Originally used as a title bestowed by popular/clerical acclaim for a small number of the most distinguishedmarja' at-taqlidmujtahid, it suffered from "inflation" following the 1979Iranian Revolution when it came to be used for "any established mujtahid".[3] By 2015 it was further expanded to include any student who had passed their Mujtahid final exam,[4] leading to "thousands" of Ayatollahs.[5]
The title is not used by theSunni community of Iran.[1]
The title is originally derived from the Arabic wordĀyahpost-modified with the wordAllah, makingʾāyatu llāh (Arabic:آية الله).[9] The combination has been translated to English as 'Sign of God',[1] 'Divine Sign'[2] or 'Reflection of God'.[10] It is a frequently used term in theQuran, but its usage in this context is presumably a particular reference to the verse41:53 "We shall show them Our signs on the horizons and in their own selves",[1] while it has been also used to refer toThe Twelve Imams by Shias.[11]
Variants used areʾāyatu llāhi fīl-ʾanʿām (Arabic:آية الله في الأنعام,lit. 'Sign of God among mankind'),[12]ʾāyatu llāhi fī l-ʿālamayn (Arabic:آية الله في العالمَین,lit. 'Sign of God in the two worlds',dual form)[12] orfī l-ʿālamīn (Arabic:في العالمین,lit. 'in the worlds',plural form)[13] andʾāyatu llāhi fī l-warā (Arabic:آية الله في الورى,lit. 'Sign of God among mortals').[12]
Though no formal hierarchical structure exists among Shia clerics, a "hierarchy of difference" can be elaborated to describe the situation.[14] Traditionally, the title Ayatollah was awarded by popular usage only to the very few highest ranking,[5] prominentMujtahid.[1] Qualifications included
The title of Ayatollah (and other Iranian Shi'i titles) has been "cheapened" since then.[1][15][5]
Roy Mottahedeh describes how the title of ayatollah was determined in the mid to late 20th century.
Only the titles 'jurisconsult' (faqih) and 'model for imitation' (marja' al-taqlid) had fixed meaning. Otherwise titles ... really expressed the informal consensus of mullahs as to the degree of deference they wished to show one another. A teacher in madreseh might be greatly offended if a letter from a layman failed to call him 'ayatollah', but he would vigorously reject the title if addressed as an ayatollah in public - vigorously, that is, until he sensed that other mullahs of his level would tolerate hearing him so addressed, at which point he would quietly let his students impose the title on him.[16]
According toMichael M. J. Fischer, theIranian Revolution led to "rapid inflation of religious titles", so that almost every senior cleric began to be called an Ayatollah.[17] raising the number of individuals who call themselves an Ayatollah dramatically.[15]
An unwritten rule ofaddressing for Shia clerics has been developed after the 1980s as a result of Iranian Revolution,[12] despite the fact no official institutional way of conferring titles is available.[5] At first the title that had been reserved for a Marja', was gradually applied to an established Mujtahid.[3] With the post-revolutionary bureaucratization ofShia seminaries under theIslamic Republic, four levels of studies were introduced and those clerics who end the fourth level, also known asDars-e-Kharej (lit.'beyond the text') and pass the final exam, were called Ayatollahs.[4]Moojan Momen wrote in 2015 that every cleric who finished his training calls himself an Ayatollah and this trend has led to emergence of "thousands of Ayatollahs".[5]
This inflation led to invention of a new title,Ayatollah al-Uzma (lit.'Great Sign of God').[5] Originally, about half a dozen people were addressed as al-Uzma, but as of 2015, the number of people who claimed that title was reportedly over 50.[5]
Another post-revolutionary change in what makes an ayatollah has been the falling away (at least in many important situations), of purely religious credentials and informal acclamation, and its replacement by political criteria.[18]
Ali Khamenei—who was addressed with mid-level title ofHujjat al-Islam when he was in office asPresident of Iran—was bestowed the title Ayatollah immediately after hewas electedSupreme Leader of Iran in 1989, without meeting regular unwritten criteria (such as authoring aRisalah).[19] Since the 2010s, sources under government control tend to give him more distinguished titles likeGrand Ayatollah andImam.[18]
Hamid Algar maintains that this title entered general usage possibly because it was an "indirect result of the reform and strengthening of the religious institution inQom".[1]Abdul-Karim Haeri Yazdi (1859–1937) who foundedQom Seminary, may be the first to bear the title according to Algar.[1]
While the title Ayatollah was sporadically used during the 1930s,[1] it became widespread in the 1940s.[2]
Stages of contemporary titles for Shia clerics in Iran
Only a few of the most important ayatollahs are accorded the rank of Grand Ayatollah (Ayatollah Uzma, "Great Sign of God"). When an ayatollah gains a significant following and they are recognized for religiously correct views, he is considered aMarja'-e-Taqlid, which in common parlance is "grand ayatollah".[24] Usually as a prelude to such status, amujtahid[note 1] is asked to publish a juristic treatise in which he answers questions about the application of Islam to present-time daily affairs.[25]Risalah is the word for treatise, and such a juristic work is called arisalah-yi'amaliyyah or "practical law treatise",.[26] A Grand Ayatollah is often seen as a spiritual guide and mentor to millions of Shia Muslims. His influence extends beyond the mosque and into the social and political arenas. Unlike many religious leaders of other religions, a grand ayatollah is often involved in state affairs, especially in countries with large Shia populations such as Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon.[27]
In the West, particularly theUnited States, the term "Ayatollah" may be used as a pejorative to describe religious fundamentalism. Sam Miller ofLondon Review of Books states that following the Iranian Revolution, "ayatollah" became common use; Miller described the pejorative version of the term as "[evoking] an old, turbaned, bearded man, sitting in judgment, looking like a crow and ordering the execution of the impure."[28]
However, the term is generally used to describe any kind of fundamentalism, not just Islamism. For example, in the choice of title for the 1987 English translation of Raphael Mergui and Philippe Simonnot's bookIsrael's Ayatollahs: Meir Kahane and the Far Right in Israel, or in the United States, where former jurist and lawyerRoy Moore has been called the "Ayatollah of Alabama" by his critics due to espousingChristian nationalism, opposition tosecularism, andfar-right politics.[29]
Algar, Hamid (18 August 2011) [15 December 1987]."ĀyatallāH". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.).Encyclopædia Iranica. Fasc. 2. Vol. III (Online ed.). New York, NY: Bibliotheca Persica Press. p. 133.Archived from the original on 17 May 2012. Retrieved6 May 2020.
Glassé, Cyril (2003). "Ayatollah".The New Encyclopedia of Islam. Rowman Altamira. p. 71.ISBN978-0759101890.
Leaman, Oliver (2006). "Aya".The Qur'an: an Encyclopedia. New York, NY: Routledge.ISBN0-415-32639-7.
Nasr, Seyyed Vali Reza; Nasr, Seyyed Hossein; Dabashi, Hamid (1989).Expectation of the Millennium: Shi'ism in History. State University of New York Press.ISBN978-0887068447.
