Martyr of Islam: Shaheed Al-Sadr (RA)

[Syed KamiL Abbas Jafri]

Martyr Muhammad Baqir Al-Sadr was born in the Iraqi city of Kadhimiyya on 25 Dhil Qa'da 1934 HL (1935 CE).

After completing his primary education in Kadhimiyya, he moved to Najaf, a very important centre of learning in Islam's history. Like other Muslim scholars of his time, he managed to reach an advanced stage in Islamic studies before he had even completed his primary secular education. At Najaf he enrolled for advanced Islamic studies at the age of 12 and attended what is known as kharij (graduate studies), where students are instructed in various branches of Islamic thought and legal matters. When he was 15 he gave up taqlid (lit. emulation - the following by a layman of a learned scholar 'jurist' in matters of religious practice) since he had reached the age of taklif (i.e. the age of 15 becomes incumbent on a male Muslim to uphold the precepts of religion).

Having attained the degree of ijtihad at the tender age of 17, he continued his studies at the seminary in Najaf under the supervision of its renowned academics, graduating in 1378/1959 CE to become an authoritative mujtahid (qualified legal jurist). His teachers acclaimed him for his academic brilliance.

He then started doing in earnest what he had always loved to do: writing, researching and lecturing. His first work, which discussed his own pioneering approach to usul al-fiqh (principles of jurisprudence), was entitled Purpose of Thought in the Principles of Jurisprudence. He later started planning to publish a number of studies outlining Islamic thought as a faith and socio-political system in a modern scientific style compatible with the prevailing requirements. In these studies, he would bring Islam to the fore as an ideology, order and system, in a picture that would appeal to the contemporary world. Shaheed Al-Sadr showed the failure of temporal schools as well as of materialistic ideologies and theories that disengage humans from their relationship with divine revelation.

The vibrant Islamic thinking elucidated by the genius of Shaheed Al-Sadr, whether at the level of the new Islamic culture or at the level of classical studies, created a strong ideological wave that gradually swept over the intellectual landscape in the Ummah.

Martyr Al-Sadr took a unique role in revolutionizing the Islamic situation in Iraq, educating its activists and directing them both intellectually and politically. On witnessing the popular support for him, the Ba'thist regime arrested him on 19 Jamadi al-'Ula 1400 Hl (1980 CE), followed by the arrest of his sister, Bintulhuda. The malicious Ba'thist authorities murdered the Imam soon after his arrest. He returned to his Lord as a mujahid and martyr, with forbearance and anticipating the good rewards of Allah, may He be pleased with him.