He was born on March 1, 1935, in Iraq’s al-Kadhimiya. His father, Haydar al-Sadr, was a well-respected cleric and his grandfather, Grand Ayatollah Ismail as-Sadr, was a Marja’ at his time.

Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr lost his father when he was three and his elder brother, Sayyed Esmail started to support him from then on. Amina Sadr, also known as Bint-al-Huda, learned religious courses from his brother, Muhammad Baqir.

In 1945, Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr along with his family moved to Najaf and officially started his scientific path in the seminary school. He was attending jurisprudence classes of Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Abu al-Qasim al-Musawi al-Khoei and Ayatollah Sheikh Muhammad Ridha al-Yasin.

He was in contact with international scholars and institutions and did not shy away from any action or path that could lead to proximity and unity. He had been writing numerous articles in newspapers of countries with Sunni-majority population to support proximity, explaining the advantages of unity and damages that division inflict on Muslim Ummah. He always respected Sunni Muslims and their scholars and lauded them in his works.

Furthermore, he had connections with institutions of Islamic countries, even those who were not ruled by Shias. For instance, he responded to a request by Kuwait Finance House and accordingly proposed a riba-free banking system and offered deep jurisprudential discussions on the issue.

Among his valuable books on different topics one can point to Falsafatuna, Iqtisaduna, and Al-Bank al-la Ribawi fi al-Islam.

In response to Iraqi government’s move to forcibly join people to Ba’ath Party, Martyr al-Sadr issued a fatwa, sanctioning the nation’s membership. Many people refrained from joining the party according to the fatwa.

Inspired by campaigns of Imam Khomeini (RA) and the Islamic Revolution of Iran, Martyr al-Sadr proposed theses on “Suitable Marja'iyah” and “Systemic Marja'iyah” and believed that a suitable Marja’iyah should provide a clear and consistent picture of its goals.

He defended the Islamic Revolution of Iran, saying: “I am a Muslim and responsible for the fate of all Muslims in the world – not just Iraq and Iran – and I must fulfill my religious duty and the religious duty is not limited to Iran and Iraq.”

The Iraqi regime raided the house of Ayatollah al-Sadr on April 5, 1980, and arrested him, hoping that this will douse the flame of Islamic Resolution in Iraq. In the morning of the next day, Ba’athist forces waged another attack against the house and arrested his sister Bint-al-Huda and transferred her to Iraq. Eventually, Ayatollah al-Sadr and his noble sister were executed by forces of the Ba’ath regime in one of the prisons of Baghdad on April 8, 1980.

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