Thousands attend ayatollah's funeral

Tens of thousands of mourners in southern Beirut bid a final farewell yesterday to Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, a Shiite cleric revered as a modern face of Islam and listed as a "terrorist" by the United States.

Lebanon held an official day of mourning for the grand ayatollah, who died in hospital on Sunday at the age of 75 of internal bleeding.

Waving black flags and chanting their loyalty to the imam Hussein - the founder of Shiite Islam - Fadlallah's followers and admirers accompanied his casket from his home to the Hassanein mosque where he was buried.

Condolences poured in from across the region, including from Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

British Ambassador Frances Guy also paid tribute to Fadlallah, whose funeral service was not open to the public or the media.

"When you visited him you could be sure of a real debate, a respectful argument and you knew you would leave his presence feeling a better person," Mr Guy wrote on her blog.

"The world needs more men like him willing to reach out across faiths, acknowledging the reality of the modern world and daring to confront old constraints."

Revered by Shiite Muslims in Lebanon and the region, including Iraq where he was born, Fadlallah was a marjaa - a rank awarded to clerics qualified to issue religious edicts, or fatwas - who was known for his modern and moderate social views.

His fatwas banned female circumcision as well as the "honour killing" of women by male relatives.

Fadlallah, a complex and charismatic figure who supported suicide attacks on Israel yet denounced the attacks of September 11, 2001, rose in the ranks of Lebanon's Shiite community decades ago.