Fidai

(Arabic and Persian, literally, “one who sacrifices himself in the name of a faith or an idea”). (1) In medieval Iran, Syria, and Lebanon, a member of a secret organization of assassins.

(2) During the Iranian Revolution of 1905–11, a member of armed voluntary detachments made up of the urban poor, the petite bourgeoisie, peasants, and workers, which constituted the major revolutionary force. These detachments played a vital role in the Tabriz Uprising of 1908–09.

(3) A member of the the defensive detachments that were formed during the national democratic movement in Iranian Azerbaijan in 1945 and 1946.

(4) A fighter in the urban detachments of the Algerian patriotic underground during the national liberation war of 1954–62.

(5) A member of the armed guerrilla detachments of the Palestine resistance movement, sometimes referred to erroneously as a fedayee.