Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi

Who is Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi?

Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi is a Grand Iraqi Jurist Marja, and the author of over 400 books on matters of theology, historiography, jurisprudence, philosophy, logic, and well as social science. He is considered to be one of the most senior Shi'a Marja living in Iraq, only slightly junior to Ali al-Sistani.

Ayatullah Modarresi is the founder of several dozen seminaries, institutions and centers of worship, including the Ahlul Bayt Mosque in Brooklyn, New York. Currently Ayatullah Modarresi oversees the seminary in the holy Shia city of Karbala.

Juristically, he opposes the Iranian system of Velayat-e_faqih and has favored a democratic system of government in Iraq. In a television interview following his return to his native city in 2003, he publicly spoke of the "harassment" that his followers had faced while exiled in Iran. In an interview with PBS in 2004 al-Modarresi affirmed his commitment to a democratically elected government for the new Iraq, stating that he had derived this from "the true interpretation of Islam.. which says, "Religion shall not be imposed ... Reason emerges from the unknown." He also stated that he had traveled to Europe and America, and that he believed "democracy would solve many of the problems" in the Middle East.