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.

    Offering a historical perspective on the whole of Maronite heritage and culture, Moosa sought to tell the relatively unknown story of one branch of the Syriac Christian tradition. In making known the history of his people, Moosa brought the past to light for students and scholars of the history of Christianity and the Middle East and offered hope in troubled times for a community struggling to come to meaningful terms with itself in the midst of cultural upheaval.