Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad al-Husayni al-Shirazi (; ; August 31, 1928 – December 17, 2001), commonly known as Imam Shirazi, was an Iranian-Iraqi Shia marja' and political activist.
Early life and education
al-Shirazi was born to Mirza Mahdi al-Shirazi and Halima al-Shirazi. Both of his parents are from the distinguished clerical al-Shirazi family that emigrated from Shiraz to Karbala in the 19th century. He is the first of ten children. All of his brothers are clerics, and Sadiq al-Shirazi is a marja'. His mother is the great-granddaughter of Mirza Shirazi, the pioneer of the Tobacco Movement. His nephew, Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi is also a marja'.
Education
He grew up and studied briefly in Najaf, and moved to Karbala with his father in 1937. He remained in Karbala studying in its seminary under his father, as well as prominent scholars like Sayyid Hossein Tabatabaei Qomi, Sayyid Muhammad-Hadi al-Milani, Sheikh Muhammad-Ridha al-Isfahani, Sayyid Zain al-Abiden al-Kashani and Sheikh Jafar al-Rashti. He was granted an ijaza by grand Ayatollah's Sayyid Muhsin al-Hakim; Sayyid Abd al-Hadi al-Shirazi; Sayyid Ahmed al-Khawansari to lead the seminary of Karbala after the death of his father, in 1961. al-Milani also announced al-Shirazi's capability to numerous notable figures, including Agha Bozorg al-Tehrani who mentions this in his Tabaqat al-A'lam.
Base in Kuwait
In 1971, he was exiled to Lebanon by the Baathist regime. From Lebanon, al-Shirazi travelled to Kuwait, where he settled for nine years. After his nephews joined, al-Shirazi turned Kuwait into the base of Shiite scholarship.
At the time Al-Shirazi came into conflict with other prominent Shia religious figures in Najaf. The most prominent Shia religious leader of the time, Grand Ayatollah Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei, sought to dismiss Al-Shirazi's status as a scholar.
Through personal charisma and intellectual arguments, al-Shirazi built up a large following in Kuwait and Iraq. His followers became known as the 'Shiraziyyin' and tended to be critical of existing Shi'i religious establishments.
Theory of clerical rule
al-Shirazi was a leading Islamist political theorist and devised the Hukumat al-Fuqaha' principle of theocratic rule. According to Cambridge University's Toby Matthiesen: "The political theory of Muhammad al-Shirazi and the MVM [Movement of Vanguard Missions] was quite close to Khomeini’s notion of velayet-e faqih (the guardianship of the jurisprudent), although al-Shirazi favored the theory that not a single cleric, but a council of scholars should govern the Islamic State (hukumat al-fuqaha’/shurat al-fuqaha’)."
Under al-Shirazi's theory government would be in the form of a 'Consultative System of Leadership' composed of senior clerics, and he called for the establishment of the 'Leadership Council of Religious Authorities'. He argued for the establishment of a Universal Islamic Government to encompass all the Muslim countries run in accordance with Hukumat al-Fuqaha'.
Iranian Revolution
After the Islamic revolution, al-Shirazi moved to Qom. al-Shirazi was initially an important figure within Iran's Islamic Republic with his supporters in key roles within the Iranian state in the 1980s. He was the spiritual guide of the Movement of Vanguard Missionaries, an umbrella group for Iran-based Islamist paramilitaries that included military groups like the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain. Iran maintained support for these paramilitaries in the 1980s through the Office of Liberation Movements, part of the Revolutionary Guards. The Movement of Vanguard Missionaries operated as a military organisation and it was active in Bahrain and Iraq.
He has been critical of the Iranian government.
Iran power struggle
Grand Ayatollah Al-Shirazi expected a bigger role in the Islamic Revolution and this was a point of tension between him and Grand Ayatollah Khomeini. In addition, Al-Shirazi believed he was the senior cleric to Khomeini, as both competed for the position of marja al-taqlid. As the revolution progressed Al-Shirazi fell out with Ayatollah Khomeini and particularly his successor, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Movement of Vanguard Missionaries was close to radicals in the Iranian government within the Revolutionary Guards. As the radicals were increasingly sidelined by the more moderate Sayyid ‘Ali Khamenei and ‘Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Al-Shirazi's influence waned. Al-Shirazi was highly critical of Khamenei's bid to become a marja and assumption of the position of Iranian supreme leader.