Grand Ayatollah Shobeiri Zanjani 
Passes Away at 99

The eminent Shia
 jurist and longtime 
 scholar leaves 
a decades-long legacy of 
scholarship and teaching, with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani 
describing his passing as
 “a painful tragedy 
and a great loss.”
TEHRAN — Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mousa Shobeiri Zanjani, one of the most distinguished religious authorities in the Shia world and a towering figure of the Qom seminary for more than seven decades, passed away early Monday at the age of 99, plunging the Islamic seminaries, the religious community, and the Iranian nation into profound mourning.            
 

The office of the late cleric announced that his pure soul “joined the Divine Presence” following a period of hospitalization for a pulmonary condition. He had been admitted to a hospital in Qom on Friday evening after suffering a lung ailment. 
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the supreme religious authority in Najaf, issued a condolence message Monday describing the passing as “a painful tragedy and a great loss.” 
Ayatollah Sistani said the deceased “devoted his entire blessed life to research and teaching” and was “one of the foremost eminent scholars, one of the pillars of the blessed religious seminary in Qom, and a prominent example of a divinely guided scholar.” 
“His valuable scholarly works and other religious services will remain a precious legacy, while his conduct and practical approach will forever remain an enduring model for scholars.” 
The head of Iran’s Islamic seminaries, Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, citing the saying of Imam al-Sadiq — “When a believing jurist dies, a breach is made in Islam that nothing can repair” — described the late cleric as “a towering tree of religion and knowledge who shone like the sun in scholarly debates, research sessions and meticulous jurisprudential investigations.” 
He announced that seminary classes would be suspended until the end of the week to honor the late cleric and allow students to attend funeral ceremonies.
Born on March 2, 1928, in Qom, Ayatollah Shobeiri Zanjani began his seminary studies in the holy city in 1938 and later traveled to Najaf twice after 1953 to further his religious education. 
He studied under Grand Ayatollahs Boroujerdi and Mohaghegh Damad in Qom, and under Grand Ayatollahs Khoei, Hakim, and Shirazi in Najaf. He spent more than 21 years in the advanced jurisprudence and principles classes of Ayatollah Mohaghegh Damad and benefited from the presence of Grand Ayatollah Boroujerdi.
Over more than six decades of teaching jurisprudence and Islamic sciences, he trained numerous students, including Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei.
He was known for his rigorous methodology, his insistence on direct consultation of ancient manuscripts rather than relying solely on printed editions, and his exceptional mastery of the science of narrators and hadith.
He was one of seven jurists recognized by the Society of Seminary Scholars of Qom as qualified for religious authority after the death of Ayatollah Araki in 1994.
Despite this recognition, he long avoided overt acceptance of marja’iyya and did not publish a practical treatise until 1998. He established the Imam Muhammad Baqir Jurisprudential School in 2001 for specialized jurisprudential studies.
The funeral ceremony will be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Imam Hassan al-Askari Mosque in Qom, from where the body will be carried to the holy shrine of Hazrat Fatima Masoumeh for burial nearby. 
Grand Ayatollah Sobhani will lead the funeral prayer over the body. Three days of public mourning have been declared in Qom Province, with Wednesday, the first day of Mehr, designated a public holiday. 
The Society of Seminary Scholars of Qom, the Supreme Council and Management of the Seminaries, and the Secretariat of the Assembly of Experts have invited all believers, students, and scholars to participate in the funeral procession.
The late cleric is survived by his sons and a legacy of scholarship that will endure in the Islamic seminaries for generations to come.