Nabih Berri (born 1939) became the leader of the Shi'ite Muslims in Lebanon in 1980. He helped the Shi'ites achieve more prominent role in Lebanese politics.

Like many of his countrymen from south Lebanon, Nabih Berri's father was a merchant who had migrated to West Africa in order to escape the impoverishment and lack of economic opportunity in his native land. Nabih was born in 1939 in Sierra Leone, where his father had established a relatively successful business.

At the time of his birth the Shi'ite Muslims comprised the third largest sectarian group in Lebanon, but they had little political influence. In the 1943 national pact that served as the basis for the establishment of independent Lebanon, the predominant political offices--the presidency and the prime ministership--were given to the Maronite Christians and the Sunni Muslims. The Shi'ite Muslims (second in membership to the Sunni sect in all of Islam) were only accorded...