Mohammad Fanaei Eshkevari
Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr was born on 1 March 1935 in Kazimayn, Iraq. His birth into a family renowned for knowledge and piety set the stage for a destiny that would influence not only Iraq’s history but also the entire Islamic world. His father, Sayyid Haidar al-Sadr, was a prominent Shia scholar who passed away before Muhammad Baqir reached adolescence. Yet this orphanhood could not dim his radiant path. Under the care of his erudite mother and his scholarly brother, Sayyid Ismail al-Sadr, his extraordinary talent in religious sciences blossomed from childhood.
Immersed in an environment steeped in Quranic teachings and Islamic scholarship, he excelled so remarkably that at the age of 10, he moved to the holy city of Najaf to begin his seminary education. There, he studied under great figures such as Ayatollah Sayyid Muhsin al-Hakim and Ayatollah Sayyid Abul-Qasim al-Khoei. His genius became widely acknowledged. By 12, he had reached the Sath level in jurisprudence and principles of Islamic law, and in his youth, he attained ijtihad (independent juristic reasoning), securing his name among the youngest mujtahids in Shia history.
But Sadr was not confined to jurisprudence and traditional sciences. With a profound understanding of contemporary needs, he engaged with philosophy, economics, sociology, and modern humanities, striving to bridge tradition and modernity. His book Iqtisaduna (1961) epitomized this vision—a groundbreaking critique of capitalist and socialist economic systems that presented the first comprehensive framework for Islamic economics, recognized as a manifesto for social justice in the Muslim world.
In Falsafatuna (1959), he challenged materialist philosophies with unparalleled insight, redefining Islamic philosophy on the basis of rationality and revelation. In The Logical Foundations of Induction, he established a new inductive logic that influenced diverse scientific fields. In jurisprudence, his concept of al-Mantiqah al-Faragh (the Zone of Flexibility) opened pathways for addressing modern issues, while Islam Guides Life outlined a pioneering model for Islamic governance.
Alongside his intellectual and activist pursuits, he never ceased teaching at the Najaf seminary, mentoring numerous students who expanded his ideas, including Martyr Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim, Martyr Sayyid Muhammad al-Sadr, Ayatollah Sayyid Kazim al-Haeri, Ayatollah Sayyid Mahmoud Hashemi, and Ayatollah Sayyid Nouruddin Eshkevari, who carried forward his legacy.
His struggles transcended academia. In 1958, he founded the Islamic Dawa Party, laying the cornerstone for organized resistance against communist and secularist influence in Iraq. After the Ba’ath Party’s coup in 1968, this struggle turned tragic. Sadr, a defender of the oppressed and a vocal opponent of the Shia persecution, faced repeated arrests, torture, and isolation. Even bans on teaching and publishing could not silence him.
His sister, Bint al-Huda al-Sadr—a gifted writer and steadfast comrade—stood by him unwaveringly until the end. Finally, on 8 April 1980, these two champions of thought, freedom, and piety were martyred under the brutal torture of Saddam Hussein’s tyrannical Ba’ath regime. Their bodies were secretly buried, but their blood nourished the seeds of awakening and resistance.
Sadr’s martyrdom was not an end—it ignited a movement that transcended borders. His ideas inspired resistance in Iraq and across the Islamic world. His sociopolitical theories strengthened the intellectual foundations of Iran’s Islamic Revolution. Even in seminaries, his innovative approaches to ijtihad sparked transformative change. Today, his works remain pivotal in academic circles, and Muslim activists and resistance movements—from Iraq and Lebanon to Yemen and Syria—invoke him as a symbol of defiance against tyranny.
Martyr Sadr was not merely a jurist or a revolutionary; he was a reformer who diagnosed the ailments of his era and offered profound solutions. From interest-free banking to critiques of atheist philosophies, from mentoring elites to leading grassroots struggles, he wove together a legacy proving Islam not as an isolated faith but as a living, responsive school of thought. As the Islamic world grapples with identity and political crises today, reflecting on his life and revisiting his works illuminates a path for new generations. May his memory endure—a man who shaped history with his pen and his blood.