Monday, August 14, 2006

The flag of Hezbollah

After posting the image of Hezbollah's flag in an earlier post, mainly to show the contrast between the image of the upraised gun and Hezbollah's supposed role as a social services organization, I became curious about the words (apparently in Arabic) on the flag.

I don't read Arabic, you see.

I didn't find any unimpeachable sources, but the information at Wikipedia is consistent with what I find elsewhere.

The red Arabic script over the rifle is translated "The Party of God will be the victor."
The stylized section in the middle (the part designed to resemble the profile of a man, and holding the gun), is rendered "Party of God" (Hezbollah), where the first letter of God (Allah), extends upward to hold aloft the gun.
The red script running along the bottom reads "The Islamic Resistance Movement in Lebanon."

***

I located a story in the Arab press concerning a variant of the flag, which appeared in the backdrop behind Nasrallah during a recent speech. That flag has additional script along the bottom, which apparently would be translated "Prepare for them whatever forces you can muster." That sentence is from the Koran (Chapter 8, verse 60).
In a statement, Rahhal said Hezbollah's flag has not changed, and the verse "Prepare for them whatever forces you can muster" has in fact been on the flag for a long time. He said the flag that appeared in the recording (of Nasrallah's 9 August speech) is the official flag of Hezbollah's and that the yellow flags that are carried by demonstrators or Hezbollah supporters and which do not contain that verse are incomplete and unofficial flags.

A source connected with Hezbollah stated that "the deliberate showing of that verse on Hezbollah's flag could mean preparation for or paving the way for the declaration of holy jihad against the Israelis. That (holy jihad) is usually declared by the al-waliy al-faqih (the ruling jurisconsult; the jurisconsult charged with authority) who in Hezbollah's view is at present (the Supreme Guide of the Iranian revolution) Imam (Ali) Khamenei who sometime ago had expressed his dissatisfaction at the silence of the Muslim world on what is taking place in Lebanon.
(Asharq Al-Awsat)




The photograph above not only shows a portion of the additional text, but it also seems to be missing the AK-47.
I'd surmise that the flag shown was probably produced in the wake of Hezbollah's increased use of Iranian funds to provide social services in southern Lebanon, along with Hezbollah's more recent role in Lebanon as a political party.

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