See also
This article includes a people- and religion-related list of lists.
Maraji are the supreme legal authority for Twelver Shia Muslims. The following articles contain lists of maraji.
Usulis are the majority Twelver Shi'a Muslim group. They differ from their now much smaller rival Akhbari group in favoring the use of ijtihad in the creation of new rules of fiqh; in assessing hadith to exclude traditions they believe unreliable; and in considering it obligatory to obey a mujtahid when seeking to determine Islamically correct behavior.
Lists of Islamic scholars include:
Allamah is an Islamic honorary title for a profound scholar, a polymath, a man of vast reading and erudition, or a great learned one.
Grand Ayatollah Mirza Javad Gharavi Aliari Tabrizi (1935-2018) was an Iranian Twelver Shi'a Marja. He was born in Tabriz, Iran. He migrated to Najaf to study in Grand Ayatollah al-Khoei's seminaries. He was close to Iranian reformists.
The Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom is an Iranian group founded in 1961/3 by the leading Muslim clerics of Qom. Established by the students of Ayatollah Khomeini after his exile to Iraq, it was formed in order to organize political activities of Khomeini's followers and promote his revolutionary interpretation of Islam, such as the idea of Islamic government. Since the 1979 revolution, it has largely become the body to keep the regime's registrar of who counts as a grand ayatollah, an ayatollah and a hojjat ul Islam. It has a head who is appointed by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. It currently heads the Supreme Council of Qom Hawzas, and proposes judges to the judiciary system. The body gained international prominence when it announced in 1981 that Ayatollah Shariatmadari was no longer a source of emulation (marja'). It has demoted a number of clerics over the last three decades. A recent case was that of Ayatollah Yousef Saanei, who for his solidarity with the green movement was demoted from marja' to hojatoleslam. The society also includes Ayatollah Sistani on its list.
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Mazaheri Isfahani is a senior Iranian Twelver Shia Marja. He was also a member of the Third Assembly of Experts.
Grand Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Golpaygani was an Iranian Shia Muslim and marja' scholar. He was born in 1899 in Gogad village near the city of Golpaygan, Iran. He was taught preliminary studies by his father, Mohammad Bagher. At the age of 9, his father died and he later on moved to Golpaygan to continue his studies. He was one of the highest-ranking Islamic clergies to participate in the Iranian Revolution, and a one-time serious contender to succeed Ruhollah Khomeini in the 1989 Iranian Supreme Leader election. However, his candidacy was voted down by the Assembly of Experts, in favor of the eventual successor, Ali Khamenei.
Ayatollah Mirza Hashem Amoli Larijani was an Iranian Shia Marja' and scholar of jurisprudence.
Seyed Reza Hosseini Nassab is an Iranian Twelver Shi'a Marja, currently residing in Canada. He was the President and Imam of the Islamic Centre in Hamburg, Germany, and since 2003 he has served as the President of Shia Islam Federation in Canada.
Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Abu al-Hasan al-Musawi al-Isfahani was an Iranian-Iraqi Shia marja'.
Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Ali Safi Golpaygani was an Iranian Twelver Shi'a Marja. He was born in Golpayegan, Iran. He has studied in seminaries of Najaf, Iraq under Grand Ayatollah Borujerdi. He taught at the Seminary of Qom.
Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ahmad Hassani Baghdadi is an Iraqi Twelver Shi'a Marja.
Grand Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Ali Tabatabai Al-Hassani was an Iraqi, Twelver Shia Muslim Marja'.
Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad is an Iranian Shia cleric and scholar.
Abbas Qomi also known as Mohaddith Qomi was a Shia scholar, historian, and hadith narrator. He wrote books, including Mafatih al-Janan.
Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Asghar Dastgheib is an Iranian Twelver Shia Marja and former member of the Iranian Assembly of Experts. He was among those who advised Ruhollah Khomeini in probate matters.
Marja' is a title given to the highest level of Twelver Shia religious cleric, with the authority given by a hawzah to make legal decisions within the confines of Islamic law for followers and clerics below him in rank. The highest ranking marjiʿ is known as the marja al-mutlaq or marja al-taqlid al-mutlaq. A marji' is also, or usually is also, a grand ayatollah.