Shaheed Muhammad Baqir sl-Sadr

Today, marks the martydom anniversary of one of the leading contemporary jurists of our time, shaheed Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr (ra), who along with his sister Amina al-Sadr (ra) (aka Bint al-Huda), were brutally murdered by the tyrant of Iraq, Saddam Hussain. Here are some of the very last few moments right before Sadr's (ra) death, look at the way he refused to compromise and succumb to the demands of Saddam, a classic example of how deontology precedes pragmatism:
"Sadr himself was placed under house arrest, which the regime tried to extract concessions from him. During his interrogation of Sadr in August 1979, Fadil al-Barak, the head of the security agency, demanded that he make a public statement denouncing the Iranian Revolution and supporting the Iraqi policy toward Iran. When Sadr refused the regime softened its language, and a new mediator, Shaykh Isa al-Khaqani, was sent to ask Sadr to fulfil only one of five conditions to spare his life:
1) Withdraw his support of Ayatullah Khomeini and of the Iranian regime;
2) Or issue a statement supporting one of the government’s policies such as the nationalization of foreign oil companies and national autonomy for the Kurds;
3) Or issue a fatwa forbidding association with the Da’wa party;
4) Or revoke the fatwa that prohibited joining the Ba’th party;
5) Or be interviewed by an Iraqi or other Arab newspaper that was affiliated with the Iraqi regime.
By then Sadr, according to his personal secretary al-Nu'mani, had concluded that his days were numbered any way, and he decided to reject all government demands in anticipation of his martyrdom. He told al-Khaqani, the Ba'th regime's mediator:
"The only thing my life is to make the establishment of an Islamic government on earth possible. Since it has been formed in Iran under the leadership of Imam [Khomeini] it makes no difference to me whether I am alive or dead because the dream I wanted to attain and the hope I wanted to achieve have come true, thanks to God.""