Portal:Shia Islam/Selected biography
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Selected biographies list[edit]
Portal:Shia Islam/Selected biography/1
Ali Hosseini Khamenei (Persian: علی حسینی خامنهای; born 17 July 1939) is the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran and a Muslim cleric. Ali Khamenei succeeded Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Iranian Revolution, after Khomeini's death, being elected as the new Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts on 4 June 1989. He had also served as the President of Iran from 1981 to 1989. In 2012, 2013, and 2014 Forbes selected him 21st, 23rd, and 19th respectively in the list of The World's Most Powerful People. Khamenei is head of state, and is considered the most powerful political authority in Iran.
Portal:Shia Islam/Selected biography/2
Ali Husayni Sistani (Arabic: علي الحسيني السيستاني), born August 4, 1930, is an Iraqi Usuli marja in Iraq and the head of many of the seminaries (Hawzahs) in Najaf. Sistani was born in 1930 to a family of religious clerics, his father was Muhammad Baqir al-Sistani. Sistani himself claims to have been born in Mashhad, Iran, then moved to Mashhad as a child due to Iran not issuing birth certificates in its eastern provinces until decades later.
After doing studies in Mashhad and Qom, In 1951, he traveled to Iraq to study in Najaf under Grand Ayatollah Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei. Sistani rose to the Usooli clerical rank of 'mujtahid' in 1960. When Grand Ayatollah Khoei died in 1992, Sistani ascended to the rank of Grand Ayatollah through traditional peer recognition of his scholarship. His role as successor to Khoei was symbolically cemented when he led funeral prayers for Khoei; he also inherited Khoei's network and following.
Portal:Shia Islam/Selected biography/3
Sheikh Abdul Amir al-Jamri (Arabic: شيخ عبدالأمير الجمري; 1 March 1938 – 18 December 2006) was one of the most prominent Shia clerics and opposition leaders in Bahrain. He was also a writer and a poet. Born in the village of Bani Jamra, al-Jamri became a Hussaini khatib (Shia preacher) after finishing primary school. At the age of 21, he began his Islamic studies, first in Bahrain and later in the religious institute of Al Najaf, Iraq, where he remained for 11 years. He returned to Bahrain in 1973 and was elected to the newly formed parliament. The parliament was dissolved two years later by the Emir, Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa, after it had rejected the State Security Law. In 1977, al-Jamri was appointed as a judge at the High Religious Court of Bahrain. He held the position until 1988, when he was briefly arrested due to his criticism of the government. Al-Jamri is most notable for his role during the 1990s uprising in Bahrain. As the lead figure of the opposition, he succeeded in bringing Islamists, liberals and leftists together against the monarchy.
Portal:Shia Islam/Selected biography/4
Sayyid Sa‘eed Akhtar Rizvi (Urdu: سيد سعيد اختر رضوي) (1927-2002) was an Indian born, Twelver Shī‘ah scholar, who promoted Islam in East Africa. He was given authorizations (Arabic: اجازة) by fourteen Grand Ayatullahs for riwayah, Qazawah, and Umur-e-Hasbiyah. Rizvi was born in Ushri, Saran district, Bihar state, India, in 1927. His father was Sayyid Abul Hassan Rizvi and who was also a Maulana. He had five sons and two daughters. His second eldest son, Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi lives in Toronto, Canada. Sayyid Sa‘eed Akhtar Rizvi spoke Urdu, English, Arabic, Persian, Swahili and knew Hindi and Gujarati.
Portal:Shia Islam/Selected biography/5
Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah (Arabic: السيّد حسن نصرالله; born 31 August 1960) has been the third Secretary General of the Lebanese political and paramilitary organization Hezbollah since his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, was assassinated by the Israel Defense Forces in February 1992. Hezbollah has since been designated a terrorist organization, either wholly or in part, by the United States, European Union and other nations. Nasrallah is often referred to as "al-Sayyid Hassan" (السيّد حسن), the honorific "Sayyid" denoting descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandson Husain ibn Ali.
Portal:Shia Islam/Selected biography/6
Al-Shaykh al-Mufid (c. 948–1022 CE) was a prominent Twelver Shia theologian. He was the son of Muallim, hence the name Ibn Muallim. The title "al-Mufid" was given to him either by Muhammad al-Mahdi, the twelfth Shia Imam, or by al-Rummani, a Sunni scholar, after a conversation with him. The leader of the Shia community, he was a Mutikallim, theologian, and Shia jurist. His skill in polemical debate was such that he was said to be capable of convincing his opponents "that a wooden column was actually gold". He was taught by Al-Shaykh al-Saduq, Ibn Qulawayh, Abu Abdallah al-Basri and al-Rummani, and Sharif al-Murtaza and Shaykh Tusi were among his students. Only 10 of his 200 works have survived, among which are Amali, Al-Irshad, Al-Muqni'ah, and Tashih al-Itiqadat.
