Aref Nasrallah

Nasrallah is married and has seven children. His son Muhammad-Mehdi was killed in an explosion on June 6, 2016, in Karbala. The attack was claimed by ISIS, and was initially targeting Nasrallah. An annual football tournament was set up in honour of Muhammad-Mehdi by the Youth and Sport Welfare Authority in the Imam Husayn Shrine. Karbala's city council also renamed the road in which the explosion took place in to al-Shahid Muhammad Aref Nasrallah (transl. The Martyr Muhammad Aref Nasrallah) Road.

Nasrallah took heed of this, and announced that on eve of the martyrdom anniversary of Hasan al-Askari, i.e. March 16, 2008, they will be heading to Balad, as the closest point to Samarra, and hold a mourning procession there. At first, he struggled to find any coaches with drivers that we're willing to take them. So he reached out to some friends of his in Shatra, who were able to provide him with two coaches. He then contacted a friend of his in the special operations forces, Col. Sadiq al-Fatlawi, to help and escort them throughout the way, however al-Fatlawi strongly advised against the trip, and described it as a 'death-wish', and that they would be 'finished' at the first checkpoint. Nasrallah explained that they were only going to Balad (which was 45 kilometres away from Samarra), and not Samarra, but this still did not convince al-Fatlawi, and he remained in disagreement. Despite this, the next morning, Nasrallah called al-Fatlawi, and informed him that they were coming regardless, and this caused al-Fatlawi to eventually agree on escorting them to Balad.

Three days after the 2006 bombing, Nasrallah organised a protest in Karbala condemning the bombing of the al-Askari shrine. Three thousand people joined in the protest, and from there they decided to go to Samarra. However upon reaching Latifiya, they were stopped by troops from both the US and Iraqi army. As much as Nasrallah insisted they let them through, they were denied. In the end, he was connected to Nouri al-Maliki's personal assistant, who made it clear to Nasrallah that it was impossible for the troops to allow them to proceed for a number of reasons. Despite Nasrallah's countless attempts at convincing al-Maliki's assistant that all they wanted to do was go and protect the shrine from any further potential danger, they were denied. These sentiments were shared by the vast majority of Iraqis, who wanted their country to remain whole and free of ethnic conflict.

He was one of the preeminent leaders of the Islamic Action Organisation. He is currently also the director of grand Ayatollah, Sadiq al-Shirazi's public relations office in Iraq and has been holding this position since the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.

In March 2003, just before Baghdad fell, Nasrallah returned to Iraq. Upon his return, he was assigned as the commissioner of the Ibn Fahd shrine and seminary in Karbala by the Shiite Endowment Office. He also assumed the position of director for the public relations office of Ayatollah Shirazi.

Nasrallah fled to Kurdistan and then left for Damascus. He set foot in the Syrian capital in February 1999.

In the nineties, the IOA began to disintegrate, and the leadership was divided into a number of factions. Because of this, Nasrallah began to gradually withdraw himself. He left Kurdistan for Iran, and settled in Qom. By November, 1996, two sons of Muhammad al-Shirazi (Murtadha and Mahdi) were imprisoned in Iran due to ongoing disputes between the government and the Shirazis promotion of the shura al-fuqaha (leadership of a council of jurists) ideology. When they were released three years later, al-Shirazi turned to Nasrallah for help–who at that time had grown close to the Shirazis–to smuggle them out of Iran and go to Syria. After Nasrallah successfully transported both of al-Shirazi's sons, he returned to Iran. A little while after his arrival, he was imprisoned. A year later in prison, he was sentenced to death, but was then saved, following a decision by Mohammad Khatami to pardon a number of political prisoners, in an easing of the Islamic Republic's strict security policies. After he was released, he remained in Qom, near al-Shirazi–who was now pretty much alone, with most of his children and students abroad or in prison–for approximately six months, until al-Shirazi insisted that Nasrallah leave Iran, as it was not safe anymore.

Straight after his sentence, he fled to Kuwait, and remained there for just under a year. He then went to Iran, upon the start of the Iran-Iraq war, and carried on with the IAO, which was fully functional and operational in Iran. The IAO was also working with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and so the IRGC were impressed with Nasrallah's capabilities, and decided to train him and send him out for combat missions abroad. He carried out numerous missions in Kurdistan in 1981. He fought alongside the Peshmerga in the Kurdish mountains until 1987, and then became the manager of the IOA's office in Kurdistan and settled there for ten years.

Nasrallah was born in Karbala, to Muhammad Nasrallah, a merchant and servant at the al-Abbas shrine. Both of his parents hail from the noble Al Faiz family, and claim agnatic descent from Muhammad's daughter Fatimah and her husband, Ali, the first Shia Imam. His ancestors on some occasions ruled the city, and held custodianship of its holy sites. Nasrallah grew up in Karbala, and spent his childhood serving with his father. Nasrallah's life took a turn when his father died in 1969, and he was taken under the care of his uncles. Nasrallah joined the risali movement, known as the Islamic Action Organisation (IOA) in 1973, after the injustices the Baathist regime was projecting towards the Shia of Iraq. By 1976, he was wanted by the regime, because he was both, not enrolled in the army, which was obligatory at that time, and had been reported to the authorities as a member of al-Modarresi's illegal movement. In 1979, he was sentenced to death in absentia, whilst he was still in Karbala.

Sayyid Aref Muhammad Nasrallah (Arabic: عارف محمد آل نصرالله; born 1958) is an Iraqi Shia social activist, philanthropist, and official commissioner of the Ibn Fahad shrine and seminary.