Muhaqqiq was born in the city of al-Hilla, Iraq, where he would spend most of his life, to a family of prominent Shi'i jurists.
Muhaqqiq produced an impressive scholarly corpus during his life, treating subjects ranging from fiqh and usul al-fiqh to ethics, theology, philology and even a few volumes of poetry.
It has been translated into both Persian and Russian, and was used in British India as the standard statement of Shi'ite Muslim law.
[2] Another important work of his is Ma'arij ul-Usul, written in the field of usul al-fiqh (jurisprudential methodology).
In it, he stresses the centrality of the Shi'i jurist (mujtahid) during the time of the Occultation in deriving a proper understanding of the Shari'ah from the Qur'an, Hadith and statements of the Twelve Imams.