Musa Sadr’s words to live on in Persian

A collection of works authored by Iranian-born Lebanese philosopher and prominent Shiia religious leader Sayyed Musa Sadr has been rendered into Persian for the first time.

The Tehran-based Imam Musa Sadr Cultural-Research Center -- led by Sadr’s daughter Hura -- is to publish four books of the 10-volume collection in the near future.

“Religion in the Modern World”, which contains speeches delivered by Sadr at Beirut’s universities, is the title of one of the four volumes. Arabic texts of these speeches have previously been published in the Lebanese Al Hayat newspaper.

Sadr’s speech “Muhammad, the Idol-Breaker Prophet” published in the September 1960 edition of the Al Nahj journal, and also his lecture “Zahra (SA), a Chapter of the Prophethood Book”, published in a work by prominent South African scholar Sulaiman Katani, are other items in the publishing schedule.

“Fasting Morals”, which includes several of Sadr’s speeches on the theme of fasting, is also to be included in the project.

Born in Qom, Iran, in 1928, Sadr spent many years of his life in Lebanon as a religious and political leader.

In August 1978 Sadr and two companions departed for Libya to meet with officials from Qaddafi’s government. Sadr and his companions were never heard from again. It is widely believed that he was killed by Qaddafi, but if this were the case, the motivation behind such an action is not clear. Libya has consistently denied responsibility, claiming that Sadr and his companions left Libya for Italy. Some others have reported that he remains secretly incarcerated in Libya. His disappearance continues to be a major source of dispute between Lebanon and Libya.