Yousef Saanei | |
|---|---|
يوسف صانعى | |
 The late Grand Ayatollah Yousef Saanei in his office. | |
| Title | Grand Ayatollah |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 16 October 1937 Isfahan, Iran |
| Died | 12 September 2020(2020-09-12) (aged 82) Qom, Iran |
| Nationality | Iranian |
| Member of theAssembly of Experts | |
| In office 10 December 1982 – 8 October 1990 | |
| Preceded by | Office Began |
| Succeeded by | Ahmad Khomeini |
| Constituency | Tehran Province |
| Prosecutor-General of Iran | |
| In office 1983–1985 | |
| Appointed by | Ruhollah Khomeini |
| Preceded by | Mohammad-Mehdi Rabbani Amlashi |
| Succeeded by | Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha |
| Political party | Islamic Republican Party (1980s)[1] |
| Main interest(s) | Politics,Jurisprudence,Marja'yah andTheology |
| Relations | Hassan Sane'i (brother) |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Islam |
| Jurisprudence | TwelverShia |
| Creed | Usuli |
| Website | Official website |
Yousef Saanei (Persian:يوسف صانعى; 16 October 1937[2][3] – 12 September 2020)[4] was an IranianTwelverShi'aMarja' andpolitician, a member of theIslamic Republic of Iran's powerfulGuardian Council from 1980 to 1983 and alsoAttorney-General of Iran from 1983 to 1985.[5]
Whether he was aMarja' (Grand Ayatollah) was disputed. His calls forradicalpolitical reform in Iran were very controversial and in 2010 the government-sponsored "Qom Theological Lecturers Association" (Jame-e-Modarressin) declared him no longer qualified for emulation as a Grand Ayatollah. However, many of his followers continued to consider him their Marja,[citation needed] and this was acknowledged by several influential Maraji such as Grand AyatollahAli al-Sistani,Naser Makarem Shirazi,Abdul-Karim Mousavi Ardebili, andHossein Noori Hamedani.[6]
Saanei was born in the Persian month ofAban 1318SH and in the month ofShaban 1458AH in the semi-desert farming village of Yingabad (nowNikabad), 60 km (37 mi) southwest ofIsfahan.[7] He was the third of four children (a fifth child died in infancy) ofHujjud-al-Islam Mohammed Ali Saanei (1892–1974) and his wife Sharbonoo (1899–1947).[8] His father, despite having lost his own father at the age of six, and beingpartially sighted rose from untrained villagemullah to study inhawza in his thirties, going on to serve his community for fifty years. Mohammad Ali's father Hajjmulla Yousef Yingabadi (1867–1899) was an Isfahan-trained cleric known for his strong sense of social justice, and was active in theIsfahan-area activities of Ayatollah Shirazi'stobacco movement in the early 1890s.[9]
At age six he began his education at the localmaktab, later studying at home with his father after the latter noticed his intellect, studying theQuran and other basic texts of the period.[10] Shortly before his tenth birthday, in the autumn of 1947, together with his father and brother Hassan (who also became a cleric and political official) he left for hawza in Isfahan, studying at that city's Kasseh Garan Madrassa (his father later returned to Nikabad).[11] In Isfahan, his most noted teacher was the historianAllamah Mirza Mohammed Ali Habib Abadi (1890–1976).[12][13]
Saanei completed his preliminary studies (the equivalent of secondary school) in 1951, whereupon he went toQom to continue his studies.[14] 1955 saw Saanei place well in the first-level examinations (equivalent to a bachelor's degree) thus awarded the commendation ofGrand Ayatollah Borujerdi.[5] While atQom he was a student of the leading theologians of his day, among them Mohammad Mohaghegh Damad, Abbas Ali Shahroudi,Mohammad Ali Araki, andBorujerdi himself for about a year. His most lasting education came from the seven years he spent being taught byKhomeini until the latter's exile in 1964.[15] At the age of 22, he was granted the degree ofIjtihad allowing him to formulate religious judgements for his own use.[16]
In September 1964, Ayatollah Saanei married Khanum Shafiei (d. 2012) and has two sons and a daughter. One son, Fakruddin (Saeed) is also a cleric, with the honorific ofHujjud-al-Islam.[17]
He taught regularly in thehawza ofQom beginning in the 1950s. In 1975, Saanei became a teacher atthe Haghani School of Divinity.[5] Later he becameGrand Ayatollah.[5] In 1980, he was appointed chairman ofthe Guardian Council.[5] Saanei retired from the council in 1983 and has not held any political office since. According to theCBS GlobalPost, Saanei has been considered "the successor" of Grand AyatollahHussein-Ali Montazeri and as "the spiritual leader" of theIranian political opposition movement.[18] After the urging of many students and scholars, Saanei published hisrisalah in 1993, thus becoming aMarja', or source of imitation on matters of religious law to others.[19]
Ayatollah Saanei fell at hisQom home on the night of 10 September, fracturing hispelvis and arm. Due to preexisting conditions (he suffered fromDiabetes-relatedkidney problems, as well ascirrhosis of theliver), he died duringdialysis treatment before surgery could be safely performed to repair his injuries.[20][21] He died shortly after the time ofFajr prayer on 12 September 2020. Due toCOVID-19 pandemic precautions, no public funeral was held. The Ayatollah was buried in Sheikhan Cemetery located nearFatima Masumeh Shrine inQom.[22] He was survived by his three children. Tributes were paid to him from many parts of the clerical establishment and wider society, including theSupreme Leader,Ayatollah Khemanei and theSociety of Seminary Teachers of Qom.[23][24]
He held in the area of inheritance that:
The foster parent of anadopted child should treat the child in all respects as their own, including the mother not having to observehijab around a male child; however this does not extend to inheritance absent the permission of the Quranic heirs.[29]
In an interview withTheSan Francisco Chronicle, Grand Ayatollah Yousef Saanei said:
Ayatollah Yousef Saanei said clerical authorities have quietly expressed opposition to the development of weapons of mass destruction for many years, and he described it as the reason that Iran never retaliated with chemical weapons when Saddam Hussein used them to kill Iranian troops and Iran-backed Kurds during the 1980– 88 Iran-Iraq war. "You cannot deliberately kill innocent people," he said.
