Bashir Najafi (Ayatollah)
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| Ayatollah Bashir al-Najafi | |
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| Born | 1942 Jalandhar, India |
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| Religious beliefs | Usuli Twelver Shia Islam |
| Website Official Website |
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Ayatollah Bashir al-Najafi (Arabic: آية الله بشير النجفي) (born 1942) is one of the four Grand Ayatollahs in Iraq. He was born in Jalandhar, a city in India. After the division of British India in 1947, his family moved to Pakistan and settled in the city of Gujranwala. In Gujranwala he had his initial education in religion. He was then able to move to Iraq for studies in the early 1960s. During his time in Iraq, he was classmate to now Ayatollah of Lebanon. He is one of many individuals from Indo-Pak Subcontinent to have ever been elevated to the highest rank of Ayatollah in Shia Islam. He was one year junior to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. Al Najafi could be a possible successor to Sistani, who has undergone two heart bypass surgeries in London in less than five years, if he passes away.
Al Najafi was attacked on 6 January 1999 by a group of armed men, reportedly members of Fedayeen Saddam, while he and members of his seminary were performing religious duties. The attack, which included use of a hand grenade, resulted in the death of three persons and injury to a number of members of the seminary, including the Grand Ayatollah.
