Imam Sayyid Musa al-Sadr

Sayyid Musa al-Sadr was born in Qom, Iran, in 1928 in the Chahar Mardan neighbourhood in Qom. His father, Ayatollah Sayyid al-Sadruddin al-Sadr, was one of the great religious scholars of Qom, and his mother was the son of Ayatollah Hoseyn Qommi (one of the scholars of the time).
Sayyid Musa graduated from Hayat Elementary School and Sanaei High School, in Qom. After attaining his high school diploma, he started his Islamic studies in the Islamic Seminary of Qom with professors such as Ayatollah Mohaqqeq-Damad, Ayatollah Sayyid Ridha al-Sadr, Ayatollah Sayyid Mohammad Hojjat and Ayatollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Boroujerdi. At the same time as he was studying in the Islamic Seminary, he studied in the Faculty of Law at Tehran University. He studied economics and after graduation, he obtained his undergraduate degree.
Sayyid Musa al-Sadr emigrated to Najaf in 1955 after his father’s death and spent four years there. He took part in Ayatollah al-Hakim and Ayatollah Khoei’s classes.
When he returned to Qom, he published a journal with the help of a group of graduates from the Islamic Seminary and named it “Lessons from Islamic Ideology.” He was the manager of it, he later established the al-Sadr High School and became busy managing it.
Sayyid Musa’s grandfathers were from southern Lebanon, and only Sayyid Musa’s father had emigrated to Iran. Sayyid Musa visited Lebanon in 1956 to visit them meanwhile he visited Ayatollah Sayyid Abdul-Husayn Sharaf al-Din as the imam of the Lebanese Shi’ahs.
The result of this visit was to encourage Sayyid Musa to stay in Lebanon and help the Shi’ahs of the country and get the Lebanese Shi’ah rights But Sayyid Musa left Lebanon. Four years later in 1960, when Ayatullah Sharaf al-Din died Sayyid Musa returned to Lebanon at the invitation of the people and scholars of Lebanon and the orders of Ayatollah Boroujerdi. At that time, Ayatollah Boroujerdi was the source of emulation of Shi’ahs in Iran.
The political structure of Lebanon is based on the laws of the country and tribal customs and the sovereignty of the country is divided into three parts. The president is elected from among the Christians and the prime minister is elected among the Sunnis and the presidency of the Shura Council, is chosen from Shi’ahs. Although the Speaker of the Parliament is elected by the Shi’ahs, the Shi’ahs of the country have the least political power in the country, and other religions in this country have a better place in the political structure.
Sayyid Musa al-Sadr made extensive efforts to improve the situation of the Shi’ahs in Lebanon and created jobs, workshops and factories for the Shi’ahs in southern Lebanon and established charity groups created to solve the problem of poor people and poor Shi’ahs.
In 1967, Sayyid Musa passed a law in Lebanon that resolved Lebanese Shi’ah problems and legal issues in the Supreme Shi’ah Parliament of Lebanon, and Sayyid Musa was elected to the presidency of the Supreme Council of the Shi’ahs of Lebanon in 1969.
The most important thing that Imam Musa al-Sadr did in Lebanon was to establish unity between various Shi’ah groups and bring Shi’ahs to Lebanese Sunni Muslims, and his goal was to unite and resist all groups against subversive acts of Israel and non-Muslim radical groups. Sayyid Musa established the Amal military group and the military group Harakat al-Mahrumin [Movement of the Deprived], its task was to recruit people from different countries to fight Israel and help the deprived people of southern Lebanon. Dr. Mostafa Chamran was one of those warriors who took part in the fight against Israel from Iran.
The valuable and influential works of Sayyid Musa al-Sadr in Lebanon made people call him Imam and called him Imam Musa al-Sadr. By using this great name, Sayyid Musa was able to internationalize his work and travel to African and European countries to deliver the voice of help from the people of Palestine and Lebanon to the world’s attention.
On August 25, 1978, when the Islamic Revolution of Iran approached his golden point, Imam Musa al-Sadr, went to Libya, he was invited by the Libyan leader Muammar al-Qadhafi to participate in the celebration of the ninth anniversary of the arrival of al-Qadhafi in Libya.
Five days after his trip to Libya, he travelled to Rome, the capital of Italy, and was stolen during the departure from Tripoli and disappeared forever.
The Libyan government has confirmed the departure of Sayyid Musa, but the Italian government does not have any information about Sayyid Musa’s entry to Italy. The efforts of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to find him have not worked, and no information about him has been achieved.
Imam Musa al-Sadr has written several books such as “The Economics of Islamic Ideology and Islam in the Conflict of Twentieth-Century Culture,” as well as a number of articles and lectures.