ayatollah

The title is originally derived from the Arabic word {{transliteration|ar|Āyah}} pre-modified with the definite article {{transliteration|ar|al}} and post-modified with the word Allah, making {{transliteration|ar|ʾāyatu llāh}} ({{langx|ar|آية الله}}).{{harvnb|Leaman|2006|pages=85–86}} The combination has been translated to English as 'Sign of God', 'Divine Sign' or 'Reflection of God'.{{harvnb|Salkind|2006|loc=vol. 1|page=739}} It is a frequently-used term in the Quran, but its usage in this context is presumably a particular reference to the verse {{qref|41|53}} "We shall show them Our signs on the horizons and in their own selves", while it has been also used to refer to The Twelve Imams by Shias.{{harvnb|Hughes|2013|page=126}}

Variants used are {{transliteration|ar|ʾāyatu llāhi fī l-ʾanʿām}} ({{langx|ar|آية الله في الأنعام|lit=Sign of God among mankind}}), {{transliteration|ar|ʾāyatu llāhi fī l-ʿālamayn}} ({{langx|ar|آية الله في العالمَین|lit=Sign of God in the two worlds}}, dual form) or {{transliteration|ar|fī l-ʿālamīn}} ({{langx|ar|في العالمین|lit=in the worlds}}, plural form) and {{transliteration|ar|ʾāyatu llāhi fī l-warā}} ({{langx|ar|آية الله في الورى|lit=Sign of God among mortals}}).

{{See also|Taqlid|Ijtihad|Fiqh}}

Though no formal hierarchical structure exists among Shia clerics, a "hierarchy of difference" can be elaborated to describe the situation.{{harvnb|Momen|1985|page=204}} Traditionally, the title Ayatollah was awarded by popular usage only to the very few highest ranking, prominent Mujtahid. Qualifications included

• being a definite Mujtahid,
• being regarded among peers as superior in aʿlamīyat ({{literal translation|superiority in learning}}) and
• being superior in 'riyāsat ({{literal translation|leadership}}), which is determined by popular acclamation, as well as collecting a huge amount of Khums'' (religious taxes).

Consequently, by the 1960s a cleric addressed as an Ayatollah was expected to be a Marja'.

{{Twelvers|collapsed=1}}

The title of Ayatollah (and other Iranian Shi'i titles) has been "cheapened" since then.

Roy Mottahedeh describes how the title of ayatollah was determined in the mid to late 20th century.{{blockquote| Only the titles 'jurisconsult' (faqih) and 'model for imitation' (marja' al-taqlid) had fixed meaning. Otherwise titles ... really expressed the informal consensus of mullahs as to the degree of deference they wished to show one another. A teacher in madreseh might be greatly offended if a letter from a layman failed to call him 'ayatollah', but he would vigorously reject the title if addressed as an ayatollah in public - vigorously, that is, until he sensed that other mullahs of his level would tolerate hearing him so addressed, at which point he would quietly let his students impose the title on him.{{cite book | first=Roy | last= Mottahedeh| title= The Mantle of the Prophet : Religion and Politics in Iran |publisher=One World |location= Oxford |orig-year=1985 |year=2000 |page=241}}}}

According to Michael M. J. Fischer, the Iranian Revolution led to "rapid inflation of religious titles", so that almost every senior cleric began to be called an Ayatollah.{{cite book|last=Fischer|first=Michael M. J.|title=Iran: From Religious Dispute to Revolution|publisher=Harvard University Press]|year=1980|page=2016 |isbn= 9780674466159}} raising the number of individuals who call themselves an Ayatollah dramatically.{{harvnb|Momen|1985|page=205–206}}

An unwritten rule of addressing for Shia clerics has been developed after the 1980s as a result of Iranian Revolution, despite the fact no official institutional way of conferring titles is available.{{harvnb|Momen|2015|page=178}} At first the title that had been reserved for a Marja', was gradually applied to an established Mujtahid. With the post-revolutionary bureaucratization of Shia seminaries under the Islamic Republic, four levels of studies were introduced and those clerics who end the fourth level, also known as Dars-e-Kharej ({{literal translation|beyond the text}}) and pass the final exam, were called Ayatollahs. Moojan Momen wrote in 2015 that every cleric who finished his training calls himself an Ayatollah and this trend has led to emergence of "thousands of Ayatollahs".

This inflation led to invention of a new title, Ayatollah al-Uzma ({{literal translation|Great Sign of God}}). Originally, about half a dozen people were addressed as al-Uzma, but as of 2015, the number of people who claimed that title was reportedly over 50.

