Muḥammad Yaqūbī

Born
Sheikh Muhammad al-Yaqoobi was born in the holy city of al-Najaf and, more precisely, in the house of his grandfather in the dawn on the seventeenth of Rabi` al-Awwal, AH 1380 falling on September 1960, which coincides with the anniversary of the birth of Muhammad. He grew up in the house of his grandfather until 1968 when his father moved to Baghdad where he had religious and social responsibilities and relations with the late Martyr Sayyed Mahdi, the son of the supreme religious authority, Sayyed Muhsin al-Hakim. Sheikh Muhammad is the son of Sheikh Musa the son of Sheikh Muhammad `Ali the son of Sheikh Yaqoobi the son of Hajj Ja`far. An orator and poet, his father (AH 1345-1402/ AD 1926-1982) published the al-Iman Magazine in the holy city of al-Najaf in the period between AD 1963 and 1968.
His grandfather, Sheikh Muhammad `Ali (AH 1313-1385/ AD 1896-1965) was given the title of Sheikh al-khutaba’ (Chief of Orators), because he had founded a new school of oration (khitabah, a religious speech delivered on religious occasions) in which a good number of great preachers trained on oration. Describing him, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Waeli, the late famous preacher, says in his book of ‘Tajaribi ma`a al-Minbar (My Experiences with the Pulpit), Sheikh Muhammad `Ali was a well-versed researcher in history, literature, and biography. He wrote many highly considered books and researches.Education
In Baghdad, Sheikh Muhammad completed his primary and secondary studies so successfully that he joined College of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, in Baghdad University in 1978. He was then graduated in 1982, but he refused to join the military service, because he believed that joining the military service at that time would be considered support against the army of Islam, which was represented by the Iranian forces during the war that was imposed on the Islamic government of Iran. Because of this situation, he could not get married up to the end of the Iraq-Iran war. Immediately after that, he was married to the daughter of Martyr Sayyed Muhsin al-Musawi al-Ghurayfi, a family that had many marriage relationships with the al-Yaqoobi family.
Since childhood, Sheikh Muhammad accompanied his father to his preaching sessions and to the mosques where he used to lead congregational prayers. He was less than ten year old when he used to recite supplications that he had retained on the participants in these congregational prayers after the accomplishment of prayers. That was the beginning of his religious education. At home, he used to convey to his mother the solemn discourses he had heard from his father in full details.
In his turn, his father used to introduce him to his companions and friends in such sessions and forums as genius in arithmetic. They therefore used to give him questions in multiplication and additions and he, yet less than seven years old, used to answer simultaneously. A number of his father’s friends still remember his genius. Among these was the late Sayyed Muhsin al-Hakim (d. AD 1970) who used to give him a prize after each test.
When his family moved to Baghdad, they lived in al-Karradah al-Sharqiyyah Quarter, near al-Tamimi Mosque, the center of the late Sayyed Mahdi al-Hakim. In that period, this quarter was full of realist scholars and vigilant young thinkers, such as Sayyed Murtaza al-`Askari and Sheikh `Arif al-Basri. Besides, al-Karradah had valuable libraries that comprised books on all fields of knowledge. Sheikh Muhammad’s elder brother, the late Sheikh `Ali, used to take his brother with him whenever he visited these libraries, as a sign of his love and cherishment for him and also in order to care for and develop his talents.
Actually, these visits conferred upon Sheikh Muhammad with much interest and advantage. During these visits too, his brother used to give him the religious illustrated books of children that were published in some Muslim countries, especially the series of religious stories for children that was published in Egypt. From that moment, Sheikh Muhammad established a strong relationship with religious books. After that, he read books on history and biography because such topics had a narrative style in addition to the lessons and examples mentioned therein.
In the summer of 1970, the late Sayyed `Ali al-`Alawi projected classes on religious studies for the students during the summer holiday at two levels; one for the youth where they would study religious laws, logic, and Arabic syntax under Sayyed `Ali himself, while the other level was for children who would study simplified books, such as `Ali al-Jarim’s al-Nahw al-Wadhih, a book on Arabic grammar. Unfortunately, these classes did not last for more than one or two years, because Sayyed `Ali al-`Alawi was banished to Iran.
These classes had a great effect on the polishing of Sheikh Muhammad’s personality and way of thinking. At the same time, Sheikh Muhammad himself used to deliver lectures on various fields of knowledge based on his personal readings and study as well as his father’s discourses before the ritual Sunset (maghrib) and Evening (`isha’) Prayers led by his father in al-Fudhayliyyah.
