Ahmad Khonsari, also Aḥmad Khvānsārī, or Khvunsārī ( fa, احمد خوانساری, 1887–1985) was an Iranian

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 ...

and attained marja status after the death of marja Boroujerdi in 1961. In contrast to the other maraji of his time, who lived in the holy cities of Qom or

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 ...

, he was based in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, where he ran his own

hawza A hawza ( ar, حوزة) or ḥawzah ʿilmīyah ( ar, حوزة علمیة) is a seminary where Shi'a Muslim scholars are educated. The word ''ḥawzah'' is found in Arabic as well as the Persian language. In Arabic, the word means "to hold so ...

. Khonsari was one of the teachers of Ayatollah

Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...

. Grand Ayatollah Khonsari came to Qom in 1923 and became one of the leaders of the hawza after the death of

Abdul-Karim Ha'eri Yazdi Grand Ayatollah Hajj Sheikh Abdolkarim Haeri Yazdi ( fa, عبدالکریم حائری یزدی; ar, عبد الكريم الحائري اليزدي ; 1859 – 30 January 1937) was a Twelver Shia Muslim scholar and marja. He was the founder of a ...

. Together with

Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari Sayyid Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari ( fa, محمد کاظم شریعتمداری), also spelled Shariat-Madari (5 January 1906 – 3 April 1986), was an Iranian Grand Ayatollah. He favoured the traditional Shiite practice of keeping clerics away ...

and a number of other Iranian Grand Ayatollahs, he was a staunch opponent of the Shah’s

White Revolution The White Revolution ( fa, انقلاب سفید ''Enqelāb-e Sefid'') or the Shah and People Revolution ( fa, انقلاب شاه و مردم ''Enqelāb-e Shāh o Mardom'') was a far-reaching series of reforms resulting in aggressive moderniz ...

in 1963. But he felt Khomeini’s direct challenge of the Shah, claiming to speak for the entirety of Iranian religious leadership, went too far. Khonsari openly criticized Khomeini’s behaviour. Khonsari was a

quietist Quietism is the name given (especially in Roman Catholic theology) to a set of contemplative practices that rose in popularity in France, Italy, and Spain during the late 1670s and 1680s, particularly associated with the writings of the Spanis ...

, who believed the clergy should not exercise political power. As such, he opposed Ayatollah

’s interpretation of the concept of

velayat-e faqih The Guardianship or Governance/''Wilāyat'' of/by an Islamic Jurist/''Faqīh'' ( fa, , Velâyat-e Faqih; ar, وِلاَيَةُ ٱلْفَقِيهِ, Wilāyat al-Faqīh), is a concept in Twelver Shia Islamic law which holds that until the re ...

Biographies

* Abdollah Motevalli: Ayatullah Seyyed Ahmad Khonsari be Revayat-e Asnad. Markaz-e Asnad-e Enqelab-e Islami – Tehran. 2004. 256 pages.

References

Citations

Cited sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Khonsari, Ahmad 1887 births 1985 deaths Iranian grand ayatollahs 20th-century Islamic religious leaders People who have been placed under house arrest in Iran