[1] Yakub was born in 1904 in Azaplar, situated in the Tatar countryside west of Mangalia, a village known today by its official name Tătaru.
[2] He served as Mufti through the entire Communist era in his country, between 31 December 1947[3] and 1990, being preceded by Mitat Rifat and succeeded by Ablakim Ibrahim.
[2] During Nicolae Ceaușescu's years in office he represented the community in the Great National Assembly, now Parliament of Romania.
He had a good acquaintance with the Romanian culture and became one of Romania's important speakers on the international scene,[6] a non official "ambassador" during his visits in Arab and Muslim countries.
"[1] In 1990, when the editors of Renkler Journal in Bucharest led by historian Tahsin Gemil created the Tatar movement based on ideas of cultural and linguistic uniformity, Mehmet Yakub opposed this project creating a movement with cultural diversity conservation views activating under the motto Tek niyet, mútenevviyet ("Unity in diversity").