🔻 Ayatollah Shabiri Zanjani, a senior source of emulation in Iran, has died

🔻 Ayatollah Shabiri Zanjani, a senior source of emulation in Iran, has died

Iran’s official media have reported the death of Ayatollah Musa Shabiri Zanjani, a prominent Shiite source of emulation in the country.

Mr. Shabiri Zanjani, who was born in Esfand 1306 in Qom, was born in the city of Qom and came from a family with a clerical background. He began his seminary education in Qom in the Iranian year 1317. He also went to Najaf twice, after 1332, to study religious sciences.

In 1373, and after the death of Ayatollah Araki, the Assembly of Seminary Instructors in Qom introduced him as one of the 7 official sources of emulation. However, for a long time he did not accept this role and did not take steps to publish an explanatory manual of Islamic rulings (tawzih al-masa’il).

The name of this Shiite authority has not been heard in Iran in political and governmental matters except in a few cases. Among them, one can mention his mediation efforts to lift the confinement of Ayatollah Montazeri, through the mediation of his old friendship with Ali Khamenei, Iran’s former leader.

A few years ago, a meeting between Ayatollah Shabiri Zanjani and a group of prominent reformist figures, including Mohammad Khatami, became newsworthy.