About Ayatollah al-Yaqoobi

Quotations from the Biography of The Religious Referential Authority,

the Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Hajj Muhammad al-Yaqoobi

Attaining the Degree of Ijtihad

A number of mujtahids have testified to Sheikh al-Yaqoobi’s having attained the degree of Ijtih¡d, which is a supreme rank of knowledgeability in issues appertained to Islamic laws and Muslim jurisprudence. The most eminent of these testimonies was the one handwritten by His Eminence Ayatollah Sheikh Mu¦ammad `Al¢ Gar¡m¢ al-Qumm¢, who is licensed for Ijtih¡d by His Eminence Ayatollah Sheikh al-Munta¨ar¢. The following is a quotation of Ayatollah al-Qumm¢’s license for Ijtih¡d to Sheikh al-Yaqoobi:

In the Name of the Most Exalted

It is clearly understood that scholars are the true protectors of this upright religion and their writings are the separators between the right and the wrong. One of these scholars is the eminent Sheikh al-Yaqoobi (may God extend his existence). After I had looked in his researches to which you have referred in his blessed writings, some with a swift glance and others accurately, I found him to be a comprehensive and refined researcher. In my view, I have concluded that he has attained the rank of Ijtih¡d and thus has the license to act upon his own inferences. May God the Most Exalted lead him to what pleases Him.

Dhu’l-Qa`dah 14, 1424 AH

Among the other scholars who have testified to Sheikh al-Yaqoobi’s having attained the degree of Ijtih¡d is His Eminence Ayatollah Sheikh Dr. Muhammad al-Sadiq al-±ahr¡n¢ who was licensed for Ijtih¡d by the late Ayatollah Sayyid al-Kh£'¢ in AH 1368 (AD 1966). Having had a look at the argumentative writings of Sheikh al-Yaqoobi, Ayatollah al-¯¡diq¢ wrote down the following:

In the Name of God, the All-compassionate, the All-merciful

All praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds. All blessings be upon Mu¦ammad and his immaculate Household.

After I had reviewed some manuals written on Muslim jurisprudence by the virtuous brother, Ayatollah Sheikh Mu¦ammad al-Yaqoobi (may God save him and make permanent his supreme blessings), I found him to be a deep-rooted, profound, well-versed, and erudite mujtahid. Accordingly, he is licensed to act upon what he infers in the field of jurisprudence that is known among jurisprudents, especially those who originally depend upon the Holy Qur'¡n in their verdicts. God’s peace and mercy be upon him.

Holy Qum

Muhammad Musa al-Yaqoobi

Dhu’Hjjah 1424 AH/ Bahman 11, 1382 SH.

Based on the fact that some of the books intended in the previously mentioned license of Ayatollah al-±ahr¡n¢ were written in AH 1420, we can understand that Sheikh al-Yaqoobi enjoyed the faculty of Ijtih¡d since that time. Confirming this fact, Sheikh al-Yaqoobi himself believed that he had that faculty, but he refrained from declaring so, because there was no need for this declaration at that time, since there were other personalities who fulfilled this religiously commissioned duty, which is regarded as collective duty (w¡jib kif¡'¢, i.e. if it is carried out by an individual, the others are not obliged to do it); that is the obligations and effects of Ijtih¡d.

Taking into consideration some regulations of the Seminary, Sheikh al-Yaqoobi had not declared this faculty except during a Friday Congregational Prayer in the yard of the holy shrine of Imam al-K¡¨im after the collapse of the regime of Saddam on the twenty second of Safar, 1424 AH, after he had felt the need for a legal justification for the acts required by the new stage.

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