Hussein-Ali Montazeri | |
---|---|
Deputy Supreme Leader of Iran | |
In office 10 November 1985 – 13 March 1989 |
|
Supreme Leader | Ruhollah Khomeini |
Tehran's Friday Prayer Imam | |
In office 12 September 1979 – 14 January 1980 |
|
Appointed by | Ruhollah Khomeini |
Preceded by | Mahmoud Taleghani |
Succeeded by | Ali Khamenei |
Chairman of the Assembly of Experts for Constitution | |
In office 19 August 1979 – 15 November 1979 |
|
Preceded by | Position created |
Succeeded by | Position abolished |
Member of the Assembly of Experts for Constitution | |
In office 15 August 1979 – 15 November 1979 |
|
Constituency | Tehran Province |
Majority | 1,672,980 (66.24%) |
Personal details | |
Born |
Najafabad, Iran |
22 September 1922
Died | 19 December 2009 Qom, Iran |
(aged 87)
Resting place | Fatima Masumeh Shrine |
Nationality | Iranian |
Political party | Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom |
Spouse(s) | Mah-Sultan Rabbani (m. 1942–2009) |
Children | 3 - Ahmad Montazeri (son) |
Theological work | |
Religion | Islam |
Denomination | Twelver Shīʿā |
School | Jaʿfari |
Main interests | Fiqh, Irfan, Islamic philosophy, Islamic ethics, Hadith |
Notable ideas | Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, Islamic democracy |
Years active | 1934–2009 |
Alma mater | Qom Seminary |
Taught at |
Qom Seminary Feyziyeh Seminary |
Influenced by
|
Hussein-Ali Montazeri (22 September 1922 – 19 December 2009; Persian: حسینعلی منتظری, pronunciation ) was an Iranian Shia Islamic theologian, Islamic democracy advocate, writer and human rights activist. He was one of the leaders of the Iranian Revolution in 1979. He was once the designated successor to the revolution's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, with whom he had a falling-out in 1989 over government policies that Montazeri claimed infringed on people's freedom and denied them their rights. Montazeri spent his later years in Qom, and remained politically influential in Iran, especially to the reformist movement. He was widely known as the most knowledgeable senior Islamic scholar in Iran and a Grand Marja (religious authority) of Shia Islam.
For more than two decades, Hussein-Ali Montazeri was one of the main critics of the Islamic Republic's domestic and foreign policy. He had also been an active advocate of Baha'i rights, civil rights and women's rights in Iran. Montazeri was a prolific writer of books and articles. He was a staunch proponent of an Islamic state, and he argued that post-revolutionary Iran was not being ruled as an Islamic state.