Grand Ayatollah (Marja al-Taqlid) Muhammad Hussain Najafi

Early Life

Born on 10 April 1932 in Jahanian Shah, Sargodha District, Punjab, British India, into the Dhakku branch of the Jat community (hence his common appellation 'Dhakko'). He memorised the Quran as a hafiz in his youth and pursued classical Islamic studies before travelling to Najaf, Iraq, for advanced seminary training.

Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Muhammad Hussain Najafi, popularly known as 'Dhakko', was a Pakistani Twelver Shia scholar and the first alim of Pakistani origin to be elevated to the rank of marja al-taqlid (source of emulation). Born in 1932 in Jahanian Shah near Sargodha, he was a hafiz of the Quran and a prolific author. After early schooling and the Dars-i-Nizami curriculum in Pakistan, he studied at the Hawza of Najaf in Iraq from 1954 to 1960 under a number of leading maraji of the era. Returning home, he founded and led the seminary Dar-ul-Uloom Muhammadia in Sargodha and went on to patronise a network of madrasahs across Pakistan. He served as president of Tanzeem-ul-Madaris and other national Shia educational and scholarly bodies. As a marja based on Pakistani soil, he was regarded as the leading Shia religious authority in South Asia and was listed in every edition of 'The Muslim 500: The World's Most Influential Muslims' from 2010 onward. He authored around thirty books spanning Quranic exegesis, jurisprudence, and doctrine. He died on 21 August 2023 at the age of 91 and was buried in Sargodha, where large funeral gatherings were held.