In the second stage of the intermediate school, Sheikh Muhammad joined Imam al-Jawad Private School of Shi`ite Studies. In addition to the familiar academic classes, Sheikh Muhammad received lectures in Islamic edification under the late Martyr Sheikh `Abd al-Jabbar al-Basri who used to lead the Noon (dhzuhr) and Afternoon (`asr) congregational Prayers before students would leave the school to their homes.
During the two years Sheikh Muhammad spent in this school, he learnt very much and opened his eyes on a higher level of religious books, such as al-Madrasah al-Islamiyyah (The Islamic School) by Martyr Sayyed Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr, since one of Sheikh Muhammad’s friends, namely Sayyed Mahdi al-Hakim, was so active in this field that he used to prepare summaries on Martyr al-Sadr’s books and then deliver them on his five-member coterie that included the late martyr Jamyal Ridha `Alwan, Sayyed Ahmad Tahir al-Haydari, and Sayyed `Ali Muhammad Sahir al-Haydari in addition to Sheikh Muhammad and Sayyed Salih. As a consequence of the difficult security circumstances at that period which witnessed the execution of Sheikh `Arif al-Basri and his companions in 1974, the members of this coterie had to wander in the quiet streets of al-Karradah al-Sharqiyyah in order to exchange views about the ideas cited in these summarized books.
Having been still a student at the school, Sheikh Muhammad’s faculty of research and writing began to mature when one of his teachers asked him to write a report and gave him the freedom to choose the topic; therefore, Sheikh Muhammad chose to write about intoxicants. Because he had a good number of books in his house all of which he had read, he could gather much information about the topic and eventually write a report of about two hundred pages that he entitled ‘al-khamr ummu’l-khaba’ith (Wine; Mother of Vices)’. In this book-like and well-arranged report, he refers to all books of tafsir (exegesis of the Qur’an), education, medicine, and sociology appertained to the topic of intoxicants.

Meeting with Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir Al-Sadr
Having finished his intermediate school successfully in 1975, Sheikh Muhammad joined the al-Sharqiyyah Preparatory School in al-Karradah that granted him a bigger opportunity to meet with a select of religious youth who then participated in the movement of Martyr Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr in the late seventies of the past century. Some of these youth joined their Lord as martyrs while others are still alive, bearing in minds the memories of that company and the special flavor of that period that they still find. One of these youth was the well-versed scholar Sheikh Hasan `Ali Musa al-Rubay`i, who is now living in Iran.

Academic Education & Iran Revolution
When Sheikh Muhammad finished his preparatory study in 1978, he joined the Baghdad University. Meanwhile, the introductory events of the Islamic Revolution in Iran were stepping up, all interest was drawn towards its developments, and everybody encircled radio sets to listen carefully to the latest from radio stations around the world, especially the Monte Carlo Radio Station, in the 20:00 o’clock newscast, used to broadcast details of the new revolution in Iran up to the arrival of Imam Sayyed Ruhollah Khomeini in Iran on the first of February 1979 and the victory of his revolution on the eleventh of the same month.
We, Sheikh Muhammad al-Yaqoobi says, will never forget how happy we were at that day. Actually, I had never felt happier for any event in my entire life more than I had been for that event when the dream of all religious people came true by the establishment of the government of Islam on the earth. In the summer of that year and after the conclusion of the final examinations, the suppressive ruling authorities waged a vehement campaign of detention that included many of the religious and mindful youth.
Meanwhile, Saddam came to power as the president of the Republic of Iraq, annihilating all of his Baathist opponents to give full rein to his wicked hand to do whatever he wanted to do until he had the dare to commit the grand crime of executing Sayyed Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr, the great figure, in April 1980. At that time, we were in the second stage of my academic study when the security affairs worsened and we have to practice pious dissimulation (taqiyyah; hiding one’s real beliefs for fear of harm), especially after the issuance of the doomed resolution of the so-called Revolution Council Command in March 1980 that decided sentencing to execution every one who would have any relation to the movement of Martyr al-Sadr.
In September 1980, a war against Iran was waged while we were in the first days of the third stage of academic study. At these days, we had to encounter very hard times full of horror and fear, because all eyes were lurking and trying to throw us in traps so as to get hold of any charge against us. Nevertheless, it was Almighty God Who used to save us from all these traps. The ruling authorities and their tails tried insistently to make us join the Ba’ath Party while we kept on refusing, using various expedients.
They would leave us for a while, but they would return to us over again. We had to live under these circumstances while the war against Islam was incessant. After that, the Iranian forces began to recover counterpoise and achieve victories on various fronts, especially in Shush and Dezful in March and in Khorramshahr in May 1980. At that time, we were in the fourth stage of our study giving the final examinations. However, examinations could not prevent us from gathering around radio sets to listen to the news of the victories achieved by the army of Islam.
