Habibollah Ashouri ( fa, حبیب‌الله آشوری) was an Iranian

Shia cleric In Shi'a Islam the guidance of clergy and keeping such a structure holds a great importance. The clergy structure depends on the branch of Shi'ism is being referred to. Twelver Usooli and Akhbari Shia Twelver Muslims believe that the study ...

and

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

Mehdi Khalaji Mehdi Khalaji ( fa, مهدی خلجی, born 21 September 1973) is an Iranian-American writer, scholar of Islamic studies, political analyst and a former Shia cleric. He has been researching at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy since ...

states that before

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 ...

, Ashouri was in the inner circle of

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 ...

Mashhad Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the List of Iranian cities by population, 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 R ...

but the two broke up after Ashouri wrote an essay on Monotheism (''

Tawhid Tawhid ( ar, , ', meaning "unification of God in Islam ( Allāh)"; also romanized as ''Tawheed'', ''Tawhid'', ''Tauheed'' or ''Tevhid'') is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam. Tawhid is the religion's central and single ...

'') and Khamenei stated that the essay had plagiarized his lectures. According to Khalaji, the essay used theological principles for elaborating an Islamic vision of

classless society The term classless society refers to a society in which no one is born into a social class. Distinctions of wealth, income, education, culture, or social network might arise and would only be determined by individual experience and achievement ...

. Ashouri was accused of "

apostasy Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that i ...

" and subsequently executed in 1981. One of his charges was his heretical beliefs as reflected in ''Tawhid'' essay. According to James A. Bill, he was among "the clerics of moderate persuasion hohad become the targets of the extremist right".

References

1981 deaths Iranian Shia clerics Iranian revolutionaries 20th-century executions by Iran {{Iran-bio-stub