Alagha 463wider following. Hizbullah seems to have learned from the Iranian expe-
rience, as well as from the internal dynamics of the Lebanese milieu, that
electoral politics (parliamentary and municipal elections^17 ) is the corner-
stone of democratic practice.
izbullah’s participation in the elections could be considered a H
pivotal event in the shaping of the group’s current identity. This decision
came after much internal heated debate^18 as well as a request to Ayatollah
Khamina’i for a formal legal opinion on the legitimacy of such partici-
pation. This was necessary since Hizbullah would be applying wilāyat
al-faqῑh in a non-Islamic state and in a multi-confessional, multi-reli-
gious pluralistic society. As soon as Khamina’i authorized participation,
Hizbullah began drafting its election program and officially announced its
intentions.
izbullah’s 1992 election strategy can be described as circumstantial H
and contextual, based upon and legitimized by the Shi‘i jurisprudential
concept of mas.lah.a [public interest]. In addition to its strategic alliance
with the secular Shi‘i party Amal, Hizbullah reached out and allied itself
with other secular parties and former “enemies.” In this it behaved like any
political party that accommodates differences through negotiation with a
wide spectrum of groups and compromises on some doctrinal aspects.
The party now includes Christians and Sunnis in its parliamentary bloc
and the municipal councils that it controls.
izbullah’s policy of H infitāh. and its “Lebanonization” approach
endeavored to strike a balance between its Islamic program, on the one
hand, and its Lebanese national loyalty, on the other. By “opening up” to
the various constituents of the Lebanese polity through the buttressing
of civil peace, public freedoms, and a functioning civil society, Hizbullah
attempted to preserve its Islamic identity while working within a non-
Islamic and a multi-religious, confessional-sectarian state. In so doing,
Hizbullah shifted from a jihādῑ to a more flexible shari‘a perspective. The
party accepted positive (man-made) laws and regulations [al-qawānῑn al-
wad.‘iyya] and even contributed to their legislation through its members
of parliament (MPs).
Hizbullah argued that the shari‘a, as a socially constructed phenom-
enon, is flexible and can account for all the complexities of modern life.
Thus, the party displayed a remarkable adaptability in its political program