As an attempt to postpone joining the military service after graduation, I had to leave one of my classes so that I would be a few months away from the military service, hoping that Almighty God would find me a solution, because I had to accept one of many probabilities the best of which was bitter. I thus thought that if I would leave any class, this would affect my graduation degree; I therefore decided to leave the Socialist and National Education class in which we, the students, had to study the ideology of the Ba’ath Party — a risk that made me stand against the ruling regime, which was in its highest vigor and arrogance.
In this regard, I cannot forget the day when the chairman of the so-called National Union of Iraqi Students handed me over the result of my examinations while he was gazing at me with suspicious eyes and asking me, “Are you Muhammad Musa?” Of course, this question involved many things, but it was Almighty God again in Whom I put my trust and Who always save me.
Having passed the exams of the second turn, I had to join the military service. I was appointed as a civil engineer in the Ministry of Defense—a job that would give me a very good place and financial income, but I had never thought of that because my one and only concern was how to save myself from Hell that I believed to encounter as soon as I would put on the military uniform even if I would serve at the door of my house. I therefore had no more than two choices: either to cross the boarders towards Iran as immediately as possible so long as my academic documents were still valid, or to hide myself in my house and leave the military service.
As for the first choice, it was so risky to try to flee to Iran, because the boarders between Iraq and Iran were fighting fronts that witnesses vehement battles frequently. As for the second choice, the outcome would be sentencing me to execution penalty, taking into consideration the fact that talebearers and informers were too many and too active that even fathers informed against their sons and wives against their husbands, lest the whole family would be charged with covering up and hiding the “betrayals” as claimed by the ruling authorities.
Nevertheless, I had to opt for the earlier choice, because it was less harmful than the other for my family members and myself. This decision was so difficult, because the way to Iran from the northern boarders at the hands of some Kurdish smugglers was very dangerous. Secondly, this decision would break the heart of my mother who lost my father in July 1982, had to bid farewell three of my brothers who had to join the fronts, and had to look after my fourth brother who was bedridden because he was affected by nephrolithiasis.
Although I was the only delight of her eye, my mother did not object to my decision. On one of the days of October 1982, I bid my family members farewell and left for Iran, the country of Islam, but the intermediary failed to come, excusing that a battle flared up in the region from where we were supposed to cross to Iran. Thus, my journey was cancelled. I thanked Almighty God and returned home. My mother was so glad to see me again and she expressed, “The day you left us was as sad as the day we lost your father.”
I had to opt for the second choice and confine myself to my house. From time to time, I had to counterfeit a document-like paper soldiers used to use as temporary permission to visit their families. By this way, I made people think that I was soldier. However, this way continued for months and even years. Whenever we expected relief, matters worsened more and more that no one could expect the end of this war. Nonetheless, I might have been the happiest man during these days, because I lived in a supreme state of spirituality during which I keep company with the Holy Qur’an and the books in my father’s library as well as a prayer-rug and a radio set through which I traced the news of the Islamic Republic of Iran and their war with Iraq. I rarely met my family members, because I aspired to making use of my time with the most ideal manner.
Thanks to Almighty God’s grace, my father’s library comprised the most important reference books that contributed to the composition of a faithful missionary personality. In addition, the library had many books on the various fields of knowledge, such as the famous book of al-Mizan on the exegesis of the Holy Qur’an, Sayyed Qutb’s famous book of Fi Zilal al-Quran, Al-Hurr al-Aamili’s famous book of Wasa’il al-Shi`ah on the traditions of the Muhammad and his household, the exegesis of Nahj al-Balaghah, al-Tabai’s famous book on the history of Islam, Abd al-Husayn Sharaf al-Din al-Musawi’s famous book of al-Muraja’at, as well as many other books on history, literature, exegesis of the Holy Qur’an, Muslim jurisprudence, principles of Muslim jurisprudence, biographies of narrators of the Prophetic traditions, and Islamic knowledge.
I used to write down my views about these books that I read as well as the numbers of pages and volumes so that I can get to them again whenever I needed. I still keep these papers with me. I was also fond of the Holy Qur’an about which I wrote many valuable researches. However, I needed someone to review my efforts, direct, and watch over me, because reading alone was not enough for one like me who had the desire to reach the highest levels. Unfortunately, I could not find anyone to undertake this mission, because the majority of religiously educated people were absent; some were in jails, others banished, others executed, and others driven compulsorily to the fighting fronts.
Even if there were any, they had to practice pious simulation (taqiyyah). I therefore confined myself to my house until Almighty God prepared for me a means to contact Martyr Sayyed Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr in a way that I will explain in an independent book. That was a big shift, which changed my life and opened before me expansive horizons.