File:Ruhollah Khomeini portrait 1.jpg, known in the West as "The Ayatollah"]]

Another post-revolutionary change in what makes an ayatollah has been the falling away (at least in many important situations), of purely religious credentials and informal acclamation, and its replacement by political criteria.

Ali Khamenei—who was addressed with mid-level title of Hujjat al-Islam when he was in office as President of Iran—was bestowed the title Ayatollah immediately after he was elected Supreme Leader of Iran in 1989, without meeting regular unwritten criteria (such as authoring a Risalah).{{cite book|last=Amuzegar|first=Jahangir|title=The Islamic Republic of Iran: Reflections on an Emerging Economy |publisher =Routledge| date=2014|isbn=978-1-85743-748-5|page=210}} Since the 2010s, sources under government control tend to give him more distinguished titles like Grand Ayatollah and Imam.{{citation|first1=Mohd Don |last1= Zuraidah|first2=Alan|last2=May|title=The discursive representation of Iran's supreme leader in online media|journal=Discourse & Society| volume=24| number=6| date=2013| pages= 743–762 |jstor=24441464 |doi= 10.1177/0957926513486222 |s2cid= 146360568}}

Certain clerics, such as Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari and Hussein-Ali Montazeri,{{cite book|last=Daryaee|first=Touraj|year=2012| series= Oxford Handbooks in History|title=The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History|isbn= 9780199732159|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=378}} who had fallen out of favor with the rulers were downgraded by not being addressed as an Ayatollah.

The earliest known address of this title is for Ibn Mutahhar Al-Hilli (died 1374), however it was not in use as a title for those qualifying until the 20th century. Glassé states that following domination of Twelver branch by followers of {{transliteration|ar|Usuli}} school and demise of {{transliteration|ar|Akhbari}} school, the title was popularized by {{transliteration|ar|Usuli}}s as an attempt to promote their status. Mirza Ali Aqa Tabrizi was the first one to use the term {{transliteration|ar|Ayatullah}} for the sources of emulation in Najaf, especially Akhund Khurasani (1839–1911), to distinguish them from the clerics of lower rank in Tehran, during the 1905-1911 Persian Constitutional Revolution.{{sfn|Hermann|2013|p=439}} (Mirza Sayyed Mohammad Tabatabai and Seyyed Abdollah Behbahani were also given that honorific by constitutionalists according to Loghatnameh Dehkhoda.){{citation|first=James A.|last=Bill|title= Power and Religion in Revolutionary Iran|journal=Middle East Journal|volume=36|number=1|date=1982|pages=22–47|jstor=4326354}}

Hamid Algar maintains that this title entered general usage possibly because it was an "indirect result of the reform and strengthening of the religious institution in Qom". Abdul-Karim Haeri Yazdi (1859–1937) who founded Qom Seminary, may be the first to bear the title according to Algar.

While the title Ayatollah was sporadically used during the 1930s, it became widespread in the 1940s.

{{Main|Marja'}}

Only a few of the most important ayatollahs are accorded the rank of Grand Ayatollah (Ayatollah Uzma, "Great Sign of God"). When an ayatollah gains a significant following and they are recognized for religiously correct views, they are considered a Marja'-e-Taqlid, which in common parlance is "grand ayatollah".{{cite book

| title = The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics

| author = Emad El-Din Shahin

| author-link = Emad Shahin

| publisher = Oxford University Press

| year = 2016

| page = 400

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wUcSDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA400

| isbn = 9780190631932 }} Usually as a prelude to such status, a mujtahid{{NoteTag|Among the Shia, a mujtahid is a person generally accepted as an original authority in Islamic law.}} is asked to publish a juristic treatise in which he answers questions about the application of Islam to present-time daily affairs.{{cite book |last = Siddiqui |first = Kalim |year=1980 |title = The Islamic Revolution: Achievements, Obstacles & Goals |location=London |publisher=Open Press for The Muslim Institute |page=26 |isbn=978-0-905081-07-6 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RRINAAAAIAAJ }} Risalah is the word for treatise, and such a juristic work is called a risalah-yi'amaliyyah or "practical law treatise",{{Cite book |last=Ḥairi |first=Abdul-Hadi |year=1977 |title = Shi-ism and Constitutionalism in Iran: A Study of the Role Played by the Persian Residents of Iraq in Iranian Politics |location = Leiden, South Holland |publisher=Brill |page=198 |isbn=978-90-04-04900-0 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gc0UAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA198 }} . A Grand Ayatollah is often seen as a spiritual guide and mentor to millions of Shia Muslims. Their influence extends beyond the mosque and into the social and political arenas. Unlike many religious leaders of other religions, a grand ayatollah is often involved in state affairs, especially in countries with large Shia populations such as Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon.{{Citation needed|date=January 2018}}{{Cite news |title=Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Central figure of Iran's Islamic Revolution |url=https://todayheadlinehub.com/ayatollah-ali-khamenei-islamic-revolution/ |work=Todayheadlinehub}}

