Grand Ayatollah Ahmad Azari-Qomi-Bigdeli was an Iranian cleric. Born in 1925 in
Qom, after the 1979
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...
he served on the
Special Clerical Court
Special Clerical Court, or Special Court for Clerics ( fa, دادگاه ویژه روحانیت) is a special Iranian court system for prosecuting Islamic clergymen and scholars accused of improper activity and conduct unbecoming of a cleric. The ...
, and
Assembly of Experts
The Assembly of Experts ( fa, مجلس خبرگان رهبری, majles-e khobregân-e rahbari), also translated as the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership or as the Council of Experts, is the deliberative body empowered to appoint the Supreme ...
, founded the conservative Resalat Newspaper. He was arrested in November 1997 after an open letter by him was published in Britain criticizing
Supreme Leader 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 president o ...
for allowing torture and "moral corruption" among officials and clerics. Shortly after Khamenei denounced him in a televised speech for allegedly committing "treason against the people, the revolution and the country." His renewed candidacy for the Assembly of Experts was rejected by the Guardian Council the next year and he died in 1999.
Background and career
Azari was born to a family of
Sh'ia
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 ...
clerics in
Qom in 1925.
[Islam and gender: the religious debate in contemporary Iran](_blank)
Part 2 By Ziba Mir-Hosseini
Ziba Mir-Hosseini ( fa, زیبا میرحسینی; born 3 April 1952) is an Iranian-born legal anthropologist, specialising in Islamic law, gender and development. She received her PhD in anthropology from Cambridge University and is the author o ...
Azari started his studies at Qom in 1941 under Ayatollahs
Borujerdi, Mohaqqeq-Damad and
Tabatabai.
Upon finishing his clerical studies, he emigrated to Tabriz in northwest Iran to work as a religious teacher in a boarding school.
Azari was a founding member of the
Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom
The Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom ( fa, جامعهٔ مدرسین حوزهٔ علمیهٔ قم, jâme'e madrasin howze 'ilmiah Qom) is an Iranian group founded in 1961/3 by the leading Muslim clerics of Qom. Established by the students ...
,
and a
Combatant Clergy Association
The Combatant Clergy Association ( fa, جامعۀ روحانیت مبارز, jâmeʿe-ye rowhâniyat-e mobârez) is a politically active group in Iran, but not a political party in the traditional sense.
It has never been registered as a politica ...
member. Between 1965 and 1979 he was imprisoned several times.
He was judge in the
Special Clerical Court
Special Clerical Court, or Special Court for Clerics ( fa, دادگاه ویژه روحانیت) is a special Iranian court system for prosecuting Islamic clergymen and scholars accused of improper activity and conduct unbecoming of a cleric. The ...
after the 1979 revolution.
He was a member of the
Assembly of Experts
The Assembly of Experts ( fa, مجلس خبرگان رهبری, majles-e khobregân-e rahbari), also translated as the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership or as the Council of Experts, is the deliberative body empowered to appoint the Supreme ...
that originally elected
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 president o ...
as
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 ...
’s successor. He also founded the
Resalat Foundation, a religious organisation which owns the ''
Resalat'' newspaper. Azari-Qomi was originally a staunch conservative. Allegedly, in the midst of the struggle over the Land Reform which the leftist parliament envisioned in the early 1980s, Azari-Qomi asked for Khomeini's permission to found a conservative newspaper, but Khomeini declined. Azari-Qomi tried again a year later. This time, Khomeini did not react to the request, which Azari-Qomi interpreted as a permission. This was the birth of Resalat Newspaper, together with Keyhan one of the most conservative newspapers in Iran.
Conflict with Khamenei
Grand Ayatollah Ahmad Azari-Qomi was arrested in November 1997 after having published an open letter outside of Iran (inter alia in the London-based independent weekly newspaper ''Nimrooz'') in which he criticized Supreme Leader
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 president o ...
. In the 34-page open letter, Azari-Qomi blamed
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 president o ...
for having initiated the creation of the
Ansar-e Hezbollah
Ansar-e Hezbollah ( fa, انصار حزبالله, lit=Supporters of the Party of God) is a conservative paramilitary organization in Iran. that was responsible for threatening a number of liberal academics and writers. He accused
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 president o ...
for having set the stage for widespread "moral corruption" among regime officials and clergymen which has "withered the roots of decency." Azari-Qomi also criticized the
Islamic Republic
The term Islamic republic has been used in different ways. Some Muslim religious leaders have used it as the name for a theoretical form of Islamic theocratic government enforcing sharia, or laws compatible with sharia. The term has also been u ...
for torturing the sons of Grand Ayatollah
Mohammad Shirazi
Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad al-Husayni al-Shirazi ( ar, محمد الحسيني الشيرازي; fa, ; August 31, 1928 – December 17, 2001), commonly known as Imam Shirazi, was an Iranian- Iraqi Shia marja' and political activist.
