Musa al-Sadr

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Musa al-Sadr with Gamal Nasser in the 60s.
Musa al-Sadr with Gamal Nasser in the 60s.

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For the Twelver Shia Imam, see Musa al-Kazim

Sayyid Mūsā al-Ṣadr (1928-1978?), Arabic: السيد موسى الصدر, Persian: امام موسى صدر ) also transliterated Mūsā-e Sader, and many other variants, was an Iranian-born Lebanese philosopher and a prominent Shi'a religious leader who spent many years of his life in Lebanon as a religious and political leader.

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[edit] Early life

He was born in Qom, Iran in 1928 to the prominent Lebanese Sadr family of theologians. His father was Ayatollah Sadr al-Din Sadr, originally from Tyre. Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr was a distant cousin. He attended his primary school in his hometown and then moved to the Iranian capital Tehran where he got in 1956 a degree in Islamic Jurisprudence and Political Sciences from Tehran University. Then he moved back to Qom to study theology and Islamic philosophy under Allameh Tabatabaei. He then edited a magazine called "Maktabi Islam" in Qom. Eventually he left Qom for Najaf to study theology under Ayatollah Sayed Muhsin al-Hakim and Abul Qasim Khui.

[edit] Activities in Lebanon

The Sadr family was originally from Lebanon, and in 1960 Musa al-Sadr accepted an invitation to become the leading Shi'ite figure in the city of Tyre. Al-Sadr, who became known as Imam Musa, quickly became one of the most prominent advocates for the Shi'ite population of Lebanon, a group that was both economically and politically disadvantaged. He is said to have "worked tirelessly to improve the lot of his community - to give them a voice, to protect them from the ravages of war and intercommunal strife ..." [1] He was widely seen as a moderate, demanding that the Maronite Christians relinquish some of their power, but as pursuing ecumenism and peaceful relations between the groups. He was a vocal opponent of Israel, but also attacked the PLO for endangering Lebanese civilians with their attacks. In 1969 he was appointed as the first head of the Supreme Islamic Shi'ite Council (SISC), an entity meant to give the Shi'ites more say in government. In 1974 he founded the Movement of the Disinherited to press for better economic and social conditions for the Shi'ites. He established a number of schools and medical clinics throughout southern Lebanon, many of which are still in operation today.

[edit] Civil War

Al-Sadr attempted to prevent the descent into violence that eventually led to the Lebanese Civil War, but was ineffective. In the war he at first aligned himself with the Lebanese National Movement, and the Movement of the Disinherited developed an armed wing known as Afwaj al-Mouqawma Al-Lubnaniyya, better known as Amal. However, in 1976 he withdrew his support after the Syrian invasion on the side of the Lebanese Front.

[edit] Abduction

In August 1978 al-Sadr and two companions departed for Libya to meet with officials from Qaddafi's government. Al-Sadr and his companions were never heard from again. It is widely believed that he was killed by Qaddafi, but the motivation for why this happened is not known. Libya has consistently denied responsibility, claiming that al-Sadr and his companions left Libya for Italy. Some others have reported that al-Sadr remains secretly in jail in Libya. Al-Sadr's disappearance continues to be a major dispute between Lebanon and Libya.

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri claimed that the Libyan regime and particularly the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi were responsible for the disappearance of Imam Musa Sadr, London-based Asharq Alawsat, a Saudi-run pan-Arab daily reported on August 27, 2006. [1][2] [3]

According to Iranian General Mansour Qadar, the head of Syrian security, Rifaat al-Asad, told the Iranian ambassador to Syria that Libya's ruler, Muammar Gadahfi was planning to kill Sadr.[2]

[edit] Legacy

After his disappearance on August 31 al-Sadr became viewed as a spiritual leader of Lebanese Shi'ites, a martyr, and "vanished imam."[3] It is said a tribute to his popularity is that it is popular in parts of Lebanon to mimic his Persian accent.[4] The Amal Party remains an important Shi'ite organization and looks to al-Sadr as its founder.

He is most famous for his political role, but he was also a philosopher who had been trained by Allameh Tabatabaei. As Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr said: "his great political influence and fame was enough for people to not consider his philosophical attitude, although he was a well-trained follower of long living intellectual tradition of Islamic Philosophy". One of his famous writings is a long introduction for the Arabic translation of Henry Corbin's History of Islamic Philosophy.

Imam Sadr's niece is married to Mohammad Khatami, former President of Iran.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Nasr, Vali, The Shia Revival (Norton) (2006), p.112
  2. ^ Interview of General Mansour Qadar with Gholam Reza Afchami in the Oral History of Iran Program, Foundation of Iranian Studies, Bethesda, MD, 1986, pp.40-56. Quoted in Nasr, Vali, The Shia Revival (Norton) (2006), p.112
  3. ^ Nasr, Vali, The Shia Revival (Norton) (2006), p.113
  4. ^ Nasr, Vali, The Shia Revival (Norton) (2006), p.113

[edit] External links