He has declared that women have equal status in Islam. Saanei held that a woman can lead a man in prayer, although a man leading ismustahab. LikeZohreh Sefati, he believed that women can even become amarja' in Islam, i.e. that men and women can follow a female Islamic jurists'ijtihad.
He is particularly noteworthy for issuing afatwa in which he declaredsuicide bombing asharam and a "terrorist act".[31]
During the2009 Iranian election protests, rumours arose that he had issued a religious edict proclaiming that Mr.Ahmedinejad was "not the president and that it is forbidden to cooperate with his government." These rumours were reported as such by several internet news agencies.[32][33][34]
He is reported to have said during a 12 August speech at Gorgan that "Confession in prison and detention has not been and is not valid ... all persons who have somehow been involved in issuing these confessions are sharing same sin ... they will receive the retribution of their perfidious acts in this world and in a fair, righteous court."[35]
Saanei was an outspoken Islamic democracy activist and has even called for the "discussion" of the clerical control of the Iranian government.[citation needed] He held that theVelayat-e-faqih should have the support of the people (i.e. be elected).[36]
Having studied in clerical schools in Qom,Iraq andTabriz; Saanei was raised fluent in thePersian,Arabic andAzerbaijani languages.[citation needed]
According to one report, Saanei was likely to replaceHossein-Ali Montazeri as the leading clerical opponent of the regime and to be even more aggressive. Saanei declared the government illegitimate and warned that it "cannot reverse the situation in the country with terror, killing, torture and imprisonment."[37]
A day after the funeral procession of Montazeri, around 1,000 members of Iran's Basij militia and "plainclothes men" attacked offices of Saanei in the central shrine city of Qom, a reformist website reported on 22 December 2009. The plainclothes militiamen broke the windows of Saanei's office and insulted him and his staff and also beat up his staff.[citation needed] They also put up posters of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who has been a staunch defender of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial June re-election and who ordered a post-election crackdown on opposition protests. Police sided with the militia and prevented Saanei's supporters from defending his office, the website said. There was no immediate official comment. However, earlier on Tuesday, the semi-official Fars News Agency said pro-government theology students had staged a rally in Qom to protest "the insult against sanctifies" during Montazeri's funeral procession. The demonstration ended outside Saanei's home, Fars said, but it was not clear whether it was linked to the attack on Saanei's house reported by the aforementioned reformist website. The demonstrators chanted "The city of Qom is no city for hypocrites," and signed a statement calling for Saanei to be defrocked, Fars reported. One of the signatories, cleric Ahmad Panahian, said: "The trenches of the hypocrites in Qom must be destroyed."[38][39]
On 3 October 2010, news sites linked with Iran's political opposition movement reported that Saanei's website was blocked. According toThe New York Times, "Internet users who attempted to access them ... were automatically redirected to a standard Iranian government filtering page which offers links to government-authorized web sites ... and the official web site of Iran's Supreme Leader, AyatollahAli Khamenei."[40]
On 2 January 2010, a top clerical body in Qom, (The Qom Theological Lecturers Association, Jame-e-Modarressin), declared that Saanei no longer qualified to be amarja al-taqlid, or a source of emulation – the highest clerical rank in Shia Islam.[citation needed] The body said that it had launched a yearlong investigation into the qualifications of Saanei in response to repetitive inquiries on the issue. In a statement bearing the signature ofAyatollah Mohammad Yazdi, the former head of Iran's judiciary, the body announced that the result of the investigation indicate that Saanei is not eligible to be a marja'.[citation needed]
Conservatives and traditionalists condemned this move by Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi of Hoze Modaresin to disqualify Ayatollah Saanei as a Marja', questioned the authority of the government sanctioned and subsidised association, and pointed out that evenAyatollah Sistani is not even listed by them as such.[41][42]
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Mohammad Mehdi Amlashi | Attorney-General of Iran 1983–1985 | Succeeded by |