Distant Relations : Iran and Lebanon in the last 500 years

The most virulent offshoot of Lebanese-Iranian relations today indelibly marks the Middle East: Hizbullah. But, Iran and Lebanon have touched each other’s fortunes, on religious, political and cultural levels, for over 500 years. Beginning with the emigration of Shi’ite ulema from Jabal Amil to Safavid Persia in the 16th century, Beirut became a major destination for young Iranians aspiring to a Western education. After the Iranian revolution, in the midst of Lebanon’s civil war, Iran played a highly influential role inside the increasingly large Shi’ite community, not least with its funding and support of Hizbullah. This is a study of the centuries-long contact between these countries and provides the basis for any understanding of their effect on the world today.

Five centuries of Lebanese-Iranian encounters / H.E. Chehabi and Hassan I. Mneimneh --
From Jabal 'Amil to Persia / Albert Hourani --
History and self-image : the 'Amili Ulema in Syria and Iran (fourteenth to sixteenth centuries) / Rula Jurdi Abisaab --
An Iranian enclave in Beirut : Baha'i students at the American University of Beirut, 1906-1948 / Richard Hollinger --
An Iranian in First World War Beirut : Qasem Ghani's reminiscences / H.E. Chehabi --
Musa Sadr and Iran / H.E. Chehabi and Majid Tafreshi --
The security relationship between Lebanon and pre-revolutionary Iran / W.A. Samii --
The anti-Shah opposition and Lebanon / H.E. Chehabi --
Iran and Lebanon in the revolutionary decade / H.E. Chehabi --
The cleric as organic intellectual : revolutionary Shi'ism in the Lebanese Hawzas / Rula Jurdi Abisaab --
Hizballah's public and social services and Iran / Judith Harik --
Iran and Lebanon after Khomeini / H.E. Chehabi.