Abdul-Karim Haeri Yazdi

Abdul-Karim Haeri Yazdi عبدالکریم حائری یزدی
The founder of an important Islamic seminary (hawza) in Qom, Iran.
Religion	Shia Islam (Usuli Twelver)
Other names	Persian: عبدالکریم حائری یزدی‎‎
Personal
Born	1859 Meybod, Yazd
Died	30 January 1937
Senior posting
Title	Grand Ayatollah

Grand Ayatollah Hajj Sheikh Abdolkarim Haeri Yazdi (Persian: عبدالکریم حائری یزدی‎‎; Arabic: عبد الكريم الحائري اليزدي‎‎; ‘Abd al-Karī̄m al-Ḥa’irī̄ al-Yazdī̄) (1859 — 30 January 1937) was a Twelver Shia Muslim cleric and marja. He was known as the founder of an important Islamic seminary (hawza) in Qom, Iran, and for his "studied disinterest in politics". Among his students was Ruhollah Khomeini.

Haeri was born in the city of Meybod in Mehrjard village in southeastern Iran. He studied at Yazd, then at Samarra under Grand Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi, completed his training at Najaf with Mohammad-Kazem Khorasani and Muhammad Kazim Yazdi. In 1906, he reportedly became disenchanted with the politicization from the Iranian Constitutional Revolution and moved back to Najaf, Iraq. When Najaf became political, he moved to Karbala until political excitement cooled in 1913 when he moved back to Arak in Iran. By 1921, he was a "well-known and respected teacher" and "good administrator" and he accepted an invitation of Mullahs in Qom "to act as doyen" to the circles of learning in that Shrine town.