NABATIYA, Lebanon // A week-long trip 30 years ago never ended for Imam Mousa Sadr, perhaps the most revered Shiite political and religious figure in Lebanon. Widely thought to have run afoul of Moamer Qadafi, the Libyan leader, Sadr and his two companions disappeared on their way to Tripoli in Aug 1978 and have never been heard from since.
His disappearance is a wound from which many Lebanese Shiites have yet to recover. In 1975, Sadr formed the first major Lebanese Shiite political force, the Amal movement, that captured the anger and dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Shiite peasants stuck in a grinding cycle of poverty and violence in South Lebanon. They were caught between the Israelis and PLO in the 1970s, while ignored by the Beirut elite.
Even without Sadr, Amal's message of empowerment to a huge population considered powerless resonated quickly and under the guidance of Nabih Berri, now Lebanon's speaker of parliament, Amal sparked not only a Shiite political uprising, but also served as the nucleus of Shiite Islamists that soon became known as Hizbollah. "The man changed whole Shiite presence in Lebanon," said Timur Goskel, a former UN official who worked in south Lebanon for more than 20 years. "These amazing Shiite political organisations - Hizbollah, Amal - that run Lebanon today, came from him. Without him, it's impossible to think of today's Lebanon."
The possibility that against all hope he remains alive is not hyperbole to the people of Nabatiya, near where Sadr's father was born. Standing on a roundabout watching as thousands of Amal followers and their Hizbollah allies streamed into town, Hajj Shawki stands in front of his bakery offering fresh bread and croissants to visitors. His tiny bakery was destroyed in the 2006 war, but with the help of Hizbollah and Amal, two months ago he opened a modern French-style bakery. He believes that even today Sadr remains alive in a Libyan jail and said his return could mend Lebanon's badly fractured political and religious scene.
"We hope the release of Imam Mousa Sadr will happen soon to unite Lebanon and last week [Hizbollah chief] Sayid Hassan Nasrallah said they will bring him back because he was one of the few men in the 1970s calling for a united Lebanon and took the Shiites out of the repression and made us what we are today." Although today they are political allies, even Sadr's two most important legacies, Amal and Hizbollah, have been at odds for decades over influence within Lebanon's Shiite population. Hizbollah is the far more religiously driven of the two and accuses Amal members of corruption and incompetence, while Amal remains uncomfortable with Hizbollah's desire to see an Islamic state in south Lebanon. Both groups fought each other periodically throughout the 1975 to 1991 civil war before settling into a tense but functioning marriage of convenience that became stronger after Hizbollah's success in the 2006 war with Israel, when it fought alongside the much smaller Amal forces.
The partnership succeeded in helping both parties - along with a small number of Christian and Sunni allies - to defeat the US-backed government in a series of May clashes that ended an 18-month political power struggle. The recent move to demand justice from Libya for the death, or kidnapping, of Sadr, is widely seen as a political move designed to reinforce the Shiite's power and influence. Last week, Lebanon asked international authorities to arrest and extradite Mr Qadafi and five of his officials for kidnapping Sadr 30 years ago. Lebanese officials have privately admitted there is little hope of action on the request and it was timed to generate interest in the 30th anniversary of Sadr's disappearance.
"This rally is a message for the Libyan oppressor regime, we are telling them we will not give up on our demand for the return of the Imam Mousa Sadr," said an unidentified member of the Amal leadership council from the stage. "In times like this in a divided Lebanon, we need Mousa Sadr to bring unity back to Lebanon like he did before. Just like he founded the resistance, we want him here to make it stronger in front of Zionist threats."
But as the crowd filled the streets and highways of the south, the huge number of green Amal flags completely overshadowed the yellow standard of Hizbollah, which is unusual because both parties openly collaborate to show unity. Some observers saw the event as Amal flexing its own political muscle independently of the more famous and powerful Hizbollah. "We have learned one thing [about this alliance]," one Amal activist recently said of Hizbollah. "We know that once you allow religious guys into politics, it can be hard to get rid of them. There will always be tension no matter if we are all Shiite and all committed to resistance [to Israel]."
"Today they are reminding everyone that without Mousa Sadr, there would be no Hizbollah and no resistance," Mr Goskel said. "Amal started Hizbollah but today gets treated by everyone like its little brother. This is a big statement by Amal and Nabih Berri not to forget who have given the Shiite their political life. It's a message to Hizbollah that they are partners and not their tools." @Email:mprothero@thenational.ae
