Sayyid Fadlullah was also an outspoken critic of the Zionist regime and an ardent advocate of freedom and dignity for the people of Palestine and Lebanon, and indeed for all oppressed people around the world.
Prominent Lebanese scholar, intellectual, and a passionate voice for the oppressed, Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Hussain Fadlullah, passed away in Beirut, Lebanon, on Sunday, July 4, after being hospitalized for internal bleeding.
Sayyid Fadlullah was born to a religious family in the holy city of Najaf in 1935. He received his early religious education under his father Sayyid AbdulRauf Fadlullah and continued his higher religious studies under such great mentors as Sayyid Muhsin al-Hakim and Sayyid Abul Qasim al-Khoei. In 1966, he moved to Lebanon upon the invitation of a group of believers, thus marking the beginning of a lifelong commitment to helping the downtrodden and speaking up for justice in Lebanon and throughout the world.
Under his guidance, the Al-Mabarrat Association was founded, which oversees an extensive network of orphanages, mosques, schools, clinics, and hospitals in Lebanon today. During the civil war and the escalation of Zionist aggression in Lebanon, the Association played a vital role in the well-being of thousands who were wounded, displaced, or lost family members.
Sayyid Fadlullah was also an outspoken critic of the Zionist regime and an ardent advocate of freedom and dignity for the people of Palestine and Lebanon, and indeed for all oppressed people around the world. In his sermons and writings, he eloquently defended the Palestinian and Lebanese people and unequivocally denounced imperial and Zionist aggression in the Middle East and elsewhere. He often said that the deliverance of the Muslim Ummah lies in abandoning our differences and uniting under the banner of pure Muhammadan Islam.
Over the past few months, Sayyid Fadlullah was taken to the hospital several times for escalating health problems. On Friday, he was admitted to intensive care for internal bleeding, where he passed away on Sunday morning. Funeral services for him will be held on Tuesday.
In the words of Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the Muslim world has lost “a leading advocate of Muslim unity and a resounding voice supporting what is right and just and resisting injustice and aggression.”
