Under a new decree, Saudi Arabia has granted 27 foreign academics, scholars and medical experts citizenship. Among the notable recipients is Mohammad Ali Al-Husseini, a Lebanese Shiite cleric and general secretary of the Arab Islamic Council in Lebanon. Husseini is known for his promotion of interfaith dialogue, particularly with Jews, and for his opposition to Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, of which he was formerly a member.
“The Saudi naturalization [program has] rewarded individuals who made huge contributions to the Kingdom as well as to the Arab and Islamic world,” Dr. Hesham Al-Ghannam, a Saudi scholar and program director at the Gulf Research Centre (GRC) Cambridge, told Amwaj.media. These contributions fall in the religious, legal, medical, scientific, cultural, sporting, and technical fields, Ghannam explained, adding, “The Saudi post-oil economy project will be based on an economy of ideas and services. Thus, giving citizenship to highly-qualified individuals is a logical move in this regard.”
Echoing these sentiments, Lebanese political analyst Rashed Syed underscored that Husseini and others who were granted citizenship on Nov. 11 are intellectuals who have promoted dialogue and adopted sometimes unique position within their communities. “Saudi Arabia is showing that it is not only the home of pilgrimage sites such as Mecca but also a place of intellectual advancement,” Syed argued, pointing out that this is in line with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud’s Vision 2030 goal to attract, invest in and retain “exceptional creative minds.”
But as always, there appears to be more to the story than the straightforward rewarding of a prominent voice. Indeed, the choice by Saudi Arabia to grant Husseini citizenship is revealing in many ways, particularly in the regional context of sectarian polarization.
A complicated past
After receiving Saudi citizenship, Husseini tweeted on Nov. 15, “I pledge to God almighty to work diligently, honestly and faithfully to serve my great country, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia…I promise loyalty until my last breath.” In an interview with Arab media published on the same day, the Lebanese cleric asserted, “The glowing truth that cannot be contested is that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is open to everyone and focuses its attention on what benefits the country and its people and does not look at dimensions of….a sectarian type. What concerns it is the progress of human civilization.”
Originally from Shmester, a town in the Baalbek district, Husseini hails from one of the seven Shiite Lebanese families that are considered direct descendants of Prophet Muhammad.
“Husseini graduated from Qom,” where Iran’s largest seminary is located, a well-connected Lebanese journalist told Amwaj.media. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the journalist confirmed that Husseini was once a party insider in Hezbollah, sharing an old picture of the cleric being embraced by Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah himself upon joining. Also speaking on condition that his name be withheld, another informed source told Amwaj.media that the latter demonstrates just how close Husseini was to Nasrallah’s inner circle.
Ambiguity surrounds the severing of Husseini’s connection to Hezbollah and its leadership. One academic close to the Lebanese movement indicated that the relationship ended over financial differences. Husseini, who is known as a member of the Lebanese ‘Muqawama’ (‘Resistance’) against Israel in its early days in the 1980s, formed the Arab-Islamic Resistance. The group established itself as a rival to Hezbollah but failed to attract a following, despite Husseini heading several charity projects in the predominantly Shiite suburb of Dahieh, south of Beirut, and in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre. These are notably areas where Hezbollah’s support base is concentrated.
The political rivalries
“After the [2005] assassination of former Sunni prime minister Rafic Al-Hariri, Husseini participated in the anti-Syrian and anti-Iranian protests,” Dr. Fares Souaid, a Lebanese politician and coordinator of the March 14 Alliance’s general secretariat, told Amwaj.media. The demonstrations confronted foreign hegemony over Lebanon and culminated in the emergence of the March 14 Alliance. The movement, led by Hariri’s son Saad, attracted independents from all camps, including those like Husseini who were no longer part of Hezbollah. Lebanese allies of Syria organized under the banner of the March 8 Alliance, acting in opposition to the March 14 Alliance, with years of political conflict between the two blocs ensuing.
