A Joseph Named Mousa

A well-dressed cleric sets out from Qom to the summer retreat area of Tajrish in the 1950s to visit a famous writer. The people present in the house, who had no prior knowledge of him, are immediately captivated by his striking appearance and enter a realm of wonder and admiration at their very first meeting. This man was none other than Seyyed Mousa Sadr, who had come to visit Jalal Al-e Ahmad. Those present as well were the father of modern Persian poetry, Nima Yushij, and the great novelist Simin Daneshvar.

A Joseph Named Mousa is a narrative, novelistic account of the life of Imam Mousa Sadr, from beginning to end. In one part of the book, we read that it was indeed true for Mrs. Mohtasham-Banoo, “Simin Daneshvar”—the university professor, writer, translator, novelist, art connoisseur, and the distinguished wife of Jalal Al-e Ahmad—that it felt as though a hundred years had passed, and she still had not asked the name or identity of the beautiful stranger. Suddenly, without preamble, she asked: “Are you a prophet, or an imam?” He was neither an imam nor a prophet. He was Mousa Sadr, who had risen and set out from Qom.