Ayatullah al-Uzma al-Hajj as-Sayyid Muhammad Saeed Taba’taba’i al-Hakim was born in the city of Al-Najaf al-Ashraf on the 8^th of Dhul Qa’dah in 1935 into a religious and scholarly family.  Not only was his father a Marja’ Taqlid - the late Ayatullah al-Uzma al-Hajj as-Sayyid Muhammad Ali al-Hakim, rather even his grandfather was a Marja’ – and the supreme leader of the Shi’a world – Ayatullah al-Uzma al-Hajj as-Sayyid Muhsin Taba’taba’i al-Hakim (may Allah shower his mercy upon him).

His studies of the Islamic sciences began at a very young age under the tutelage of his father and his grandfather, Ayatullah al-Uzma al-Hajj ash-Shaykh Husain al-Hilli, the grand Marja Ayatullah al-Uzma al-Hajj as-Sayyid Abul Qasim al-Kho’ei and other great teachers in Najaf.   It was under the late Al-Kho’ei that he began the highest level of studies, Ba’thul Kharij, and was able to benefit from his springs of wisdom. 

In the year 1968 when he was a mere 34 years old, he began to teach the up and coming students of the Theological Seminary as he had already attained the level of Ijtihad – the status at which one is free to extract the Islamic rulings from their sources!

It should be noted that his life has not been comfortable and easy – rather, on the contrary, he has seen much hardship.  His has gone through many difficult times including the murder of 16 personalities from his family at the hands of the former head of Iraq.  The imprisonment and killing of these individuals took place in the now-notorious prison of Abu Ghurayb.

His tireless work of studying and teaching has continued over the past 40 years and in addition to classes to the senior students, he has also kept himself busy with writing.  Numerous books of his have been published which focus on his higher classes however as of recent, books have also been penned by this great scholar which focus on more contemporary issues:

1. A treatise geared towards Muballighin and Preachers of the word of Islam;
2. Discussion in regards to Marjaiyyat;
3. Guidance to Muslims living in the Western world and who are facing ‘new’ challenges;
4. The Fiqh of Computers and the InterNet
5. The Fiqh of Cloning