NAJAF, Iraq (Dispatches) -- Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Said al-Hakim, one of Iraq’s top Shia clerics, passed away on Friday aged 85 in the holy city of Najaf after a heart attack, sources close to him said.
Funeral ceremonies were held on Saturday in Najaf and its twin holy city of Karbala. He was buried in Najaf, home to the shrine of Imam Ali (AS), the first Shia Imam and relative of Prophet Muhammad (Peace upon Him).
Ayatollah Hakim reportedly “underwent surgery three days ago in hospital in Najaf and succumbed today to a heart attack”.
Iraqi President Barham Saleh in a statement paid homage to the “prominent figure” in Shia Islam.
Born to a family of clerics in Najaf in 1936, Ayatollah Hakim was considered to be among the highest Shia religious authorities in the country.
At the time of his passing, he was one of four ayatollahs of the Hawza, Najaf’s Shia seminary, along with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s top Shia cleric.
Ayatollah Hakim was imprisoned between 1983 and 1991 under the regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein who feared Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution would set off “a similar event” in Iraq.
In Tehran, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei paid tribute to Ayatollah Hakim.
“I offer my condolences on the passing away of the late scholar Ayatollah Haj Seyyed Muhammad Saeed Hakim (May God have mercy on him) to the great seminary of Najaf and its eminent authorities and scholars, and to the elevated household of Tabatabai Hakim, especially his children and survivors. He was one of the sources of emulation and had valuable works in jurisprudence and principles, and his absence is considered a scientific loss for that blessed field. I ask for God’s contentment for the deceased.”