Ayatollah Ayatollah (, ; ; ) is an Title of honor, honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy. It came into widespread usage in the 20th century. Originally used as a title bestowed by popular/clerical acclaim for a small number of the most di ...

al-

Sayyid ''Sayyid'' is an honorific title of Hasanid and Husaynid lineage, recognized as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and Ali's sons Hasan ibn Ali, Hasan and Husayn ibn Ali, Husayn. The title may also refer ...

Muhammad Baqir Muhsin al-Hakim at-Tabataba'i (8 July 1939 – 29 August 2003; ), also known as Shaheed al-Mehraab, was a senior Iraqi

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

Islamic Scholar and the leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). Al-Hakim spent more than 20 years in exile in Iran and returned to Iraq on 12 May 2003 following the US-led invasion. Al-Hakim was a contemporary of Ayatollah

Khomeini Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...

, and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' compared the two in terms of their times in exile and their support in their respective homelands. After his return to Iraq, al-Hakim's life was in danger because of his work to encourage Shiite resistance to

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

and from a rivalry with

Muqtada al-Sadr Muqtada al-Sadr (; born 4 August 1974) is an Iraqi Shia Muslim cleric, politician and militia leader. He inherited the leadership of the Sadrist Movement from his father, and founded the now dissolved Mahdi Army militia in 2003 that resisted ...

, the son of the late Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, who had himself been assassinated in Najaf in 1999. Al-Hakim was assassinated in a massive car-bomb explosion in his hometown

Najaf Najaf is the capital city of the Najaf Governorate in central Iraq, about 160 km (99 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2024 is about 1.41 million people. It is widely considered amongst the holiest cities of Shia Islam an ...

in 2003 when he emerged from the shrine of Imam Ali. He was 64. At least 75 others were also killed in the bombing.

Biography

Early life

Al-Hakim was born in

in 1939 into the Hakim Family of Shi'ite religious scholars. He was the son of

Muhsin al-Hakim Muhsin al-Tabataba'i al-Hakim (; 31 May 1889 – 2 June 1970) was an Iraqi Shia religious authority. He became the leading marja' of Najaf in 1946 after the death of Abu al-Hasan al-Isfahani, and of the majority of the Shia world in 1961, afte ...

and Fawzieh Hassan Bazzi. Al-Hakim was the uncle of Muhammad Sayid al-Hakim. Al-Hakim's father was a senior cleric in Najaf. He learned a traditional Shiite imam's training. He was arrested and tortured for his beliefs by the

Ba'athist Ba'athism, also spelled Baathism, is an Arab nationalist ideology which advocates the establishment of a unified Arab state through the rule of a Ba'athist vanguard party operating under a revolutionary socialist framework. The ideology ...

government in 1972 and fled to Iran in 1980. Many relatives of Al-Hakim were killed by the Baathist government.

Political activities in Iraq

Al-Hakim was head of the Supreme Council of the Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a highly influential group within Iraq's Shia community and high ranking U.S. officials had met with the brother of Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, intent on securing a new ally against Saddam Hussein. He co-founded the modern

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

political movement in Iraq in the 1960s, along with

Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr (; 1 March 1935 – 9 April 1980), also known as al-Shahid al-Khamis (), was an Iraqi Islamic scholar, philosopher, and the ideological founder of the Islamic Dawa Party. He was the father-in-law to Muqtada al-Sadr, a ...

, with whom he worked closely until the latter's death in 1980. In an event, Mohammad Baqir Al-Sadr sent Al-Hakim to calm the people who were trapped by Saddam Hussein's government troops between

Karbala Karbala is a major city in central Iraq. It is the capital of Karbala Governorate. With an estimated population of 691,100 people in 2024, Karbala is the second largest city in central Iraq, after Baghdad. The city is located about southwest ...

and Najaf. This incident prompted the Baathist government to arrest Baqir Al-Hakim, he was subsequently imprisoned and tortured. When Mohammad Baqir Al-Sadr was on house arrest remained in communication with Baqir Al-Hakim. Though not among the most hard-line of Islamists, Al-Hakim was seen as dangerous by the ruling

Ba'ath Ba'athism, also spelled Baathism, is an Arab nationalist ideology which advocates the establishment of a unified Arab state through the rule of a Ba'athist vanguard party operating under a revolutionary socialist framework. The ideology is ...

regime, largely because of his agitation on behalf of Iraq's majority Shia population (the ruling regime was mostly

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

s). However, his sentence was commuted and he was released in July 1979. The subsequent eruption of war between Iraq and largely Shia

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

led to an ever-increasing distrust of Iraq's Shia population by the ruling Ba'ath party; combined with his previous arrests, Al-Hakim defected to Iran in 1980.

