Mohammad-Taqi Bahjat Foumani

Who was Mohammad-Taqi Bahjat Foumani?

Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Bahjat Foumani was an Iranian Twelver Shi'a Marja with political and social views close to fundamentalist schools. He was a student of the famous mystic and Ayatullah Ali Tabatabaei, and also a student of Abulhasan Isfahani and Mirza Naini. Ayatollah Bahjat was among one of the most revered Shia clerics, whose religious decrees were followed by many Shia Muslims.

Mohammad Taqi Bahjat was born in Fouman, Gilan Province, Iran. At the age of 14, he moved to Karbala, Iraq to continue his religious studies. Four years later, he moved to Najaf to complete his studies under Ayatollah Taleghani and Ayatollah Naeini. He taught in the Seminary of Qom, Iran.

Bahjat died at the age of 96, at the Vali-e-Asr Hospital in the city of Qom on Sunday 17 May 2009, from heart disease,