A hawza or ḥawzah ʿilmīyah is a seminary where Shi'a Muslim scholars are educated.
There exist a number of perspectives on the relationship of Islam and democracy among Islamic political theorists, the general Muslim public, and Western authors.
Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Hossein Ali Tababataei Borujerdi was a leading Iranian Shia Marja' in Iran from approximately 1947 to his death in 1961.
Shaykh Muhammad Sarwar, is a Pakistani-born American Islamic scholar specializing in Islamic theology and philosophy. He is also known as the first representative of the late Ayatollah Abul-Qasim al-Khoei to the Shia Muslims of North America. His works include the first contemporary English translation of the Quran (1982), currently its sixth edition (2011), and books about Islam. In recent years, his primary focus has been the translation of Islamic ahadith from Kitab al-Kafi and Bihar al-Anwar.
In Shi'a Islam the guidance of clergy and keeping such a structure holds a great importance. The clergy structure depends on the branch of Shi'ism is being referred to.
Jaʿfarī jurisprudence, Jaʿfarī school or Jaʿfarī fiqh, is the school of jurisprudence (fiqh) in Twelver and Ismaili Shia Islam, named after the sixth Imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq. In Iran, Jaʽfari jurisprudence is enshrined in the constitution.
Kazem means "tolerant", "forgiving", and "having patience" is an Arabic male given name. Although the pronunciation of the Arabic letter Ẓāʾ is often closer to a strong "d" sound, given the prevalence of the name in Greater Iran, and subsequent cultural exchanges between Persia and Indian Subcontinent, Central Asia and Anatolia, the letter is commonly pronounced as Z. Thus the name's pronunciation differs based on location and consequently in its transcription. The most notable person to be awarded with this epithet was Musa-Al-Kadhim, the seventh Shia Imam, who is revered by both Sunnis and Sufis too.
Allameh Mohammad-Taqi Ja'fari was an Iranian scholar, philosopher, intellectual, and islamic theologist. Ja'fari was a Shia philosopher and thinker in the recent time. He was expert in various fields such as history, logic, metaphysics, philosophy, literature, mysticism, jurisprudence, and philosophy of science.
Ayatollah Seyed Reza Zanjani was a Shia Iranian cleric who opposed first the autocracy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and then theocracy that was established by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his supporters following the Islamic Revolution.
Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammad-Hossein Naini Gharavi was Iranian Shia marja'.
The World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought (WFPIST) as well as Tehran's Ecumenical Society is a forum that was established on October 1990 by order of Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei in Tehran for the reconciliation between different Islamic schools and branches.
Ahmad Vaezi is an Iranian philosopher, scholar and clergyman. He is now the chief of Islamic propagation office of Qom.
Mirza Agha Ibrahim Estahbanati Shirazi was a Shia Islam Jurist and religious scholar in Iran.
Karbala'i Kazem Karimi Saruqi was an illiterate person and a farmer who, according to a story which was confirmed by some clerics, suddenly became a hafiz of the whole Quran without any official training. He claimed to have received the memorization of the entire book of the Quran in an instant and miraculous manner. His claim was confirmed by many scholars, government officials and academics through tests. According to him, he happened to receive the memorization of the entire Quran all at once at the Saruq Imāmzādeh Haftādodowtan which is a local holy shrine or sacred mausoleum. His tomb is located in new cemetery of Qom.
The Najaf Seminary, also known as the al-Hawza Al-Ilmiyya, is the oldest and one of the most important Shia seminaries (hawza) in the world. It is located in the city of Najaf in Iraq. The school also operates a campus in Karbala, Iraq.
Research Institute for Islamic Culture and Thought is an Iranian Research institute whose main purpose is theorizing on religious thought and enhancing the epistemological bases of the Islamic Revolution. The institute has departments of philosophy, mysticism, and ethics, as well as Western Studies and Islamic economy among others.
Mahmoud Hekmatnia is an Iranian legal scholar and professor of law at the Research Institute for Islamic Culture and Thought. He is known for his works on intellectual property. His book titled Principles of Intellectual Property won the Farabi Award and Howzeh Book of the Year Award.
Seyed Hossein Mir-Moezi is an Iranian cleric and economist and associate professor of Islamic economics at the Research Institute for Islamic Culture and Thought. He is known for his works on Islamic economics.
Hojjatoleslam Seyed Sajjad Izdehi is an Iranian political scientist and associate professor of politics at the Research Institute for Islamic Culture and Thought. His book titled Supervision on the power in the political jurisprudence won the Farabi Award and Howzeh Book of the Year Award.
Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Hassan Ghadrdan Gharamaleki is an Iranian philosopher and professor of Kalam at the Research Institute for Islamic Culture and Thought. His books titled God and the Problem of Evil and Koran and Pluralism won the Howzeh Book of the Year Award.