SCIRI and Iran

Safely in Iran under the protection of the Iranian government, Al-Hakim became an open enemy of the Ba'athists, forming the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a revolutionary group dedicated to overthrowing

and installing clerical rule.With Iranian military aid, SCIRI became an armed resistance group, periodically making cross-border attacks against Baathist and maintaining covert connections with resistance elements within the country.

Badr Brigades

The Badr Brigades were the military wing of SCIRI until 2003. Al-Hakim created the Badr Brigades which fought against Saddam Hussein. The Badr Brigades contained to number about 10,000 equipped and trained soldiers. On 11 February 1995, Badr corps attacked Iraqi government forces in

Amarah Amarah (), also spelled Amara, is a city in south-eastern Iraq, located on a low ridge next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km (31 mi) from the border with Iran. It lies at the northern tip of the marshlands between ...

. During the War in Iraq (2013–17), Badr Brigades fought against

ISIL The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signif ...

under the

Popular Mobilization Forces The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF; ), also known as the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), is an Iranian-backed paramilitary umbrella group that operates within Iraq. Although formally and legally part of the Iraqi Armed Forces and reportin ...

Return to Iraq

Al-Hakim returned to Iraq on 12 May 2003 following the overthrow of Saddam's regime by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq after spending more than two decades of exile in neighboring Iran. There he emerged as one of the most influential Iraqi leaders, with his longtime opposition to Saddam gaining him immense credibility, especially among the majority Shia population. Initially, he was very critical of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, but Al-Hakim gave the US credit for overthrowing Saddam's government first, so that SCIRI and other Shia opposition parties found time to re-establish themselves between Shia people. Al-Hakim's brother, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, was appointed to the Iraq interim governing council and the two worked closely together. By the time of his death, he remained distrustful, but publicly urged Iraqis to abandon violence, at least for the time being, and give the interim government a chance to earn their trust. Although Al-Hakim publicly urged the abandonment of violence, his Badr Brigade was described by ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' as "one of the main groups accused of carrying out sectarian killings"."Iraq's death squads: on the brink of civil war", ''The Independent'', 26 February 2006.

Assassination

Al-Hakim was killed on 29 August 2003, when a

car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, van bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roug ...

exploded as he left the Shrine of Imam Ali in

. The blast killed at least 84 others; some estimate that as many as 125 died in the bombing. Fifteen bodyguards of al-Hakim were among the people killed in the blast.

Perpetrators

On 30 August 2003, Iraqi authorities arrested four people in connection with the bombing: two former members of the

Ba'ath Party The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party ( ' ), also known simply as Bath Party (), was a political party founded in Syria by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, and associates of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party espoused Ba'athism, which is an ideology ...

from

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

, and two non-Iraqi Arab

Salafis The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a fundamentalist revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "''Salafiyya''" is a self-designation, claiming a retur ...

. According to U.S. and Iraqi officials,

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (; , "Father of Musab, of Zarqa"; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel Nazal al-Khalayleh (), was a Jordanian militant jihadist who ran a training camp in Afghanistan. He became known after going to Iraq a ...

was responsible for Hakim's assassination. They claim that Abu Omar al-Kurdi, a top Zarqawi bombmaker who was captured in January 2005, confessed to carrying out this bombing. They also cite Zarqawi's praising of the assassination in several audiotapes. Muhammad Yassin Jarrad, the brother-in-law of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed that his father, Yassin, was the suicide bomber in the attack. Oras Mohammed Abdulaziz, an alleged

Al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

militant, was hanged in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

in July 2007 after being sentenced to death in October 2006 for his role in the assassination of al-Hakim.

Funeral

Hundreds of thousands of people attended his funeral in Najaf and showed their hatred of the US military occupation on 2 September 2003. They protested the US forces and demanded their withdrawal from Iraq. His grave was petrol-bombed by anti-government protesters during the

2019 Iraqi protests Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * ''19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * ''Dician ...

References

External links

Website dedicated to al-Hakim (Arabic)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hakim, Sayed Mohammed Baqir al- 1939 births 2003 deaths Badr Brigade members Iraqi ayatollahs Iraqi Shia clerics Iraqi Shia Muslims Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq politicians Al-Hakim family Terrorism deaths in Iraq Assassinated Iraqi politicians Deaths by car bomb in Iraq Iraqi revolutionaries People killed by al-Qaeda in Iraq People of the 1991 Iraqi uprisings Twelvers Iraqi dissidents Asian politicians assassinated in the 2000s Politicians assassinated in 2003