Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi

Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi (Arabic: محمد تقي المدرسي‎) (born 1945, in Karbala, Iraq) is a Grand Iraqi jurist marja', and described as the 'second most senior cleric after Sistani’.^[1]

Al-Modarresi is the author of over 400 books on matters of theology, historiography, jurisprudence, philosophy, logic, and well as social science. He is considered to be one of the most influential Shi’i Marja living in Iraq, junior only to Ali al-Sistani .

Early years

Al-Modarresi was born into a distinguished religious family in Karbala in Iraq. His uncle and leading influence is Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Mohammad al-Husayni al-Shirazi, who was one of the most important political ideologues in Shia Islam in the 20th century. Despite his supporters being referred to as the "Shiraziyyin", he adopts a more inclusive approach and has developed a school of thought largely distinct from the Shirazi movement. In the 1970s Al-Modarresi along with other members of his family were forced to leave Iraq to escape Baathist repression. Al-Modarresi settled first in Kuwait and then, after the Islamic Revolution, in Iran.

Islamic Action Organization

In his youth and while the Ba'th regime in Iraq was involved in violent repression, Al-Modaressi led the Islamic Action Organization (also known as Islamic Amal). The Organization was conceived of as a ‘revolutionary avant-guard’^[2] to resist the Ba'thist regime in Iraq. It was active in anti-regime activities in Iraq in the 1980s.^[3]

Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq

The Islamic Action Organization under Al-Modarresi’s leadership was one of the founder groups of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, an attempt to bring together Iraqi Shia factions under one leadership.

Return to Iraq

Arrest by Coalition forces

With the overthrow of Saddam Hussein by American-led forces in 2003, Al-Modarresi along with other clerics returned to Iraq. On his return to Iraq on 22 April 2003, Al-Modarresi was kidnapped along with his entourage by the People's Mujahedin of Iran terror group. After 48 hours of intense diplomacy and international outcry, al-Modarresi was handed over to the US military. He was immediately in an undisclosed location.^[4]

Iraqi politics

The Islamic Action Organization became an Iraqi Shia Islamist political party with Al-Modaressi not taking a direct role, but remaining as a guide. The party contested the Iraq 2005 general election as was part of the National Iraqi Alliance of pro-Iranian Shia Islamist parties including SCIRI, the Islamic Dawa Party and the Iraqi National Congress. In 2006, the Islamic Action Organization had one minister in government, State Minister for Civil Society Affairs, Adil al-Asadi.^[5]

Karbala

Al-Modarresi oversees the seminary in the holy Shia city of Karbala. Ayatullah Modarresi is the founder of several dozen seminaries, institutions and centers of worship, including the Ahlul Bayt Mosque in Brooklyn, New York.

Juristically, he has favored a democratic system of government in Iraq. In a television interview following his return to his native city in 2003, he publicly spoke of the "harassment" that his followers had faced while exiled in Iran.^[6] In an interview with PBS in 2004 al-Modarresi affirmed his commitment to a democratically elected government for the new Iraq, stating that he had derived this from "the true interpretation of Islam.. which says, "Religion shall not be imposed ... Reason emerges from the unknown." He also stated that he had traveled to Europe and America, and that he believed "democracy would solve many of the problems" in the Middle East.^[7]

Theologically, he is also opposed to some of Khomeini's ideas, such as Wahdat-ul-Wujood.^[8]

Vatican Religious Leaders Summit

In December, 2014, al-Modarresi was invited by the Pope to attend a summit of world religious leaders at the Vatican.^[9] He is the first Shi'a Grand Ayatollah to have met a Roman Catholic Pope.^[10] In his speech, the Grand Ayatollah asked world religious leaders to "engage in a symbiosis of civilizations and religions", and said:

"At its core, divine religion is one, but failure to understand religion has divided human beings and created barriers between us.. We must exert extra effort to tear down those barriers and join religions under the umbrella of a common term.. We have a calling to love one another.. to protect the environment, to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and to end slavery in all its forms."

See also

List of marjas

References

External links

• Official Website
• English Biography