It was natural that he pressured the scholars of the howzeh to participate in this conference; he paid special attention to the Alhakeem family because of its respected scientific and public rank inside and outside Iraq. This intensive pressure has been in different ways of threats and intimidation. When the family refuses to participate, two weeks after the end of the mentioned conference, Saddam – the dictator ordered an arrest to the family as an act of revenge to their noble position which became a milestone in the history of modern Iraq especially when there was no clear religious scientific entity to the Arabic howzeh in Iraq at that time.
It was his eminence and his father, Ayatollah Sayyid Mohamed Ali Alhakeem (may Allah prolong his life); his brothers and their children were among the detainees. The attention was centered in the interrogations that Alhakeem family faced in the general directorate of security on a group of them, one of them was his eminence himself but almighty Allah mercifully saved him from the evil of the oppressors.Isolated sections in the prison of Abu Ghraib
In March 1985, the regime transferred the detainees from Alhakeem family from the detention of the general directorate of security in Baghdad to the isolated sections to the department of special provisions in the prison of Abu ghraib after the executions of 16 martyrs in two sessions. Despite the harsh living conditions in these isolated section, it have opened a relatively big opportunity of scientific and educational activities for the prisoner from Alhakeem family because of the large number of prisoners and their religious and educational interests. All of this gave His eminence the chance for further scientific, educational and social activities inside the prison.
The activity of his eminence was distributed between teaching of his family members especially as many of the detainees from Alhakeem family were his students – in the level of kharij – before the detention, so his eminence started two classes at this level of studies one of them in the jurisprudence and the other in the fundamentals of the jurisprudence.
His eminence also paid attention to the revival of the religious events by giving general cultural lecture that have had significant impact at that harsh circumstance. He also was answering questions in various scientific issues.
2. Social and educational activities:
The poor conditions of the prison, the spread of deadly diseases and disconnection of the prisoners with their families – as they were not allowed to see their families and their families did not know their fate – called for the need to someone that can reflect parental care and attention, which was represented by his eminence (may Allah prolong his life) that undertook this responsibility and played this role for thousands of detainees who were staying in these cells.
He said, during the peak of hardship in the isolated sections in the prison of Abu Ghraib, to one of his sons: “If there were no benefit to our plight, the plight of Alhakeem family, just the mitigation to these prisoners, then it is sufficient”.
3. Withstanding in the interrogations:
Detainees and prisoners in Iraq usually face lots types of severe torture which makes it difficult to withstand and endurance. His eminence personally encountered various kinds of bloody and harsh torture like beating with batons and being shocked by electricity and other kinds of torture, but his eminence faced the tragedy with rare spirit and solid patience and he was urging the rest of the detainees to be patient and withstand the hardships and to depend on Almighty Allah.
After his release in the 5th of thul geida , 1411 along with the rest members of Alhakeem family after the execution of some of them, the regime pressured his eminence in many various ways to accept the official religious leadership – marjeyya but his eminence strongly refused that while insisted on the independency of the Shiite religious leadership away from the political regimes. Despite that, his eminence remained insisting on taking charge of supporting the scientific howzeh in the holy city of Najaf and helping thousands of needy families in Iraq including many of the families of martyrs and detainees. He was also supporting religious propagation secretly away from the surveillance of the tyrant’s supporters.
When his eminence traveled for medical treatment outside Iraq, many believers urged him not to go back to Iraq especially when the war was expected in the near future but his eminence refused and insisted on returning to the trench of the religious howzeh in Najaf to be closer to the Iraqi believers in their long plight.
His father (May Allah prolong his life) raised and took a special care of him as he found out the special capability of his oldest son to learn the religious knowledge in depth and derivation. He directed him to this field before the end of his first decade of age At the same time, he taught him various moral and noble values that became obvious characters in his personality.
Religious Leadership
His eminence was known for his interest in teaching and writing since the early time of his youth, after the death of ayatollah Sayyid al-khoie (may Allah have mercy on his soul), many people started to follow him in imitation. Lots of believers and howzeh clergymen from inside and outside Iraq including some leading scholars and religious authorities – Marji’s were insisting on his eminence to announce his religious leadership. So he assumed the responsibility in a critical and complex circumstances experienced by believers in various parts of the globe.
1. Support the withstanding of the Palestinian people in the face of the brutal Zionist aggression and rejection of the occupation of Jerusalem and the rest of the Palestinian territories.
And other positions.His teachers
From this standpoint, we can list the main teachers in the following sequence:
1. His great father, his eminence Ayatollah Sayyid Mohamed Ali al Tabatabaie Alhakeem (May Allah prolong his life). He started teaching him from the introductory subjects like The Arabic language, grammar, logic, eloquence, jurisprudence and its fundamentals till he finished most of his intermediate studies – Sutooh.
4. The late Shiite religious authority, the grand Ayatollah, AsSayyid Al khoie (May Allah have mercy on his soul), where he attended two years of his jurisprudence fundamental’s teachings and wrote what we will mention in the books section.
His teachings and students
After he finished teaching several sessions in the sotooh level of teaching in the hawza, he started in year 1388 teaching behthul kharij (the external) – the highest level of hawza classes – till he finished his first course in the fundaments of the jurisprudence in year 1399 and started another one while he is continuing his teachings and writing despite the harsh conditions of detention that took place from 1403 till 1411.
In the jurisprudence, he started teaching behthul kahrij based on the books of mekashib – written by sheikh Al-Ansari – in 1390 and he is still teaching despite the difficult circumstances for years. He graduated many respected scholars in the hawza and they are main teachers in the hawzas of Najaf and Qom and others hawzas.
In addition to the characteristics of some of his writings during his study at the level of Sutooh where they included investigative views and scientific points, a group of books have emerged, including:
1. Almohkem in the fundamentals of the jurisprudence, it a detailed full course in the fundamentals of the jurisprudence in six volumes.
3. Minhag al saliheen, his Risala – practical laws of his verdicts in three volumes.
4. Menasik – Pilgrimage and Omra Rituals.
5. A message to the people in the west.
6. A message to the religions promoters and the howzeh students, translated into Persian and Urdu.
7. A dialogue with his eminence about the religious authority – merjeyya in two episodes.
8. Morshid al Moghtarib, instructions and verdicts related to the people in the west.
9. Fi rihab al aqeeda, detailed dialogue with a Jordanian personality in the issues of beliefs, in 3 volumes
10. Religious laws of computer and internet, translated into English.
11. Human cloning. Translated into English
12. Religious dialogues.
13. A message to the devotees in Azerbaijan, translated into the Azeri language.
14. A message to the pilgrims of the holy house of God.