Born in 1945 (1364 AH) in Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran, His Eminence Ayatollah Dr. Sayed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad joined the Hawza and achieved the level of Ijtihad in 1969 (1388 AH). He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Law and Islamic Philosophy from Tehran University, and later pursued his PhD in International Law at the University of Leuven, Belgium, in 1989 (1408 AH). Appointed as the Chairman of the General Investigation Committee by the Supreme Judicial Council, he also served as a faculty member of the Law School in 1987 (1406 AH). Currently, he is the Head of the Department of Islamic Studies at the Academy of Sciences and serves as a trustee and academic assembly member for several universities and scientific centers in Iran.