Muhammad Saeed al-Hakim


Sayyid Muhammad Saeed al-Tabataba'i al-Hakim is a senior Iraqi Twelver Shi'a marja, one of the Big Four Grand Ayatollahs of the Hawza of Najaf and one of the most senior Shia clerics in Iraq after Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Biography

Birth

Saeed al Hakim was born in the holy city of Najaf on 1 February 1934.

Family

Sayyid Muhammad Saeed Al-Hakim is a member of the well known and highly respected Hakim Family of Shiite scholars. He is the son of Ayatollah Muhammad Ali al-Hakim, grandson of Sayyid Ahmad al-Hakim, and grand nephew of Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Muhsin al-Hakim. His second cousin, Sayyed Ammar al-Hakim leads the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, one of the largest Shia political parties in Iraq.

Education

He started his earlier education at the age of 5. His great father, Ayatollah Mohamed Ali al-Hakim started teaching him from the introductory subjects like Arabic language, grammar, logic, eloquence, jurisprudence and its fundamentals till he finished most of his intermediate studies. Further he also studied from his grandfather Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Mohsin al-hakeem where he attended a great deal of his Jurisprudence teachings. Ayatollah Hussein Al-Hilli and Sayyid Abu al Qasim al Khoei were also among his teachers.

Residence

Ayatollah Saeed al Hakim currently resides in Najaf, Iraq and teaches many of the students in Hawza of Najaf.
, Mohammad Saeed Al-Hakim and Bashir al-Najafi

Assassination attempt

In 2003, he was targeted in an attempted assassination, when his house in Najaf was bombed. Three people were killed but al-Hakim suffered only minor injuries. He had previously been threatened that he would be killed if he didn't leave Najaf. Originally the Sunni fundamentalist Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad was blamed. However, the bombing has also been attributed to followers of rival Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Amman Message

Al-Hakim is one of the Ulama signatories of the Amman Message, which gives a broad foundation for defining Muslim orthodoxy.

Works

He has written many books, some of which have been translated into Persian, Urdu, and English.