When the Iraq-Iran war ceased and the Iraqi ruling authorities reduced their persecution against people, I sought to achieve my desire for joining the Seminary (Hawza: university of religious studies) in al-Najaf so as to complete and bring to maturity the produce of my previous readings and religious education. In this course, I prepared myself for returning to the holy city of al-Najaf in 1988. Before this date, I had lived in Baghdad.
At that time, I performed Istikhara (praying Almighty God to guide to the best of two or more choices) about joining the Seminary, but the result was that I should wait and take my time. So, I had no other choice but to engage in earning, because I became responsible for a family. In my workplace, Martyr Sayyed Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr visited me many times. However, my engagement in work could not divert me from reading and researching. While I was engaged in seeking earnings, I could write a book that I entitled al-Riyaadhiyyat wa’l-Fiqh (Mathematics and Jurisprudence), which was published by my mentor, Martyr Sayyed Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr at the end of the eighth volume of his famous book Ma Wara’ al-Fiqh (Meta-jurisprudence). After I joined the Seminary, I could develop this book in both quantity and quality to produce a book I entitled al-Riyaaiyyat Lil-Faqih (Mathematics for Jurisprudents).

Return to Najaf
After the suppression of the blessed uprising of Sha`ban (March 1991), conditions became in a better order; therefore, I performed another Istikhara and the result was very good. Thus, the hope that I had expected for long years became true and I could finally put on the uniform of the religious people in Sha`ban 1412 AH/ February 1992 at the hands of the late Ayatollah Sayyed Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei in the presence of a number of scholars and jurisprudents who congratulated me for that and invoked Almighty God’s mercy on my father and grandfather. Martyr Sayyed Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr was so happy when my late brother, Sheikh `Ali, inform him about that. As soon as he was informed, he turned his face right and left in the hope of seeing me putting on the blessed uniform of the religious people. Expressing his joy, Martyr Sayyed Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr said, “This is a true glad tiding!” [8]

Starting Hawza Lessons in Najaf
Sheikh al-Yaqoobi joined the al-Najaf University of Religious Studies, which was headed by the late Sayyed Muhammad Kalantar, because this university was the one and only institution where study was regularly organized. As for the other religious institutes, they all were almost inactive because of the consequences of the uprising of Sha`ban as a result of which the military forces of the Iraqi regime broke into the uprising cities, causing mischief and damage. Without excluding the university, which was relatively safe, the students did not have the courage to study in the campus of the university, lest the ruling authorities would be enraged; therefore, the students had to study inside their rooms for a while although they were no more than eleven persons.
Swing to the highly appreciated scientific and educational background of Sheikh al-Yaqoobi, the head of al-Najaf University of Religious Studies; namely Sayyed Muhammad Kalantar who was well-known for his strictness in the commitment to the sequence of the study stages in the university, permitted the Sheikh to begin with an advanced stage in which the book of al-Lum`ah al-Dimashqiyyah (a reference book on Shi`ite jurisprudence) by al-Shahid al-Awwal and the book of Usul al-Fiqh (a reference book on the principles of Muslim jurisprudence) by Sheikh al-Mudhaffar were studied as curricula. Sheikh al-Yaqoobi used to attend two lectures in the earlier book along with a lecture in the latter every day. Immediately after the termination of Ramadhan holidays, he gave an exam in the office of the late Sayyed Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei and could pass the exam with a mark of 95 out of 100.
He then studied the Principles of Muslim Jurisprudence under Sheikh Muhammad Jawad al-Mahdawi and Muslim Jurisprudence (inferred from the aforementioned book of al-Lum`ah al-Dimashqiyyah) under Sheikh al-Mahdawi and Sayyed Hassan al-Mar`ashi. At certain times, he used to attend another class in the earlier branch of religious study and a third one in the latter. Immediately after the termination of Ramadhan holidays AH 1413, he studied the reference book of al-Kifayah under Sheikh al-Mahdawi after he had completed successfully the book of Usul al-Fiqh. After more than three years of studying the book of al-Rasa’il by Sheikh al-Ansari under Sheikh Muhammad Amin al-Mamuqani, he began with studying Sheikh al-Ansari’s other book of al-Makasib under the late Sayyed Muhammad Taqi al-Khu’i in al-Khadhra’ Mosque in Rabi` al-Awwal 1414 AH. He had completed the part of the book appertained to the forbidden earnings (al-Makasib al-Muharramah) and a part of Laws of Vendition (Kitab al-Bay`) before his teacher passed away in a car accident in Safar 1415 AH. He therefore had to study the other part of the same book under the well-versed scholar, Sayyed `Ali al-Sabzawari.