Portal:Shia Islam/Selected biography/7
Nimr Baqir al-Nimr (Arabic: نمر باقر النمر) (21 June 1959 – 2 January 2016) commonly referred to as Sheikh Nimr, was a Shia Sheikh in al-Awamiyah in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province whose arrest and execution created diplomatic tension between Shia and Sunni governments. He was popular among youth and critical of the Saudi Arabian government, calling for free elections in Saudi Arabia. He was arrested by Saudi authorities in 2006, at which time al-Nimr said he was beaten by the Mabahith. In 2009, he criticised Saudi authorities and suggested that if Saudi Shia rights were not respected, the Eastern Province should secede. Saudi authorities responded by arresting al-Nimr and 35 others. During the 2011–12 Saudi Arabian protests, al-Nimr called for protestors to resist police bullets using "the roar of the word" rather than violence. On 8 July 2012 Saudi police shot al-Nimr in the leg and arrested him in what police described as an "exchange of gunfire." On 15 October 2014 al-Nimr was sentenced to death by the Specialized Criminal Court for "seeking 'foreign meddling' in Saudi Arabia, 'disobeying' its rulers and taking up arms against the security forces." Al-Nimr was executed on or shortly before 2 January 2016, along with 46 others. His execution was condemned by Iran and Shiites throughout the Middle East, as well as by Western figures and Sunnis opposed to sectarianism. The Saudi government said the body would not be handed over to the family.
Portal:Shia Islam/Selected biography/8
Musa as-Sadr (Persian: امام موسى صدر, Arabic: السيد موسى الصدر, also Musā-ye Sader, Imam Moussa Sadr and Moussa Sadr; 4 June 1928 – disappeared in Libya on 31 August 1978) was an Iranian-Lebanese philosopher and Shi'a religious leader who went missing in Libya. Many theories exist around the circumstances of his disappearance, none of which have been proven. Due to the lasting influence of his political and religious leadership in Lebanon, he has been referred to by Fouad Ajami as a "towering figure in modern Shi'i political thought and praxis." He gave the Shia population of Lebanon "a sense of community". He was born in Iran and his seminar and university studies there. Then he made trips to Najaf in Iraq and Lebanon. He finally sttled in Lebanon and founded the Movement of the Disinherited (Arabic: حركة المحرومين) to press for better economic and social conditions for the Shia. He established a number of schools and medical clinics throughout southern Lebanon, many of which are still in operation today. Imam Musa aṣ-Ṣadr is still regarded as an important political and spiritual leader by the Shia Lebanese community. His status only grew after his disappearance in August 1978, and today his legacy is revered by both Amal and Hezbollah followers.
Portal:Shia Islam/Selected biography/9
Seyyed Morteza Avini (Persian: سید مرتضی آوینی; also spelled Aviny; 23 September 1947 – 9 April 1993) was an Iranian documentary filmmaker, photographer, author, and theoretician of "Islamic Cinema." He studied architecture at Tehran University in 1965. During the Iranian Revolution, Avini started his artistic career as a director of documentary films, and is considered a prominent war filmmaker. He made over 80 films on the Iran–Iraq War. According to Agnes Devictor, Avini invented original cinematography methods, depicting the esoteric side of the Iran–Iraq war in terms of Shia mystical thought. Most of his work was devoted to reflecting how bassijis perceived the war and their role in it. His most famous work is the documentary series Ravayat-e Fath (Narration of Victory), which was filmed during the Iran–Iraq War. He was killed by a landmine explosion in 1993, while filming. He was described as a Shahid (martyr) after his death, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared him "the master of martyred literati" (Persian: سید شهیدان اهل قلم). The 20th day of Farvardin is entitled the day of "Islamic Revolution art" in his honor.
Portal:Shia Islam/Selected biography/10
Mohammad Kazem Khorasani or Akhund-e Khorasani (Persian: محمد کاظم خراسانی, (1839-1911)) was Twelver Shi'a Marja, politician, philosopher, reformer born in Mashhad. He's regarded as one of the most important Shia Mujtahid at the time. He was a lecturer at Najaf seminary for years and significant number of students from "different regions of the Muslim world" used to participate his lectures. His most famous work is The Sufficiency (Arabic: کفایه) where he gathered the jurispurdential ideas such as `continuity` and "presented them in a yet more rigorous fashion as a unified theory of jurisprudence." He is known for using his position as a marja for political use in the Persian Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911) where he was one of the main clerical supporters of the revolution. He believed that "constitutional form of government" would be the best possible choice in the absence of Imam and regarded the "Persian revolution" a Jihad ("holy war") in which all Muslims had to participate. He died "suddenly" and "mysteriously", when he aimed to leave Iraq for Iran in order against support constitutionalists' resistance to the Anglo-Russian invasion in 1911.