Book Reviews 109 

Hizbu'llah: Politics and Religion 

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb 

London: Pluto Press, 2002. 254 pages. 

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb's recently published and extensively researched 
study of the Lebanese lslamist group Hizbu'llah is a welcome addition to 

the literature on lslamist groups, especially given the present global climate 
that instinctively - but usually unsubstantially - associates Islamist groups 
with antiwestern terrorist activities. Based as it is on a select number of 

high-level interviews with senior Hizbu'llah leaders; numerous interviews 
with local, regional, and, functional Hizbu'llah officials; and an extensive 

analysis of Hizbu'llah's publications in both print and television media, 
Saad-Ghorayeb offers us a rare but thorough glimpse into "the political 

mind of Hizbu'llah," one that its officials themselves must have endorsed, 
given the ready availability of the book in Lebanese bookstores. 

This is a work, first and foremost, about Hizbu'llah's political thought, 
which is designed to unravel the "central pillars of Hizbu'llah's intellectual 

stnicture." In addition to an introduction and a conclusion, there are eight 
chapters that examine several issues and moral precepts that feature promi­

nently in the deliberations and pronouncements of Hizbu'llah officials. The 
first four chapters focus on broader, more timeless questions that confront 

Islamic - particularly Shi'ah Islamic - groups, such as the choice between