About Ayatollah al-Yaqoobi

Quotations from the Biography of The Religious Referential Authority,

the Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Hajj Muhammad al-Yaqoobi

AFTER MARTYRDOM OF HIS MENTOR

The era that followed the martyrdom of Sayyid al-Sadr II and the holding of the leadership of the Islamic movement in Iraq by Sheikh al-Yaqoobi required a lot of intellectual, moral, and social enlightenment as well as correction of many deviations in behavior and traditions that were stemmed from the expansive campaigns of misguidance led by the ruling authorities of Saddam’s regime in order to block all the ways towards the genuine thought of Islam. In order to confront these campaigns, Sheikh al-Yaqoobi made many attempts to promote the Islamic thought through various methods and techniques, such as the issuance of books, booklets, brochures, and cassettes. 

He used to make use of some religious occasions as well as the beginning and the termination of study in the Seminary to deliver lectures on topics like social awakening and Islamic thought. As a result of these lectures, he could create a large popular vigilance, restore self-confidence in the mentalities of the masses, continue conveying the genuine mission of Islam after it was shaken in the mentalities of many faithful people due to the martyrdom of Martyr al-Sadr, and eradicate the state of frustration that crept into the hearts of people, especially when the ruling authorities worked towards annihilating all the features of the movement of Martyr al-Sadr. 

Thus, nothing of the practical traces of Martyr al-Sadr II remained except the al-Sadr University of Religious Studies. Supported by the students and teachers of this religious university, Sheikh al-Yaqoobi made all possible efforts to save this scientific faculty despite of the big pressures they had to encounter. Consequently, this university took custody of the elite students and teachers who represented the movement of Martyr al-Sadr II and who undertook the greatest part of the mission of maintaining the Islamic movement, helping the head of the university write many works and interviews that have had echoes in the society and addressed the majority of the social classes, such as his books on the religious laws appertained to the students of universities, the laborers, the employees, the fishermen, and the tribes. He also wrote about the religious laws appertained to the traders of antiques, raising their social rank and making them feel that they had a share in the Seminary’s interest. Accordingly, a number of them returned to abiding by the religious laws.

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