Mohammad Yazdi ( fa, محمد یزدی, 2 July 1931 – 9 December 2020) was an

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

and

principlist Principlism is an applied ethics approach to the examination of moral dilemmas that is based upon the application of certain ethical principles. This approach to ethical decision-making has been adopted enthusiastically in many different professio ...

cleric who served as the head of Judiciary System of Iran between 1989 and 1999. In 2015, he was elected to lead Iran's Assembly of Experts, defeating

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ( fa, اکبر هاشمی رفسنجانی, Akbar Hāshemī Rafsanjānī, born Akbar Hashemi Bahramani, 25 August 1934 – 8 January 2017) was an Iranian politician, writer, and one of the founding fathers of the Islami ...

, a former president, by a vote count of 47 to 24.

Early life

Mohammad Yazdi was born in 1931 to a religious family at

Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...

. Sheikh Ali Yazdi, his father, was a student of Sheikh Abdul Karim Haeri and at one of the Isfahan mosques as chief mullah for

Friday prayers In Islam, Friday prayer or Congregational prayer ( ar, صَلَاة ٱلْجُمُعَة, ') is a prayer ('' ṣalāt'') that Muslims hold every Friday, after noon instead of the Zuhr prayer. Muslims ordinarily pray five times each day according ...

and ceremonies investigated the people's problems.

Education

At first, Ayatollah Yazdi learned

Persian language Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and ...

from his father and then went to Maktab. Also he departed to newly founded school to continue his education. When he went to Qom, he resided at the

Feyziyeh School Feyziyya School ( fa, مدرسه فیضیه) is an old school in Iran that was founded in the Safavid era. The school has been listed as one of Iran's national monuments as of January 29, 2008. The school served as a focal point for clerical oppos ...

and learned religious courses from scholars such as

Mohammad Ali Araki , location = , Title = Grand Ayatollah , Period = , Predecessor = , Successor = , ordination = , post = , birth_date = , birth_place = Arak, Iran , death_date = , death_place = Qom, Ira ...

Ayatollah Ayatollah ( ; fa, آیت‌الله, āyatollāh) is an Title of honor, 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 ...

Sheikh Muhammad Taqi Amoli, Ayatollah Shahroudi, Grand Ayatollah

Hossein Borujerdi Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Hossein Ali Tababataei Borujerdi ( Luri/ fa, آیت الله العظمی سید حسین طباطبایی بروجردی; 23 March 1875 – 30 March 1961) was a leading Iranian Shia Marja' in Iran from approximately 1947 ...

and

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 ...

Political career

Before victory of Iranian Revolution

Ayatollah Yazdi usually gave the lectures at mosques and house of scholars. Also he taught

Morality Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of cond ...

course at the Feyziyeh School and discussed politic subjects. Mohammad Yazdi was exiled by

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 ...

many times to

Bandar Lengeh Bandar Lengeh ( fa, بندرلنگه, also Romanized as Bandar-e Lengeh, Bandar-e-Langeh and Bandar Langeh; also known simply as Lengeh, Linja, Linjah or Lingah) is a harbour city and capital of Bandar Lengeh County, in Hormozgan province of ...

Bushehr Bushehr, Booshehr or Bushire ( fa, بوشهر ; also romanised as ''Būshehr'', ''Bouchehr'', ''Buschir'' and ''Busehr''), also known as Bandar Bushehr ( fa, ; also romanised as ''Bandar Būshehr'' and ''Bandar-e Būshehr''), previously Antioc ...

and

Rudbar Rudbar ( fa, رودبار, Rudbār) ( Gilaki:, ''rubâr'') is a city and capital of Rudbar County, Gilan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 11,454, in 3,303 families. Rudbar is from Tehran and with a variable climate. It is ...

