Grand Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi

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Grand Āyat-Allāh Mīrzā Hasan Shīrāzī (Sayyid Mirza Muhammad Hasan Shirazi) (Persian: آية الله میرزا حسن شیرازی) was a famous cleric in the History of Iran.

He is widely known for his fatwa against the usage of tobacco in what became known as the Tobacco Protest in the Qajar era.

He is not to be mistaken for Grand Ayatollah al-Shirazi and Ayatollah al-Udhma Muhammad Shirazi.

According to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting web site, he "was born in Shiraz on 1230 AH [1814-15 AD]. He began his studies in the age of 4 and he passed preliminaries in the age of 8." When he was 29 years old, he left Shiraz" to enter the classes of Sheikh Ansari in Najaf. "After Sheikh Ansari's death in 1281 AH (1864-65 AD), Shirazi became his successor" and served as a marja "for more than 30 years."

Among his notable students were Sayyed Mohammed Kazem Yazdi, Mulla Mohammad-Kazem Khorasani, Mirza Mohammad Taqi Shirazi (called as Mirza the second), Sheikh Sheikh Fazlollah Noori, and Mirza Ismael Shirazi. He died in Samarra at the age of 82 and his body is buried in Imam Ali (AS)'s holy shrine.^[1]