Husain Borujerdi
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Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Husayn Borujerdi (آیت الله العظمی حسین بروجردی in Persian, 1875 – 1962) was a Shi'a Grand Ayatollah. His given name is of that of Husayn bin Ali, the third Imam and grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Seyyed is an honorific denoting descent from the prophet.
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[edit] Education and academic specialties
Borujerdi was born in the city of Borujerd in the province of Lorestan in Iran, hence the surname.
In his youth, Borujerdi studied under a number of Shi'ite masters of Islamic jurisprudence such as Mullah Khorasani and Aqa Zia Iraqi, and specialized in fiqh. He studied the fiqahat of all the Islamic schools of thought, not just his own, along with the science of rijal. Though he is known for citing masoomeen to support many of his deductions, Borujerdi is known for elucidating many aspects himself and is an influential fiqh jurist in his own right. He has had a strong influence on Islamic scholars like Morteza Motahhari and Ayatollah Shaikh Husain Muntadhar.
[edit] Tenure as Ayatollah and Marja
Borujerdi revived the hawza of Qom in 1945 (1364 AH), which had waned after the death in 1937 of its founder, Shaykh Abdul Karim Ha'iri. When Sayyid Abul Hassan Isfahani died the following year, the majority of Shi'a accepted Ayatullah Borujerdi as Marja'-e-Taqlid.
[edit] Efforts toward Islamic unity
Borujerdi was the first Marja' to look beyond Iraq and Iran. He sent Sayyid Muhaqqiqi to Hamburg, Germany, Aqa-e-Shari'at to Karachi, Pakistan, Al-Faqihi to Madinah and Sayyid Musa Sadr to Lebanon.
He established cordial relations with Shaykh Mahmud Shaltut, the grand Shaykh of Al-Azhar. Together, the two scholars established the "House for Bringing Muslim Sects Nearer" in Cairo. Shaltut issued a famous fatwa accepting the Shi'a faith as one of the recognised sects of Islam.
[edit] Political leanings
Ayatollah Borujerdi passively opposed the Pahlavi regime's agrarian reforms, which he called "agrarian destruction," as in his view, the confiscations of the Pahlavi shahs disrupted the fabric of rural life and eroded religious institutions.
He believed in the separation of church from state, even though he was Khomeini's senior in rank.
Borujerdi died in Qom on March 19, 1962.