After victory of Iranian Revolution

After Ayatollah Khamenei became leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Yazdi served as the president of the Supreme Court. He remained in the post for many years before being replaced by Muhammad Hashemi Shahroudi. Yazdi was a member of the Assembly of Experts and the

Guardian Council The Guardian Council, (also called Council of Guardians or Constitutional Council, fa, شورای نگهبان, Shourā-ye Negahbān) is an appointed and constitutionally mandated 12-member council that wields considerable power and influence i ...

. He served as the interim Friday prayer leader of

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 ...

. This is some of the political career of Ayatollah Yazdi after The Islamic Revolution as follows: *Management of Imam Khomeini's Office in Qom *Member of the dispute resolution council between

Mohammad-Ali Rajai Mohammad-Ali Rajai ( fa, محمدعلی رجائی; 15 June 1933 – 30 August 1981) was the second president of Iran from 2 to 30 August 1981 after serving as prime minister under Abolhassan Banisadr. He was also minister of foreign affairs fro ...

and

Abolhassan Banisadr Seyyed Abolhassan Banisadr ( fa, سید ابوالحسن بنی‌صدر; 22 March 1933 – 9 October 2021) was an Iranian politician, writer, and political dissident. He was the first president of Iran after the 1979 Iranian Revolution abolis ...

*Member of the Assembly of Experts constitution in 1979 *Temporary Tehran's Friday Prayer Imam, 1982 to late 1990s *

Chief Justice of Iran The Chief Justice of Iran is the head of the Judicial system of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Head of Judiciary) and is responsible for its administration and supervision. The head of the judiciary of Iran is required to be an "honorable man" acc ...

1989 to 1999 *Member of the Assembly of Experts, 1991 to 2016 *Member of

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 ...

from 1980 to 1988 in Qom and Tehran *Vice chairman of Iranian Parliament in the first and second periods *Member of

in the periods of the second, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh *One of the founders and secretary of

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 ...

Political views

United States

In the run-up to the February 2016 elections, Yazdi opposed bilateral relations with the United States. In the popular election held in February 2016 for Assembly of Experts candidates, incumbent Chairman Yazdi was not among the 16 experts who received enough votes to represent Tehran in the Fifth Assembly of Experts. Many western media outlets pointed to Yazdi's exit from the Assembly when providing and emphasizing the gains that reformists made in the 2016 elections. In a speech congratulating those elected to the Fifth Assembly of Experts, Yazdi advocated for peaceful, moderate relations with other countries, but went on to warn about dealing with enemies and characterized America as " The Great Satan". Two days later,

Fars News Agency The Fars News Agency is a news agency in Iran managed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an armed wing loyal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. While it describes itself as "Iran's leading independent news agency", it is widely descr ...

reported the Supreme Leader

Ayatollah 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 ...

lamented the Assembly's loss of Yazdi as Chairman and warned of the risk that the West could influence or infiltrate Iran. As of 9 May 2016, Yazdi remained on the Guardian Council, which vets potential candidates for the Assembly of Experts. During Yazdi's tenure on the Guardian Council, human-rights organizations have criticized the Guardian Council's disqualification of reform candidates in the 2016 elections.

Sanctions

In February 2020, the

U.S. Treasury Department The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

sanctioned Yazdi for "preventing free and fair elections in Iran."

Work

Ayatollah Yazdi authored several books in English and Persian such as, ''Your missing'', ''Answers of Mardooq's accusations'' and ''Imamah in

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...

Islam''.

Death

Yazdi died on 9 December 2020. He was buried in Qom later that day.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yazdi, Mohammad 1931 births 2020 deaths Iranian ayatollahs Combatant Clergy Association politicians Members of the Guardian Council Chief justices of Iran Deputies of Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr Members of the 2nd Islamic Consultative Assembly Members of the 1st Islamic Consultative Assembly First Deputies of Islamic Consultative Assembly Second Deputies of Islamic Consultative Assembly Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom members Islamic Republican Party politicians Members of the Assembly of Experts for Constitution Speakers of the Assembly of Experts Shia clerics from Isfahan Iranian individuals subject to the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions