Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr (Arabic: محمد باقر الصدر, romanized: Muḥammad Bāqir aṣ-Ṣadr; March 1, 1935 – April 9, 1980), also known as al-Shahid al-Khamis (Arabic: الشهيد الخامس, romanized: al-Shahīd al-Khāmis, lit. 'the fifth martyr'), 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 cousin of Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr and Musa al-Sadr. His father Haydar al-Sadr was a well-respected high-ranking Shi'a cleric. His lineage can be traced back to Muhammad through the seventh Shia Imam Musa al-Kazim. Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr was executed in 1980 by the regime of Saddam Hussein along with his sister, Amina Sadr bint al-Huda.
Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr was born in al-Kazimiya, Iraq, into the prominent al-Sadr family, which originated in Jabal Amel in present-day Lebanon. His father died in 1937, leaving the family in difficult economic circumstances. In 1945, the family relocated to the holy city of Najaf, where al-Sadr spent the remainder of his life.
Al-Sadr was regarded as a child prodigy. By the age of ten, he was delivering lectures on Islamic history, and at eleven he had begun formal studies in logic. At the age of 24, he authored a work critical of materialist philosophy. He completed his religious studies at the seminaries of Najaf under al-Khoei and Muhsin al-Hakim, and began teaching at the age of 25.
Struggle against Saddam Hussein
Al-Sadr's works attracted the ire of the Baath Party, leading to repeated imprisonment where he was often tortured. Despite this, he continued his work after being released. When the Ba'athists arrested Al-Sadr in 1977, his sister Amina Sadr bint al-Huda made a speech in the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf inviting the people to demonstrate. Many demonstrations were held, forcing the Ba'athists to release Al-Sadr who was placed under house arrest.
In 1979–1980, anti-Ba'ath riots arose in Iraq's Shia areas by groups who were working toward an Islamic revolution in their country. Hussein and his deputies believed that the riots had been inspired by the Iranian Revolution and instigated by Iran's government. In the aftermath of Iran's revolution, Iraq's Shia community called on Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr to be their "Iraqi Ayatollah Khomeini", leading a revolt against the Ba'ath regime. Community leaders, tribal heads, and hundreds of ordinary members of the public paid their allegiance to al-Sadr. Protests then erupted in Baghdad and the predominantly Shia provinces of the south in May 1979. For nine days, protests against the regime unfolded, but were suppressed by the regime. The cleric's imprisonment led to another wave of protests in June after a seminal, powerful appeal from al-Sadr's sister, Bint al-Huda. Further clashes unfolded between the security forces and protestors. Najaf was put under siege and thousands were tortured and executed. Al-Sadr issued a fatwa prohibiting membership in the ruling Ba'ath party. Called upon by the government to retract it he refused.
Baqir al-Sadr was arrested on April 5, 1980, with his sister, Sayyidah bint al-Huda. They had formed a powerful militant movement in opposition to Saddam Hussein's regime.
On April 9, 1980, Al-Sadr and his sister were killed after being severely tortured by their captors. Signs of torture could be seen on the bodies.
An iron nail was hammered into Al-Sadr's head and he was then set on fire in Najaf. It has been reported that Saddam Hussein himself killed them. The Baathists delivered the bodies of Baqir al-Sadr and Bint al-Huda to their cousin Sayyid Mohammad al-Sadr.
They were buried in the Wadi-us-Salaam graveyard in the holy city of Najaf the same night. His execution raised no criticism from Western countries because Al-Sadr had openly supported Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran. In 2024, Saadoun Sabri Jamil Jumaa al-Qaisi, a senior security official during Saddam's regime, was arrested in Erbil for overseeing Al-Sadr's detention and killing. He was subsequently convicted for the Al-Sadr killings and executed in 2026.
The works by Baqir al-Sadr contains traditional Shia thoughts, while they also suggest ways Shia could "accommodate modernity".
The two major works by him are Iqtisaduna on Islamic economics, and Falsafatuna (Our Philosophy). They were detailed critiques of Marxism that presented his early ideas on an alternative Islamic form of government. They were critiques of both socialism and capitalism. He was subsequently commissioned by the government of Kuwait to assess how that country's oil wealth could be managed in keeping with Islamic principles. This led to a major work on Islamic banking, which still forms the basis for modern Islamic banks.
Using his knowledge of the Quran and a subject-based approach to Quranic exegesis, Al-Sadr extracted two concepts from the Holy text in relation to governance:
khilafat al-insan (Man as heir or trustee of God) and
shahadat al-anbiya (Prophets as witnesses).
Al-Sadr explained that throughout history there have been "...two lines. Man's line and the Prophet's line. The line of Man is the khalifa (trustee) who inherits the earth from God; the line of the Prophet is the shahid (witness)".
Al-Sadr demonstrated that khilafa (governance) is "a right given to the whole of humanity" and defined it as an obligation given from God to the human race to "tend the globe and administer human affairs". This was a major advancement of Islamic political theory.
While Al-Sadr identified khilafa as the obligation and right of the people, he used a broad-based explanation of Quranic verse 5:44 to identify who held the responsibility of shahada in an Islamic state. First were the Prophets (anbiya'). Second were the Imams who are considered a divine (rabbani) continuation of the Prophets in this line. The last were the marja'iyya (see Marja).