The vanished Imam : Musa al Sadr and the Shia of Lebanon / Fouad Ajami.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ajami, Fouad.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shiah--Lebanon.

Shiah.

Shiites--Lebanon--Biography.

Shiites.

Ṣadr, Mūsá.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (229 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 1986.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the summer of 1978, Musa al Sadr, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Shia sect in Lebanon, disappeared mysteriously while on a visit to Libya. As in the Shia myth of the "Hidden Imam," this modern-day Imam left his followers upholding his legacy and awaiting his return. Considered an outsider when he had arrived in Lebanon in 1959 from his native Iran, he gradually assumed the role of charismatic mullah, and was instrumental in transforming the Shia, a quiescent and downtrodden Islamic minority, into committed political activists.What sort of person was Musa al Sadr? What beliefs in the Shia doctrine did his life embody? Where did he fit into the tangle of Lebanon's warring factions? What was behind his disappearance? In this fascinating and compelling narrative, Fouad Ajami resurrects the Shia's neglected history, both distant and recent, and interweaves the life and work of Musa al Sadr with the larger strands of the Shia past.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Content

A Note on Sources and Purpose

For the Nonspecialist Reader

Prologue: The Disappearance of Imam Musa al Sadr

The Intimate Stranger: Sayyid Musa of Qom

The World the Cleric Adopted

The Path the Cleric Took: Sayyid Musa and His Companions

Reinterpreting Shiism: Imam al Sadr and the Themes of Shia History

The Tightrope Act

The Legacy and Its Inheritors

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed Feb. 24, 2017)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780801465079

0801465079

9780801465154

080146515X

OCLC:

797828499