According to one source close to Hezbollah, Husseini’s opposition to his previous party turned into a fierce confrontation. Hezbollah accused him of collaboration with Israel, with Husseini being arrested in 2011 on suspicion of espionage.
Another political source, speaking on condition of anonymity, explained that when Husseini was detained, the rivalry between the Saudi-backed March 14 Alliance and the Hezbollah-backed March 8 Alliance was at its peak. At the time, the BBC reported that several prominent Lebanese figures accused of spying for Israel had been arrested. March 14 Alliance official Souaid told Amwaj.media, “Accusations of collaboration with Israel are an easy justification used by Hezbollah and other parties to crack down on their opponents in Lebanon.”
Husseini’s sentence was cut short following a political deal made in 2014 between the March 8 Alliance and the March 14 Alliance. Others who were released under that exchange include Sheikh Hassan Mchaymech, another Hezbollah opponent who had also been detained for alleged collaboration with Israel. The deal additionally secured the freeing of businessman Saleh Ezzeddine, a Hezbollah affiliate. Known as the “Lebanese Bernard Madoff,” Ezzedine had allegedly engineered a Ponzi scheme that cost his clients millions, ultimately leading to his bankruptcy and arrest.
At the time, Nasrallah went on Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV channel to deny that the party was connected to the missing funds associated with Ezzedine, adding that the media coverage of the case “was aimed at tarnishing the image of many of the party cadres.” Yet, Hezbollah confirmed that some of its members had invested in Ezzedine’s schemes, including politician Hussein Haji Hassan.
Silencing opponents
Hezbollah has over the past decade succeeded in silencing and removing dissenting opposition members from the Lebanese political stage. Critics who have been forced to leave the country include Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) analyst Hanin Ghadar. Actor Ziad Itani has also been targeted, although he was exonerated from charges of spying for Israel.
Subsequent to his release, Husseini also left Lebanon, heading for Saudi Arabia. But his criticism of Hezbollah has not gone away. As recently as 2018, the cleric called on the Lebanese government to revoke Nasrallah’s citizenship over remarks attributed to the Hezbollah leader. Nasrallah had allegedly stated that Iran’s ruling doctrine of the Guardianship of the Jurist—which grants Ayatollah Ali Khamenei supreme political authority—was above Lebanon’s constitution. In Husseini’s view, “these declarations harm the Lebanese state, constitution and law.”
To reiterate, in the context of sectarian polarization in the region, Saudi Arabia’s decision to award Husseini citizenship is revealing. Tensions between Hezbollah, the Lebanese government and Saudi Arabia over both political issues and alleged drug smuggling have led to a situation in which Saudi Arabia recently cut diplomatic ties and banned all imports.
It should be considered that Lebanon has long been an arena for rivalry and accommodation between Iran and Saudi Arabia. But over the past years, and particularly after the Nov. 2017 trip by Saad Hariri to Saudi Arabia in which he resigned under ambiguous circumstances, Riyadh has increasingly disengaged from Lebanon. During the same period, Gulf Arab cooperation with Israel has seemingly expanded. This has in turn occurred against the backdrop of the 2020 Abraham Accords, which normalized ties between Israel and Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
It is in this bigger context that it should be kept in mind that Hosseini is considered as one of Lebanon’s more moderate religious figures, and has been vocal about engaging with Jews. For instance, in a July 2 Facebook post, he acknowledged the interfaith efforts of UAE Senior Rabbi Elie Abadie and pledged “to cooperate hand in hand in order to relaunch Judeo-Islamic relations with tolerance.” In broken Hebrew, Husseini also wrote, “We call on rabbis, priests and Muslim clerics—both Sunni and Shiite—to underplay religious traditions and texts that call for violence, since they are more dangerous than nuclear weapons.”
While the granting of Saudi citizenship to Husseini will not have much of an impact on Lebanese Shiites, the move does hold symbolic significance. As Souaid of the March 14 Alliance underlined to Amwaj.media, “By granting citizenship to Husseini, Saudi Arabia is sending a message that the confrontation taking place at the regional level is not sectarian in nature, nor targeting the Shiite community.”