Reflections on the Philosophy of Imam Musa Sadr

About the Book

Epilogue

I think it would be very difficult to write an epilogue on a work which is dedicated to Imam Musa Sadr as there has been no signifi cant research on the thought, philosophy or even the role of his social theory within Muslim intellectual traditions as well as world philosophy in general. The majority of works in Arabic or Persian and even Turkish have been mainly focused upon his political leadership during one of the stormiest periods of Lebanese’s contemporary history namely the years before the invasion of Lebanon by Israeli forces in 80s. The works in English language are primarily focused upon his charismatic role as an Iranian religious leader who was backed up by Grand Ayatullah Borujerdi in endorsing the deprived Shia community in Lebanon vis-à-vis Sunnis as well as Christians who had the upper hands both politically and economically prior to his arrival. Although there may be a grain of truth in these kinds of accounts nevertheless this line of historiography misses the main picture which was at the heart of Sadrian worldview namely to establish peaceful coexistence among various communities and religious traditions based on sacred principles via conscious realization of eternal truths which are customarily called ‘religious’ rules.

However the point is that we are far away from a conclusion about the philosophy of Imam Musa Sadr and the role he played as an intellectual within the global politics as to understand the character of his worldview and the nature of his political philosophy as well as the spirit of his social theory we need to understand the nature of the schools of two of his mentors namely Ayatullah Borujerdi and Ayatullah Mohsen Hakim. The impact of these two men on Sadr is indelible but not scholarly researched upon and we need to catalogue the contours of these intellectual relationships which (p.97)

About the Author

Seyed Javad Miri graduated from Goteborg University in Sweden and got his doctor degree from Bristol University in England and has been a Visiting Professor in England, China and Russia at the departments of Philosophy, Sociology and Social Anthropology respectively and he has been working on the relation between social theory, religion and philosophy and soon shall move to Sharif University in Iran.