Early ...
. "Even if he rejects the
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 ...
, why torture his children? Security organizations should learn from the shameful fate of the
SAVAK
SAVAK ( fa, ساواک, abbreviation for ''Sâzemân-e Ettelâ'ât va Amniat-e Kešvar'', ) was the secret police, domestic security and intelligence service in Iran during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty. SAVAK operated from 1957 until prime ...
," Azari-Qomi wrote. Azari-Qomi also appealed to president
Khatami
Sayyid Mohammad Khatami ( fa, سید محمد خاتمی, ; born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 t ...
to abolish the
Special Clerical Court
Special Clerical Court, or Special Court for Clerics ( fa, دادگاه ویژه روحانیت) is a special Iranian court system for prosecuting Islamic clergymen and scholars accused of improper activity and conduct unbecoming of a cleric. The ...
which had arrested and tortured many followers of Grand Ayatollah Shirazi.
[See ]
In his letter Azari-Qomi proposed that the velayat-e faqih should be split into two different realms of theological authority and political authority. Ayatollah
Montazeri
Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri ( fa, حسینعلی منتظری ; 24 September 1922 – 19 December 2009) was an Iranian Shia Islamic theologian, Islamic democracy advocate, writer and human rights activist. He was one of the leade ...
should handle religious affairs, while
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 president o ...
could exercise political authority.
Finally, grand ayatollah Azari-Qomi reminded the new president
Khatami
Sayyid Mohammad Khatami ( fa, سید محمد خاتمی, ; born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 t ...
that with more than 23 million people who voted for him, he had the constitutional possibility to call for a referendum on the extent of the powers and the role of the
Supreme Leader.
"With their vote in your favour, our brave people have brought the whole of the present leadership under question and I’m proud of it. But, dear Mr President, be careful of not becoming the last of the presidents of the Islamic Republic, for this is what may well be your fate if you do not act now to stop at once present injustices committed under the name of Islam".
In response, on November 10, 1997, Azeri-Qomi was forcibly expelled from clerical institutes in Qom and his and Ayatollah Montazeri's offices were ransacked.
On November 26, 1997, the Supreme Leader of the
Islamic Republic
The term Islamic republic has been used in different ways. Some Muslim religious leaders have used it as the name for a theoretical form of Islamic theocratic government enforcing sharia, or laws compatible with sharia. The term has also been u ...
, Ayatollah 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 president o ...
, announced in a televised speech that Grand Ayatollahs Montazeri and Azari-Qomi had "committed treason against the people, the revolution and the country," and commanded the Judiciary Branch to ensure they were "punished according to the law."
Iran News reported on February 5, 1998, that ''Jomhuri-ye Islami'' printed an article on a recent meeting in Mashhad between some members of the
Assembly of Experts
The Assembly of Experts ( fa, مجلس خبرگان رهبری, majles-e khobregân-e rahbari), also translated as the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership or as the Council of Experts, is the deliberative body empowered to appoint the Supreme ...
who asked for the expulsion of Azari-Qomi from the Assembly. Ultimately, Azari-Qomi was not expelled from the Assembly of Experts, but his renewed candidacy in 1998 was rejected by the Guardian Council.
He was hospitalized on 1 February 1999
Iran Report
8 February 1999, Volume 2, Number 6, RISE AND FALL OF REGIME STALWART and died shortly thereafter at the age of 74.
Works
*''Sima-ye Zan dar Nezam-e Eslami'' (Woman's Image in Islamic Order)
See also
*Special Clerical Court
Special Clerical Court, or Special Court for Clerics ( fa, دادگاه ویژه روحانیت) is a special Iranian court system for prosecuting Islamic clergymen and scholars accused of improper activity and conduct unbecoming of a cleric. The ...
*Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri
Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri ( fa, حسینعلی منتظری ; 24 September 1922 – 19 December 2009) was an Iranian Shia Islamic theologian, Islamic democracy advocate, writer and human rights activist. He was one of the leade ...
*Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom
The Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom ( fa, جامعهٔ مدرسین حوزهٔ علمیهٔ قم, jâme'e madrasin howze 'ilmiah Qom) is an Iranian group founded in 1961/3 by the leading Muslim clerics of Qom. Established by the students ...
* Society of the Militant Clergy of Tehran
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azari Qomi, Ahmad
Iranian Shia clerics
1999 deaths
1925 births
People from Qom
Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom members
Combatant Clergy Association politicians
Burials at Fatima Masumeh Shrine