Basheer Hussain Najafi

Who is Basheer Hussain Najafi?

Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Basheer Hussain Najafi is one of the five Grand Ayatollahs in Iraq. He was born in Jalandhar, a city in then British India.After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, his family moved to Pakistan and settled in the city of Gujranwala, Punjab. In Gujranwala he had his initial education in religion. He was then able to move to Iraq for studies in the early 1960s. He is one of many individuals from the South Asia and one of the few Pakistanis to have ever been elevated to the highest rank of Grand Ayatollah in Shia Islam. He was one year senior to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. Al Najafi could be a possible successor to Sistani, who has undergone two heart bypass surgeries in London in less than five years, if he passes away.

Al Najafi was attacked on 6 January 1999 by a group of armed men, reportedly members of Fedayeen Saddam, while he and members of his seminary were performing religious duties. The attack, which included use of a hand grenade, resulted in the death of three persons and injury to a number of members of the seminary, including the Grand Ayatollah.