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Fedayeen (Template:Lang-ar, fidā'ī, plural fidā'īyun: meaning, "freedom fighter(s)" or "self-sacrificer(s)"Template:Lang-hy) is a term used to describe several distinct, primarily Arab militant groups and individuals at different times in history.

Islamic history

A group known as the fedayeen were active from the 8th to the 14th century, and were described by their enemies as hashshāshīn: "those who habitually use hashish" (The name "assassin" is commonly believed to be a mutation of the Arabic "haššāšīn" (Template:Lang-ar, "hashish-eaters"). However, there are those who dispute this etymology, arguing that it originates from Marco Polo's account of his visit to Alamut in 1273, in which he describes a drug whose effects are more like those of alcohol than of hashish. It is suggested by some writers that assassin simply means 'followers of Al-Hassan' (or Hasan bin Sabbah, the Sheikh of Alamut (see below) . Others suggest that since hashish-eaters were generally ostracized in the middle ages the word "Hashshashin" had become a common synonym for the word "outlaws". So the attribution of Hassan's Ismaili sect with this term is not necessarily a clue for drug usage. Some common accounts of their connection with hashish are that these "assassins" would take hashish before missions in order to calm themselves; others say that it helped to boost their strength, and turned them into madmen in battle. Yet other accounts state it was used in their initiation rites in order to show the neophyte the sensual pleasures awaiting him in the afterlife. The connection between their mysticism and that drug is not something subject to reliable or consistent historical accounts; this is not surprising given their secrecy and infamy.

General

A group of people known to be volunteers outside organized government or military, in the Arab and Muslim world. Usually deployed for a cause where government has been viewed as failure or non-existent. It's heavily associated with the role of resistance against occupation or tyranny. Due to the violent nature of the acts they volunteer for, and the risk of losing one's life or being imprisoned in the process, the name fedayeen is usually used to describe them.

Palestinians

Armed militias known as the fedayeen, grew from militant elements within the Palestinian refugee population, as a result of the establishment of the State of Israel, the ensuing 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the loss of their lands and homes. The Fedayeen made efforts to infiltrate and strike against Israeli towns, citizens and infrastructure. Members of these groups were largely based within the refugee communities living in Egyptian-controlled Gaza, Jordanian-controlled West Bank, or in neighboring Lebanon, and Syria.

During this time (1948-c.1965), the word entered international usage and was frequently used in newspaper articles and political speeches as a synonym for violent militants. Since the mid-1960s and the rise of more organized and specific militant groups, such as the PLO, the word has fallen out of usage. It is generally no longer used in the ongoing Arab-Israeli Conflict, except in this historical context.

Egypt

During the 1940s, a group of civilians volunteered to combat the English occupation of Egyptian land around the Suez Canal. The English had deployed military bases along the coast of the Suez Canal under the claim of protection. Egyptians viewed this as an invasion against their sovereign power over their country. While the Egyptian government didn't refuse the action, the people's leaders organized groups of Fedayeen who were trained to combat and kill English soldiers everywhere in Egypt, including the military bases. Those groups were viewed very highly among the Egyptian population. They were held in the ranks of heroes who sacrifice their lives for the good of their country.

Iran

Two very different groups used the name Fedayeen in recent Iranian history. Fadayan-e Islam was a Islamic fundamentalist group founded by Navab Safavi in 1946 for the purpose of assassinating what it believed to be enemies of Islam. After several successful assassinations it was suppressed in 1956 and several leading members were executed. It continued on under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini and helped bring about the Islamic Revolution of Iran.

A Marxist-leaning activist group known as the Fedayeen (Fadayian in Persian language) was founded in 1971 and based in Tehran. Operating between 1971 and 1983, the Fedayeen carried out a number of political assassinations in the course of the struggle against the Shah, after which the group was suppressed. That struggle continued however and eventually culminated in the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

Iraq

Beginning in 1995, Iraq established a paramilitary group known as the Fedayeen Saddam, loyal to President Saddam Hussein and the Ba'athist government. The name was chosen to imply a connection with the Palestinian Fedayeen. In July 2003, the personnel records of the entire Fedayeen organization in Iraq was discovered in the basement of the former Fedayeen headquarters in east Baghdad near the Al-Rashid Airfield. At the time of the discovery, an Iraqi political party occupied the building. After an extensive cataloging process, dossiers of key Fedayeen members were made by First Armored Division troops and resulted in a sweeping operation in Baghdad that led to the arrest of several Fedayeen generals. .

Armenia

The similar name "Fedayee", with the same etymology, was used by Armenian insurgents around 1990 when the dispute with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh was turning into the Nagorno-Karabakh war, although Armenia is solidly Christian. The term "fedayee" was also used by Armenian guerrillas in the Ottoman Empire before and during the First World War, who defended Armenians from persecution. The term was widely used and is still used to describe the volunteers, and can be found in literature and songs.

Fictional references

In the popular science fiction novel Dune, the elite Fremen soldiers are known as the "Fedaykin," an allusion to the word "fedayeen."

In the novel Prayers for the Assassin, the main character Rakkim Epps is an ex-fedayeen soldier.

The Camel Club by David Baldacci (Chapter 37, page 215):

"Assembled here were his bomb makers and engineers, his shooters, his snipers, his fedayeen, his mechanics, his inside people and his wheelmen."

See also

• Palestinian political violence

References

1. Mohammed El-Nawawy (2002). The Israeli-Egyptian Peace Process in the Reporting of Western Journalists. Inc NetLibrary. p. 49. ISBN 1567505457.
2. Tony Rea and John Wright (1993). The Arab-Israeli Conflict. Oxford University Press. p. 43. ISBN 019917170X.

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External links

Armenian Fidain

• Armenian History — see the heading "A New Political Climate"

Iraqi Fedayeen

• A U.S. soldier's account of capturing Iraqi Fedayeen generals in 2003

• Articles with unsourced statements from January 2007
• Arab groups
• Nagorno-Karabakh