Grand Ayatollah Marji ( ar, مرجع, transliteration: ''marjiʿ''; plural: ''marājiʿ''), literally meaning "source to follow" or "religious reference", is a title given to the highest level of Twelver Shia authority, a Grand Ayatollah with the authority giv ...

Sayyid ''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, sons of Muhamm ...

Taqi Tabatabaei Qomi ( ar, تقي الطباطبايي القمي fa, , February 21, 1923–October 26, 2016) was an

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mos ...

marja'. He, along with

Ali al-Sistani Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani ( ar, علي الحسيني السيستاني; fa, , Ali-ye Hoseyni-ye Sistāni; born 4 August 1930), commonly known as Ayatollah Sistani, is an Iranian–Iraqi Twelver Shia Ayatollah and marja'. He has been describ ...

, and Ali Falsafi, were among the only three people to receive a written statement declaring their

ijtihad ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a l ...

by grand Ayatollah

Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Abu al-Qasim al-Musawi al-Khoei ( ; ar, أبو القاسم الموسوي الخوئي; fa, ; November 19, 1899 – August 8, 1992) was an Iranian- Iraqi Shia marja'. Al-Khoei is considered one of the most influential ...

Birth and Education

He was born in

Mashhad Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of Razavi Khorasan Province and has a po ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. He is the son of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Tabatabaei Qomi (1865–1947) and the younger brother of Grand Ayatollah

Hassan Tabatabaei Qomi Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Hassan Tabatabaei Qomi ( ar, حسن الطباطبايي القمي; fa, ; 1912–2007) was a prominent Shia marja' who was born in Najaf. He was known as Seyyed Hassan Qomi. Seyyed Hassan was inhabitant in Mashhad, and was ...

(1912–2007). In 1936 he moved to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and has studied in seminaries of

Karbala Karbala or Kerbala ( ar, كَرْبَلَاء, Karbalāʾ , , also ;) is a city in central Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad, and a few miles east of Lake Milh, also known as Razzaza Lake. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governor ...

and then

Najaf Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...

under Grand Ayatollah

Mohammad Hadi Milani Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Mohammad Hadi Milani (; ; July 1, 1895 – August 7, 1975) was an Iraqi-Iranian marja'. al-Milani was also active in political and social affairs. When he moved to Mashhad, the Islamic seminary of Mashhad flourished. He cont ...

, ِ

Abd al-Hadi al-Shirazi Grand Ayatollah Mirza Abd al-Hadi al-Husayni al-Shirazi (; fa, ; 1882 – July 13, 1962) was an Iraqi-Iranian Shia marja' and poet. After the death of Abu al-Hasan al-Esfehani, al-Shirazi was considered to be one of the highest ranking scho ...

, Hossein Heli, Mohammad Kazem Shirazi and especially

. He obtained his

Ijtihad ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a l ...

in 1965 in Najaf. Then he started teaching in the Seminary of Najaf until 1979, when he moved back to Iran and resided in

Qom Qom (also spelled as "Ghom", "Ghum", or "Qum") ( fa, قم ) is the seventh largest metropolis and also the seventh largest city in Iran. Qom is the capital of Qom Province. It is located to the south of Tehran. At the 2016 census, its pop ...

. In Qom, he continued teaching in the Seminary of Qom until his death.

Publications

He has written close to 50 Islamic books (mainly in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

), most of which are now used as the main sources of teaching in the Seminaries of Qom and Najaf. In 1984, his statements were published in a book by Abbas Hajiani Dashti with the title ''Lessons from pleading'' (درسهایی از شفاعت).

Political views

He was one of the Independent Marja and didn't like to interfere in politics. He was among those Maraji that who declined to meet

Ali Khamenei Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei ( fa, سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia '' marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third presiden ...

in September 2010.

Personal views

* He did not like to open a personal website. * He was among the critics of Ali Shariati's ideas, and thinks some of Shariati's ideas are against

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

. * Some of his Islamic views are mentioned in ''Theological answers'' (ردود عقائدية) website.پاسخ به مسائل فقهی
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Birth and Education

Publications

Political views

Personal views

Notes

See also