Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom (جامعهٔ مدرسین حوزهٔ علمیهٔ قم), was founded 1961 by the leading Shi'a clerics of Qom. It was founded in the aftermath of the passing of marja' Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi to organize religious teachings in the seminaries, and expand the religious teachings in Iran. Since the 1979 revolution, it has become the body to keep the regime's registrar of who counts as a marja', a grand ayatollah, an ayatollah and a hojjatoleslam. Its head is appointed by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. It currently heads the Supreme Council of Qom Hawzas, and proposes judges to the judiciary system. The body gained international prominence when it announced in 1981 that Ayatollah Shariatmadati was no longer a source of emulation (marja'). It has demoted a number of clerics over the last three decades.[1] A recent case was that of Ayatollah Yousef Saanei who for his solidarity with the green movement was demoted from marja' to hojjatoleslam. The Society also does not include Ayatollah Sistani on its list.
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Its founders comprising (none of them were Ayatollah at that time):
Its current members include among others:
The Society approves a list of marjas in Qom. In 1963 the Society declared Ayatollah Khomeini as marja. In 1994, after the death of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Araki, the Society nominated seven of the Ulama as his succeeders to be Marja including Ayatollah Khamenei .