He then studied the Rights of Cancellation (khayar) up to the end of the aforementioned book under the well-versed scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Amin al-Mamuqani. During this period, he used to seize any opportunity to present himself in the office of Martyr Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, which was relatively empty of visitors, in the first days of the declaration of Martyr Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr as a referential authority (marji`), in order to submit to him the lectures that he had intended and ask him about his views. In that office, many discussions took place and many ideas were kindled in the mentality of Sheikh al-Yaqoobi. These discussions have had the greatest effect on the polishing of his scientific talents.
In addition to knowledge, Sheikh al-Yaqoobi learnt from his mentors the commitment to and abidance by seeking knowledge with accuracy and in terms of reciprocal respect. He also learnt supreme courtesy that he later put out in his books on morality, especially in the field of the relationship between students and their mentors.
Although he did not have in mind the idea of joining the stage of independent research (bahth kharij: the highest level of study in religious seminaries) before he would complete the final stage (sutuh), his mentor Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr encouraged him to attend the classes of this stage after finishing half of the book of al-Kifayah. In one of his discussions with Sheikh al-Yaqoobi, Martyr al-Sadr confirmed to him that he was competent enough to understand the topics that must be studied in the stage of independent research. So, Sheikh al-Yaqoobi had no other choice than responding to his mentor’s desire and making his dream come true through attending these highest researches under well-versed mentors. Of course, attending these classes did not contradict with his other studies, because he used to attend the classes of the Principles of Muslim Jurisprudence in late hours of the day.
On the last days of Shawwal 1414 AH (April 1994), Sheikh al-Yaqoobi attended the first class of the independent research stage, which was on polysemy (words that have several or multiple meanings). A few days later, he started his initial research, which was on derivatives (words that are derived from another word, base, or root by a process of word-formation) that took more than a whole year. When he accomplished this research, it was written down in a two-volume book that was recently published. He then kept on attending the classes of his mentor, Martyr al-Sadr II, up to the martyrdom of the latter in Dhu’l-Qa`dah 1419 AH. The last research he had attended was the research of prohibitions (nawahi: matters that are deemed prohibited in the Islamic Law)
In Dhu’l-Hijjah 1415 AH, Sheikh al-Yaqoobi began attending the classes of Muslim Jurisprudence under Ayatollah Sayyed Ali al-Sistani. During these classes, he made conclusive researches on the ritual fasting (sawm) and other researches on the zakat. He preserved in attending these classes until their conclusion in Safar 1420. For two years (AH 1416-1418), he studied researches on Muslim Jurisprudence according to the book of al-Makasib under the late martyr al-Mirza `Ali al-Gharawi. In order to complete what he had already studied under Martyr Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, Sheikh al-Yaqoobi joined the classes of Sheikh Mohammad Ishaq Al-Fayyad, al-Gharawi’s mentor, when he started classes on the second half of the Usul al-Fiqh (Principles of Muslim Jurisprudence). He studied there for four years (1417-1421 AH) as a result of which he had completed an entire course on Usul al-Fiqh.
In addition to logic, ethics, and social awareness, Sheikh al-Yaqoobi taught Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh in all degrees of the final stage (sutuh). Of course, he delivered many lectures on these topics some of which have been recently published. He used to take advantage of the religious occasions as well as the beginning and end of academic years in order to give such lectures.
He has been given three licenses of narration (riwayah: narration of traditions); one by Sayyed Muhammad Kalantar on the authority of Sayyed al-Sabzawari, Sayyed al-Beheshti, and Agha Buzurg al-Tahrani, another by the well-versed Dr. Husayn `Ali Mahfudh who was given license to narrate from seventy ways of narration, and the third by Sayyed `Abd al-Sattar al-Hasani who had his own ways of narration.
Ijithad
A number of mujtahids have testified to Sheikh al-Yaqoobi’s having attained the degree of Ijtihad, which is a supreme rank of knowledge ability in issues appertained to Islamic laws and Muslim jurisprudence. One was handwritten by Ayatollah Sheikh Muhammad `Ali Garami al-Qummi.
Based on the fact that some of the books intended in the previously mentioned license of Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeqi Tehrani were written in AH 1420, we can understand that Sheikh al-Yaqoobi enjoyed the faculty of Ijtihad 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 (wajib kifa’i, 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 Ijtihad.
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 Musa al-Kadhim 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.
The era that followed the martyrdom of Sayyed Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr 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 Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq 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 Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr.
Thus, nothing of the practical traces of Martyr Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr 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 Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr 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 labourers, 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.