Saturday, March 29, 2008

al-Sayyid Musa al-Sadr: the seminal Lebanese Shi'i reformer

From the field: al-Sayyid Musa al-Sadr: the seminal Lebanese Shi'i reformer

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Simply posting a link with no explanation of comment is lazy and I cannot be bothered with such laziness.

Please have respect for your readers.

Anonymous said...

For anon et al
Another imam with the al-Sadr name was enough to pique my curiosity.

Article gives a brief account of the work in Lebanon, during 60's and 70's, of this charismatic, reformist Shi'a cleric. He left his home in Iran in early 60's to fill a clerical vacancy in Lebanon, and vanished in 1978 during a trip to Libya.

While he lived and worked among the poor Shi'i of south Lebanon, he developed teachings of change and non-violence for his disenfranchised followers. In his last year, he may have come to believe that arms were sometimes unavoidable.

His disappearance coincided with an election period in Lebanon. Traditional political bosses feared his teachings, which encouraged poor Shi'i to demand rights from political leaders.

His teachings and work may be fundamental to an understanding of developments of contemporary Shi'a belief and practice.