Abd al-Karim Hairi Yazdi
(d. 1936)Prominent Shii cleric, responsible for the importance of Qom as a center of Shii learning after 1921. Founded Hawzah-yi Ilmiyah Seminary. Taught that Shiis could follow more than one marja ...
Ḥawzah
In the Shīʿī shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq and Qom, Iran, ḥawzah denotes a community of learning that encompasses circles of study, scholarly activities, and social bonds. ...
Ḥosayn Borujerdi
Ḥosayn Ṭabāṭabāʿī Borujerdi (also rendered Ḥusayn Ṭabāṭabāʿī Burūjirdī) (1875–1961),was a Shīʿī jurisprudent and seminary director who was the sole marjaʿ al-taqlīd (source of emulation) for all ...
Imāmzādah
A shrine-tomb of a male descendant of a Shii imam is reverently accorded this title to indicate the love for the household of the Prophet Muhammad among the Shiis. Centers of popular Shii devotion ...
Marja al-Taqlid
Authority to be followed. Highest-ranking authorities of Twelver Shii community, who execute shariah. The term is usually applied to between four and eight high-ranking jurists (ayatollahs) locally ...
Mashhad
(1) Gravesites of Twelver Shii imams. All twelve imams were either murdered, persecuted, or poisoned, rendering them all martyrs. Their tombs have become sites of annual pilgrimage for Shiis. Shiis ...
Mutahhari, Murtaza
(d. 1979)Iranian religious scholar and writer, one of the closest associates of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (d. 1989). Studied jurisprudence in Qom, where he met Khomeini and Muhammad Husayn ...
Ruḥ Allah Khumayni
(1902–89).Religious leader among Ithna ʿAshariyya (Twelver) Shiʿite Muslims, and figurehead of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. He was born in Khumayn and followed a path of Islamic education in ...
Ruhollah Khomeini
(1900–89)Iranian Shiite Muslim leader. After 16 years in exile he returned to Iran in 1979 to lead an Islamic revolution which overthrew the shah. He established a fundamentalist Islamic republic, ...
Shia
One of the two main branches of Islam, followed especially in Iran, that rejects the first three Sunni caliphs and regards Ali, the fourth caliph, as Muhammad's first true successor. Adherents are ...
Ziyarah
Visitation. Refers to visiting gravesites for the purpose of praying for the dead or visiting the tombs of holy people (saints), seeking blessings. Rituals require that one should turn toward the ...
