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 ...

Asadollah Bayat-Zanjani ( fa, اسدالله بیات زنجانی) is an Iranian theologian,

Islamic philosopher Islamic philosophy is philosophy that emerges from the Islamic tradition. Two terms traditionally used in the Islamic world are sometimes translated as philosophy—falsafa (literally: "philosophy"), which refers to philosophy as well as logi ...

, writer and Grand marja of Islam. He published his objection to 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 ...

(religious system in Iran) and claims this regime has nothing to do with Islam.

Biography

Grand Ayatollah Zanjani studied religion in Zanjan and Qom and was promoted to degree of

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 le ...

. Among his teachers were

Allameh Tabatabaei Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i or Sayyid Mohammad Hossein Tabataba'i (16 March 1903 – 15 November 1981) was an Iranian scholar, theorist, philosopher and one of the most prominent thinkers of modern Shia Islam. He is perhaps best known for his '' ...

Morteza Motahhari Morteza Motahhari ( fa, مرتضی مطهری, also Romanized as "Mortezā Motahharī"; 31 January 1919 – 1 May 1979) was an Iranian Twelver Shia scholar, philosopher, lecturer. Motahhari is considered to have an important influence on th ...

Ruhollah 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 ...

, Ayatollah Araki and Golpaygani. He is author of more than 10 books and is currently teaching Philosophy and religion in

Qom Seminary The Qom Seminary () is the largest Islamic seminary (''hawza'') in Iran, established in 1922 by Grand Ayatollah Abdul-Karim Haeri Yazdi in Qom. It trains Usuli scholars. History Although big Shi'a academies existed in Qom dating back as early ...

Political career

Before 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 ...

, Zanjani was a pro-democracy activist. In 1972, he was arrested and spent a year in prison. After the revolution, he was involved in the launching of the Islamic Republican Party. Zanjani was also a member of the committee to reassess the

Iranian constitution The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran ( fa, قانون اساسی جمهوری اسلامی ایران, ''Qanun-e Asasi-ye Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Iran'') was adopted by referendum on 2 and 3 December 1979, and went into force replac ...

. He was elected three times to

Iranian parliament The Islamic Consultative Assembly ( fa, مجلس شورای اسلامی, Majles-e Showrā-ye Eslāmī), also called the Iranian Parliament, the Iranian Majles (Arabicised spelling Majlis) or ICA, is the national legislative body of Iran. The P ...

where he represented the city of Zanjan. Grand Ayatollah Zanjani was among the influential clerics who supported ex-prime minister Mousavi and questioned the legitimacy of

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ( fa, محمود احمدی‌نژاد, Mahmūd Ahmadīnežād ), born Mahmoud Sabbaghian ( fa, محمود صباغیان, Mahmoud Sabbāghyān, 28 October 1956),

's presidency. In September 2022, following the

death of Mahsa Amini On 16 September 2022, the 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, also known as Jina Amini,; ku, ژینا ئەمینی, Jîna Emînî died in a hospital in Tehran, Iran, under suspicious circumstances. The Guidance Patrol, the religious mor ...

in the custody of the

Guidance Patrol The Guidance Patrol ( fa, گشت ارشاد, translit=gašt-e eršād) or morality police is a vice squad / Islamic religious police in the Law Enforcement Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran, established in 2005 with the task of arresting ...

, Zanjani said that the Guidance Patrol is “not only an illegal and anti-Islamic body, but also illogical. No part of our country’s laws assigns any mission or responsibility to this vigilante force,” and accused it of committing “repression and immoral acts.”Senior ayatollahs say Iran's morality police are 'illegal and un-Islamic' - Telegraph
/ref>

References

External links

Grand Ayatollah Bayat-Zanjani's official website
(in Persian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayat-Zanjani, Asadollah Iranian reformists Living people People from Zanjan, Iran 1941 births Association of Combatant Clerics politicians Deputies of Mah Neshan and Ijrud Deputies of Zanjan and Tarom Members of the 1st Islamic Consultative Assembly Members of the 2nd Islamic Consultative Assembly Members of the 3rd Islamic Consultative Assembly Second Deputies of Islamic Consultative Assembly Assembly of Qom Seminary Scholars and Researchers members Qom Seminary alumni 20th-century Iranian people 21st-century Iranian people