Abbas Vaez Tabasi (; 25 June 1935 – 4 March 2016) was an influential Iranian cleric who held memberships at different institutions. He was Grand Imam and Chairman of the

Astan Quds Razavi Astan Quds Razavi () is a bonyad based at Mashhad, Iran. It is the administrative organization which manages the Imam Reza shrine and various institutions which belong to the organization. The administrative apparatus of Astan Quds Razavi is con ...

board from 1979 until his death in 2016.

Early life

Vaez Tabasi hailed from a family of Mashhadi origin. He was born on 25 June 1935. He began his education when he was only 12 years old in various seminaries.

Career

Vaez Tabasi was a member of

Islamic Republican Party The Islamic Republican Party (IRP; , also translated Islamic Republic Party) was formed in 1979 to assist the Iranian Revolution and Ayatollah Khomeini in their goal to establish theocracy in Iran. It was disbanded in 1987 due to internal confl ...

's central council, the

Expediency Discernment Council The Expediency Discernment Council of the System ( ''Majma'-e Tašxis-e Maslahat-e Nezâm'') is an administrative assembly of Iran appointed by the Supreme Leader of Iran, Supreme Leader and was created upon the revision to the Constitution of ...

and the

Assembly of Experts The Assembly of Experts (), 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 Leader of Iran. All directly elected members must first be vetted ...

of the

Islamic Republic of Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. He was also the head of the

. In

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, he was elected to the

to the surprise of some observers. However, he retired after declining to run in 2016 election. In May, 2008, Abbas Palizad made declarations at Shiraz Law University, and a few other institutes, alleging that Tabasi, alongside numerous other politicians, had been implicated in money laundering, illicit trade operations, and the establishment of an illicit underground network.

Personal life

Vaez Tabasi's daughter married

Supreme Leader A supreme leader or supreme ruler typically refers to powerful figures with an unchallenged authority, such as autocrats, dictators to spiritual and revolutionary leaders. Historic examples are Adolf Hitler () of Nazi Germany, Francisco ...

Khamenei Ali Hosseini Khamenei (; born 19 April 1939) is an Iranian cleric and politician who has served as the second supreme leader of Iran since 1989. He previously served as the third president from 1981 to 1989. Khamenei's tenure as Supreme Leader ...

's son, Sayyid Hassan.

Illness and death

On 2 November 2015, it was announced that he was suffering from cancer. On 27 February 2016, he was hospitalized due to respiratory complications. After a few days of hospitalization, Vaez died on 4 March. He died at the age of 80. Following his death, three days mourning was declared in

Khorasan province Khorasan ( ; also transcribed as Khurasan, Xorasan and Khorassan), also called Traxiane during Hellenistic and Parthian Empire, Parthian times, was a Provinces of Iran, province in northeastern Iran until September 2004, when it was divided in ...

. His funeral was held on the following day with Ali Khamenei and other officials like President

Hassan Rouhani Hassan Rouhani (; born Hassan Fereydoun, 12 November 1948) is an Iranian peoples, Iranian politician who served as the seventh president of Iran from 2013 to 2021. He is also a sharia lawyer ("Wakil"), academic, former diplomat and Islamic cl ...

attending the ceremony. He was buried at the

Imam Reza shrine The Imam Reza shrine (; ) is a Shi'ite shrine, imamzadeh and mausoleum complex, located in Mashhad, in the province of Razavi Khorasan, Iran. The shrine contains the grave of Ali al-Rida, who is regarded as the eighth Imam in Shia Islam. Als ...

. Following his death, all traces of his wealth vanished, leaving his family unable to assert any rights to his estate.

Revolutionary activities

Vaez Tabasi, Ali Khamenei and Syed Abdul Karim Hashemi Nejad were the core of clerics in Mashhad revolutionary activities revolving around the Holy shrine of

Imam Reza Ali al-Rida (, 1 January 766 – 6 June 818), also known as Abū al-Ḥasan al-Thānī, was a descendant of the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the eighth Twelve Imams, imam in Twelver Shi'ism, Twelver Shia Is ...

they managed. He was heavily influenced by the

Navvab Safavi Mojtaba Mir-Lohi (, 9 October 1924 – 18 January 1956), better known as Navvab Safavi (), was a Shia cleric of Pahlavi Iran and founder of the Fada'iyan-e Islam group. He played a role in assassinations of Abdolhossein Hazhir, Haj Ali Razma ...

during the years 1952 to 1955 in his speeches against the Pahlavi regime takeoff and the speech was prohibited again in 1955 and continued until the fall of the Pahlavi regime. Abbas Vaez Tabasi was first arrested in 1952 and was in

SAVAK The Bureau for Intelligence and Security of the State (), shortened to as SAVAK () or S.A.V.A.K. () was the secret police of the Imperial State of Iran. It was established in Tehran in 1957 by national security law. and continued to operate un ...

prison. Abbas Vaez Tabasi first in the year 1955

Mohammad-Javad Bahonar Mohammad-Javad Bahonar (, 5 September 1933 – 30 August 1981) was a Shia Iranian theologian and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Iran for less than one month in August 1981. Bahonar and other members of Mohammad-Ali Rajai's govern ...

Rafsanjan Rafsanjan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Rafsanjan County), Central District of Rafsanjan County, Kerman province, Kerman province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Demographics Population At the time o ...

was invited to give a speech at a ceremony to be met. Bahonar was speaking before a meeting with issues raised in speeches which were over. After the speech, he was banned from speech.

References

External links

1935 births 2016 deaths Iranian ayatollahs Iranian businesspeople Members of the Expediency Discernment Council Members of the Assembly of Experts Representatives of the supreme leader in the provinces of Iran Central Council of the Islamic Republican Party members Burials at Imam Reza Shrine {{Iran-politician-stub