Ayatullah Seyyid Muhsin Al-Hakim was born in 1306 AH. in a family renowned for its scholarship. He studied under the tutelage of great FUQAHA, like Ayatullah Seyyid Muhammad Kadhim Yazdi, Ayatullah Mirza Husain Naeeni, Ayatullah Zia Iraqi and others.

He was always in the fore-front to defend Islam and Muslims. After World War I, when the British wanted to colonize Iraq, the Shi'a ulama, under Sayyid Muhammad Taqi Shirazi, took arms to defend the Muslim land. Ayatullah Hububi too raised a militia and made Sayyid Muhsin Al-Hakeem, aged 26, his right hand man.

The communists dominated Abdul-Karim Qasim's government, and began a reign of terror against Islam. Sayyid Muhsin Al-Hakeem's historic fatewa, branding communism as kufr and atheism, proved the beginning of the end for communists. He stood firm against the Ba'thists onslaught against Islam and Muslims.

The regime continuously harassed him in one way or the other; his son Mahdi, was sentenced to death in absentia, and was eventually killed in Khartoum in 1988. His family is still paying the price for their adherence to justice and truth.

He became a sole Marja after the death of Ayatullah Seyyid Husain Burujardi, with whom his family tree shared a common lineage finally reaching Ameerul Mumineen - Imam Ali b. Abu Talib (AS). The Hawza of Najaf grew immensely under his Marjaiyya, boasting nearly an unprecedented figure of 8000 students. He also instituted several changes in the curriculum of the Hawzas, which have had far reaching effects. His famous work in FIQH is 'MUSTAMSAK' which is acknowledged as the most exhaustive and enlightening commentary on the first part of al-Urwatul Wuthqa. The style and skill of his reasoning established him among the FUQAHA of the first rank. He is also well known for his clear fatwa against Communism, declaring it an ideology of KUFR and ATHEISM.

He died on 27the Rabi-ul-Awwal 1390 AH. in Najaf and was buried in the great and modern library he had established.