Grand Ayatollah Burujardi

Grand Ayatollah Burujardi belongs to a respectable family known for its knowledge and piety. He is one of the Sayyids who belong to the Infallible Imams, peace be with them. His lineage reaches Imam al-Hassan, the chosen one.

The Sayyid was born in 1292 A.H. in the city of Burujard . He was taught by scholars of this city and finished a good deal of his preparatory study at the hand of his father. He migrated to Isfahan in 1310 A.H. in order to continue his studies and acquire religious studies, and he was then eighteen years old. He was tutored by senior scholars of Isfahan such as the grand ayatollahs and those bearing the title "Hujjatul-Islam" such as Abu al-Ma'ali al-Kalbasi, Sayyid Mir Muhammad Taqi al-Mudarrisi and Akhund Mulla Muhammad al-Kashi, Mirza Jehangir al-Qashqai. He also taught jurisprudence and usool in his study in this city.

He migrated to al-Najaf al-Ashraf in 1318 A.H. eight years after having resided in Isfahan and his earning the degree of ijtihad in it, and he was then twenty-six years old. He benefited from attending classes by great ayatollahs such as the Akhund al-Khurasani, author of Al-Kifaya, and `allama al-Yazdi, author of Al-Urwat al-Wuthqa. He distinguished himself among the students of the late Akhund for he wrote commentaries about his book titled Kifayat al-Usool.

He returned to the city of Burujard in 1328 A.H. after a residence that lasted for ten years in the city of al-Najaf al-Ashraf during which he earned the ijtihad degree which was awarded to him by the most distinguished of its scholars. During his stay in Burujard, which lasted more than 36 yers, he founded a theological seminary to teach the researches of Kharij al-Fiqh and Usool in this city. During this period, he was emulated as an authority for taqleed by most residents of the western and southern parts of Iran and some districts in the Khurasan governorates and other areas.

He resided in the city of Qum for few months after returning from making a pilgrimage to the shrine of Imam al-Rida, peace be with him, as insisted by Grand Ayatollah al-Haeri and a group of other men of virtue in the theological seminary. During that period, he studied the Kharij al-Fiqh and Usool researches then returned to his birthplace, the city of Burujard . He returned to holy Qum in the holy month of Muharram of 1364 A.H. after having become the greatest authority for the Shiites in the world.

More than 1,200 men of virtue and prominent mujtahids used to attend his classes in the seminary.