Musa al-Sadr

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.

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. 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.

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 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.

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 Maronites.

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 reason for this has never become 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]

Legacy

After his disappearance on August 31 al-Sadr became viewed as a martyr and as the spiritual leader of Lebanese Shi'ites. 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. The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor will host an academic conference on Sayyid Musa al-Sadr on March 14-15, 2008, the first of its kind.

See also

• Modern Islamic philosophy

External links

• Syria's Alawis and Shiism, by Martin Kramer (Sadr's legitimation of Alawis).
• Imam Moussa Al-Sadr Online News
• Imam Moussa as-Sadr Website
• The Vanished Imam: Musa Al Sadr and the Shia of Lebanon
• Libya is responsible for Imam Musa Sadr's disappearance: paper, Mehr News Agency, August 27, 2006.
• The Imam Musa Sadr