies the issues involved in the Makassed dispute of 1908–9. According to Salim Salam's unpublished memoirs (written after 1929) he was certainly in favour of the Young Turk revolution. Thus he could not be considered a conservative on that issue. It could also be argued that the main objection to “Abbas becoming the Mufti was not that he was a reformist shaykh, but that he was not a Beiruti by birth. Unfortunately, Salam's memoirs do not enlighten us on this subject. They do, however, give some information on the Makassed in 1908 and 1909, and do mention a series of disagreements between members of the Board of Directors. See KamalS. Saiibi, Beirut Under the Young Turks: as depicted in the political memoirs of Salim 'Alī Salām (1868–1938), unpublished paper, American University of Beirut, 1974, pp. 10–13, 15–16.
15. Orienle Moderno (Rome), 1921–23, p. 731; 1938, p. 345. And interviews with members of the Salam family (see above, note 14).
16. Oriente Moderno, 1926, pp. 277–279, 476.
17. Le Réveil. 19.6.1929.
18. One such call came from Ash-Sha'b, a pro-UAR newspaper that was opposed to Salām. Because of its partisan nature, the paper was presumably more interested in embarrassing Salām than in promoting the interest of SamadF. See Ash-Sha'b, 29.3.65 and, for details of Samadl's contribution, Arab World (A.W.), 23.2.65.
19. A.W., 6.8.65.
20. Documentary support for this paragraph can be found in A.W., 27.7.64, 4.8.64, 30.3.65, 23.4.65, 6.8.65, 24.3.66, 4.4.66 and 6.4.66.
21. A.W., 15.9.65.
22. It was suggested to me by a number of informants that the Deuxième Bureau (the internal security branch of the military, whose leadership was extremely loyal to ex-President Shihāb) encouraged the country's spiritual leaders to take an active part in the political leadership of their community so as to weaken the power of the zu'amd' who were a threat to Shihab's reformist policies. Among the Muslims, not only the Mufti was so encouraged, but also Imam Musa as-Sadr, the spiritual leader of the Shiites, who in 1969-70 emerged as a powerful representative of his impoverished community.
23. L'Orient, 9.3.70.
24. Literally 'The Young Men of the Quarters of Beirut', but in fact there was no age limit.
25. L'Orient, 9.3.70.
26. L'Orient, 10.3.70.
27. Both sorts of explanations can be found, for example, in Leonard Binder (ed.). Politics in Lebanon (New York, 1966).
28. A good account of the 1958 civil war can be found in Fahim 1. Qubain, Crisis in Lebanon (Washington, 1961).