Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Abdullahi Ahmad An-Naim, Toward 

an Islamic Reformation: Civil Liberties, Human Rights and 

International Law (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University 

Press, 1996); Kevin Dwyer, Arab Voices: The Human 

Rights Debate in the Middle East (Berkeley: University of 

California Press, 1991); Ann Mayer, Islam and Human 

Rights (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1999).

Husayn, Saddam

 

(Saddam Hussein)

  

(1937–2006)  dictatorial president of Iraq from 

1979 until being deposed by American and allied 

forces on April 9, 2003

Saddam Husayn was the most influential figure in 

i

raq

’s modern history since King F

aysal

 I (d. 1933). 

He was a leading member of the Iraqi b

aath

 p

arty

during the late 1960s, and, after becoming presi-

dent of the country in 1979, he maintained power 

through the Iran–Iraq War (1980–88) and Gulf War

of 1991. He was deposed in 2003 by coalition forces 

led by the United States and Great Britain.

Husayn was born to a poor peasant family 

in the village of al-Awja near the ancient city of 

Tikrit, an important center for nationalist and 

anti-British policies. His father, Husayn Abd al-

Majid, died before he was born, and he was raised 

by his strong-willed mother, Sabha Tulfah al-Mus-

sallat, and his paternal uncle, Ibrahim al-Hassan. 

He experienced a harsh childhood, which had 

a lasting impact on Husayn. At about the age of 

10, Husayn fled his immediate family to live with 

his maternal uncle, Khayrallah Talfah, in Tikrit 

and later b

aghdad

. Talfah was an Arab national-

ist army officer who might have had the greatest