Ayatollah Ayatollah ( ; fa, آیت‌الله, āyatollāh) is an honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy in Iran and Iraq that came into widespread usage in the 20th century. Etymology The title is originally derived from Arabic word p ...

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 Muhamma ...

Hussein al-Husayni al-Shirazi (; fa, ; ) is an Iraqi-Iranian

Twelver Twelver Shīʿīsm ( ar, ٱثْنَا عَشَرِيَّة; '), also known as Imāmīyyah ( ar, إِمَامِيَّة), is the largest branch of Shīʿa Islam, comprising about 85 percent of all Shīʿa Muslims. The term ''Twelver'' refers t ...

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, mo ...

cleric. He is a son of

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 ...

Sadiq al-Shirazi Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Sadiq al-Husayni al-Shirazi ( ar, صادق الحسيني الشيرازي; fa, سید صادق حسینی شیرازی; born August 20, 1942) is an Iraqi-Iranian Shia marja'. He hails from an influential transnational c ...

. He is currently the head of his father's office and is residing in Qom,

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 ...

Early life and education

Hussein al-Shirazi was born in Karbala, to Sadiq al-Shirazi, a Shia marja', and Siddiqa Thabit, the daughter of Muhammad Thabit, a cleric and orator. A year after his birth, his family were exiled from

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 the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

, and settled in

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

. Ten years later, they migrated to

, and settled in Qom. al-Shirazi began his religious education at an early stage, and studied under his uncle, Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad al-Shirazi, and his father. He also studied under Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad-Sadiq al-Rohani.

Clashes with Iran

Arrest

Hussein al-Shirazi was forcefully arrested by police in Qom on March 6, 2018. The reasons for his arrest was because he was critical of Velayat Faqih and Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei in a lecture he gave in Qom. In his lecture, he compared Khamenei to the Pharaoh of Egypt. His arrest sparked outrage from the followers of his father, and as a result of this it led to protests in London, Kuwait and Iraq. In London, protestors–linked to the controversial cleric,

Yasser al-Habib Sheikh Yasser al-Habib ( ar, ياسر الحبيب born 20 January 1979) is a Kuwaiti Twelver Shia scholar, and the head of the London-based Khoddam Al-Mahdi Organization, as well as Al-Muhassin mosque in Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, and the writer ...

–managed to climb onto the balcony of the Iranian Embassy, waving their flags and chanting anti-Khamenei and Islamic Republic slogans. The protestors who climbed the balcony and replaced the flag of Iran with the blue flag of al-Habib's organisation (Servants of Imam Mahdi), were arrested. Nobody was hurt during the protests in the embassy.

Protests aftermath

Iranian Ambassador to United Kingdom, Hamid Baeidinejad tweeted that the assailants belonged to the "Shirazi Cult", and that the staff in the embassy were well and not harmed. The current

Prosecutor-General of Iran The prosecutor-general of Iran (or attorney-general), in the judicial system of Iran, is a "just '' mujtahid''" appointed by the head of the judiciary in consultation with the judges of the Supreme Court to serve for a period of five years. T ...

Mohammad Jafar Montazeri Mohammad Jafar Montazeri ( fa, محمدجعفر منتظری; born 1949 in Qom) is an Iranian cleric and judge and the current attorney-general of Iran since 1 April 2016. He was previously head of Iran's Administrative Justice Court and Specia ...

warned that the country's

Judicial system The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

will take "any legal action against the supports of al-Shirazi's father, and during an Iranian State TV (

IRIB The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB; fa, صدا و سيمای جمهوری اسلامی ايران, ''Sedā va Sīmā-ye Jomhūri-ye Eslāmi-ye Īrān'', , formerly called National Iranian Radio and Television until the Iranian rev ...

) interview claimed that the Shirazi sect is causing fitna amongst Muslim Sects."

Release

After 13 days of being arrested, Hussein al-Shirazi was released from prison, on bail.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shirazi, Hussein Iraqi people of Iranian descent Living people 1970 births Iranian ayatollahs Iraqi ayatollahs