Murtadha al-Qazwini

Ayatollah Sayyid Murtadha al-Musawi al-Qazwini (مرتضى الموسوي القزويني; born 1 August 1930) is an Iraqi senior Shia jurist, poet and orator of Iranian descent.

Al-Qazwini is currently the Imam of the eastern wing of the Imam Husayn shrine.

In 1942, he studied oratory under the supervision of his maternal uncle, Sayyid Muhammad-Salih al-Qazwini, who was a renowned cleric and orator.

His uncle authored al-Mawidha al-Hasina (The Good Instruction), a critique of Ali Al-Wardi's Wuadh al-Salatin (The Sultans Preachers').

By the 1950s, he was giving sermons in the Husayn shrine.

Consequently, he began to travel to other countries in the Persian Gulf region, to deliver religious speeches.

Al-Qazwini was really interested to study in the Al-Azhar University, and so he travelled to Cairo to and enrolled into the university.

However, upon looking into the syllabus, he realised that the studies were not as advanced as he imagined them to be, and that he felt the level in Karbala was of much higher calibre, which led him to abandon his studies in Al-Azhar, and return to Karbala.

In 1953, he was granted ijaza's from Sayyid Abd al-Husayn Sharaf al-Din, Sheikh Agha Bozorg al-Tehrani and al-Milani.

The following year, the Imam Sadiq primary school was established, and al-Qazwini was made headmaster.

He then resigned a few years later and went on to get married, go to the Hajj and visit many other countries.

During the days of the communist red tide, under the rule of Abd al-Karim Qasim, al-Qazwini supported Ayatollah Sayyid Muhsin al-Hakim's fatwa deeming communism an infidelity and atheist.

He took a strong stance against Qasim, by rejecting to join the iftar he had prepared for the religious convoy in Ramadan, 1960, which lead to his imprisonment, making him the first cleric to become a political prisoner in Baghdad.

After the Baathist regime took control in 1968, severe persecution began to gradually be administered towards the Shias, specifically the clerical class.

As a result, al-Qazwini could not remain in home country for too long, and had to flee Iraq.

Al-Qazwini fled to Kuwait in October, 1971 and picked up where he left off in Iraq from delivering speeches to teaching jurisprudence classes.

He was abducted by the Baathist regime on April 18, 1980 at the age of eighty.

He has been missing ever since.

His mother was the daughter of his third cousin, once remove, Sayyid Muhammad-Mehdi al-Qazwini, a alim and poet, most known for authoring Huda al-Musanafin (Guidance of the Ranks), a critique on Shaykhism.

He is the fourth of seven children.

Al-Qazwini naturally began his religious education at a young age.

He carried out theological studies and academic education concurrently, and at the age of seventeen, was awarded by Salih Jabr, for being the highest achieving student in the country.

In his religious education, he studied his intermediate stages under Sheikh Jafar al-Rashti, Sheikh Muhammad al-Khatib and his third cousin, once removed Sayyid Muhammad-Hassan Agha-Mir al-Qazwini.

As for the advanced stages, he studied them under Mirza Mahdi al-Shirazi, Sheikh Yusuf al-Khurasani and Sayyid Muhammad-Hadi al-Milani.

In 1980, he travelled to Iran after the Iranian revolution, and carried on his duties and activities, raising awareness of the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt.

In Qom, he spent a few years teaching in its seminaries, and led the Friday prayers at the Jamkaran Mosque.

In Tehran, he served as a professor in Shahid Motahari University as well as a judge in the Islamic republic's judiciary system, appointed by Ruhollah Khomeini.

He led the Friday prayers at the al-Qodos Mosque.

In 1985, he emigrated to the United States, and settled in Los Angeles.

He gained representation of the grand maraja' of his time and began to widen the spectrum of his communication of Islam.

He lived in exile for twenty three years between Kuwait, Iran and the United States, until he returned to Iraq after the 2003 invasion.

Al-Qazwini is the founder of the Development and Relief Foundation, a charitable institution that has established schools, a seminary, a state of the art hospital, and clinic in Karbala.

Al-Qazwini is currently the chief of the al-Qazwini family.

Al-Qazwini was born in Karbala to the prominent religious al-Qazwini family.

His father was Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad-Sadiq al-Qazwini, a mujtahid, that was the Imam at the Abbas shrine.

After the 2003 Iraqi invasion, al-Qazwini immediately returned to his Iraq and settled in Karbala.

al-Qazwini claimed the Shirazi wing (eastern side) of the Husayn shrine and became the Imam of the daily prayers.

He also performs a sermon after the congregational prayer.

In 2004, al-Qazwini founded the Development and Relief Foundation (DRF).

al-Qazwini embarked on a mission to revive Karbala.