Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer as-Sadr

Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On April 9, 1980 AD, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer as-Sadr, and his venerable sister, Amena Haidar, known popularly as Bint al-Hoda, after days of torture in prison were martyred by Saddam, the tyrannical ruler of the Ba'th minority regime of Baghdad. Ayatollah Sadr was a brilliant scholar and studied under such immortal ulema as Grand Ayatollah Mohsin al-Hakeem and Grand Ayatollah Abu’l-Qassem Khoie.
At a young age had reached the status of Ijtehad – or independent reasoning based on Holy Qur'an and Prophet's Hadith. His lectures at the Najaf Seminary, during which he used to critically evaluate the western and eastern materialistic schools of thought, were widely attended by youths and academicians.
He wrote outstanding works on Islamic economic and philosophy titled “Iqtasadona” and “Falsafatona”, which respectively mean Out Economics and Our Philosophy. The awareness which he instilled in the Iraqi people, especially political consciousness, greatly alarmed the oppressive Ba'thist regime, in view of Ayatollah Sadr's attachment to the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA).
Following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the jubilation of the Iraqi people for repeating this experience in Iraq, Ayatollah Sadr and his equally learned and socially active sister, were imprisoned, tortured and brutally martyred by Saddam.
Grand Ayatollah Baqer as-Sadr authored many valuable books. His religious-political legacy is alive today, since many of the statesmen in the Iraqi administration are either his students or inspired by his thoughts.