In the West, particularly the United States, the term "Ayatollah" may be used as a pejorative to describe religious fundamentalism. Sam Miller of London Review of Books states that following the Iranian Revolution, "ayatollah" became common use; Miller described the pejorative version of the term as "[evoking] evokes an old, turbaned, bearded man, sitting in judgment, looking like a crow and ordering the execution of the impure."{{Cite web |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v08/n06/sam-miller/god-s-medium |title=God's Medium |last=Miller |first=Sam |website=London Review of Books |date=1986 |access-date=November 1, 2024 |archive-date=August 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815214303/https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v08/n06/sam-miller/god-s-medium |url-status=live }}

However, the term is generally used to describe any kind of fundamentalism, not just Islamism. For example, in the United States, former jurist and lawyer Roy Moore has been called the "Ayatollah of Alabama" by his critics due to espousing Christian nationalism, opposition to secularism, and far-right politics.{{Cite web |last=Jarvie |first=Jenny |url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-roy-moore-suspended-alabama-20160930-snap-story.html |title='Not going to miss the Ayatollah of Alabama': State's chief justice ousted over anti-gay-marriage order |website=Los Angeles Times |date=September 30, 2016 |access-date=November 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161227214653/https://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-roy-moore-suspended-alabama-20160930-snap-story.html |archive-date=December 27, 2016 |url-status=live}}

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{{NoteFoot}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin|indent=yes}}

• {{Cite journal|last=Hermann|first=Denis|date=1 May 2013|title=Akhund Khurasani and the Iranian Constitutional Movement|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00263206.2013.783828|jstor=23471080|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|volume=49|issue=3|pages=430–453|doi=10.1080/00263206.2013.783828|s2cid=143672216|issn=0026-3206|access-date=4 May 2022|archive-date=5 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005080847/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00263206.2013.783828|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}
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• {{cite encyclopedia |last=Algar |first=Hamid |editor-last=Yarshater |editor-first=Ehsan |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |title=ĀyatallāH |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ayatallah |edition=Online |date=18 August 2011 |orig-year=15 December 1987 |series=Fasc. 2 |volume=III |page=133 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Bibliotheca Persica Press |ref={{harvid|Algar|1987}} |access-date=6 May 2020 |archive-date=17 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120517003912/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ayatallah |url-status=live }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |last=Glassé |first=Cyril |encyclopedia = The New Encyclopedia of Islam |entry=Ayatollah |year=2003 |page=71 |isbn=978-0759101890 |publisher = Rowman Altamira }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |last=Leaman |first=Oliver |title = The Qur'an: an Encyclopedia |year=2006 |publisher=Routledge|location = New York, NY |isbn=0-415-32639-7 |entry=Aya }}
• {{cite book|editor-last=Meri|editor-first=Josef W.|title=Medieval Islamic Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LaV-IGZ8VKIC|volume=2 L-Z, index|year=2006|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-96692-4}}
• {{harvc |last=Newman |first=Andrew J. |c=Shi'i Thought |in=Meri |year=2006}}
• {{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Salkind |editor-first=Neil J. |title = Encyclopedia of Human Development|year=2006 |publisher=SAGE |isbn=9781412904759 |volume=1 |entry = Islamic Belief (Iman) and Practive (Ibadat) }}
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• {{cite book |last1=Nasr |first1 = Seyyed Vali Reza |last2=Nasr |first2 = Seyyed Hossein |last3=Dabashi |first3=Hamid |title = Expectation of the Millennium: Shi'ism in History |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0887068447 }}
• {{cite journal |first=Saeid |last=Golkar |year=2017|volume=11 |number=3| title = Clerical Militia and Securitization of Seminary Schools in Iran |journal=Contemporary Islam |pages=215–235 |doi = 10.1007/s11562-017-0384-8 |s2cid=151998952 }}
• {{citation |last=Momen |first=Moojan |title = An Introduction to Shiʻi Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shiʻism |publisher = Yale University Press |year=1985 |isbn = 9780300034998 }}
• {{citation |last=Momen |first = Moojan |title = Shi'I Islam: A Beginner's Guide |publisher=Oneworld Publications |year=2015 |isbn=9781780747880 }}

{{refend}}

• {{Wiktionary-inline}}

Category:Hawza

Category:Islamic honorifics

Category:Islamic Persian honorifics

Category:Quranic words and phrases

Category:Religious titles

Category:Shia clerics