Yousef Saanei

Yousef Saanei
Yousef Saanei
Title	Grand Ayatollah
Born	1937 (age 79–80)
Ethnicity	Persian
Region	Middle East
Religion	Islam
Jurisprudence	Shia
Creed	Usuli
Political Party	Islamic Republican Party (1980s)
Main interest(s)	Politics, Jurisprudence, Marja'yah and Theology
Website	http://saanei.org/
Signature

Yousef Saanei (Persian: يوسف صانعى‎‎; born 1937) is an Iranian Twelver Shi'a cleric and politician, a chairman of the Islamic Republic of Iran's powerful Guardian Council from 1980-83.

Whether he is a Marja' (Grand Ayatollah) is disputed. His calls for radical political reform in Iran have been very controversial and in 2010 the government-sponsored "Qom Theological Lecturers Association" (Jame-e-Modarressin) declared him no longer qualified for emulation as a Grand Ayatollah. However, many of his followers continue to consider him their Marja, and this has been acknowledged by several influential Maraji such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Naser Makarem Shirazi, Abdul-Karim Mousavi Ardebili and Hossein Noori Hamedani.

Saanei was born in Neekabad, Isfahan Province, in 1937. He attended the Isfehan Seminary in 1946. Then he joined the Qom Seminary in 1951 and graduated in 1955, and was thus awarded the commendation of Grand Ayatollah Borujerdi. He was further educated by Grand Ayatollah Khomeini and other leading theologians.

In 1975, Saanei became a teacher at the Haghani School of Divinity. Later he became Grand Ayatollah. In 1980, he was appointed chairman of the Guardian Council. Saanei retired from the council in 1983 and has not held any political office since. According to the CBS GlobalPost, Saanei has been considered "the successor" of Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri and as "the spiritual leader" of the Iranian political opposition movement.

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