Before the emergence of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement in 1982, the country’s most charismatic and prominent Shia Muslim leader during the preceding two decades was arguably Sayyid Musa Al-Sadr. He disappeared mysteriously during a visit to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya in 1978. The son of an Ayatollah, Musa Al-Sadr was born in the Iranian city of Qom on 4 June 1928. An important clerical family, the Sadrs originated in Lebanon’s southern Jabal Amel region but would later form transnational links in both Iraq and Iran. After completing his primary and secondary education and distinguishing himself in traditional religious studies, Sadr moved to Tehran where he obtained a degree in Law and Economics. Despite not intending to pursue higher religious studies, with … Continue reading Profile: Musa Al-Sadr — ‘The Vanished Imam’