Al-Sadr, Musa Sayyid
(b. Qom, 1928; d. 31 Aug. 1978) Lebanese; Imam (Guide) 1959–78 Al-Sadr was born in Iran's holy city, Qom, the son and grandson of Ayatollahs and a
sayyed
(descendant of the Prophet through the seventh Imam).
In 1959, he was appointed judge at Tyre for members of Lebanon's largest, though oppressed, confessional community, the Shia. During Shihab's presidency (1958–64), he campaigned in support of presidential attempts to redistribute national resources to the neglected Shi'i south, and emerged on the national scene as a reformer and dazzling speaker, with aspirations to organize and lead the Lebanese Shia. Al-Sadr's election as first president of the ...