The Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom (Persian: جامعهٔ مدرسین حوزهٔ علمیهٔ قم, romanized: jâme'e madrasin howze 'ilmiah Qom) is an Iranian group founded in 1961/3 by the leading Muslim clerics of Qom. Established by the students of Ayatollah Khomeini after his exile to Iraq, it was formed in order to organize political activities of Khomeini's followers and promote his revolutionary interpretation of Islam, such as the idea of Islamic government.
Since the 1979 revolution, it has largely become the body to keep the regime's registrar of who counts as a grand ayatollah, an ayatollah and a hojjat ul Islam. It has a head who is appointed by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. It currently heads the Supreme Council of Qom Hawzas, and proposes judges to the judiciary system.
The body gained international prominence when it announced in 1981 that Ayatollah Shariatmadari was no longer a source of emulation (marja'). It has demoted a number of clerics over the last three decades. A recent case was that of Ayatollah Yousef Saanei, who for his solidarity with the green movement was demoted from marja' to Hujjat al-Islam. The society also includes Ayatollah Sistani on its list.
Contents
Founders
Its founders, none of whom were ayatollahs at the time, were:
Fazel Lankarani
Azari Qomi
Ebrahim Amini
Ali Meshkini
Hossein-Ali Montazeri
Qoddusi
Rabbani Shirazi
Current members
Ayatollah Morteza Moghtadai
Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Mazaheri
Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati
Ayatollah Hashem Hosseini Bushehri
Late members
Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Fazel Lankarani
Grand Ayatollah Moslem Malakouti
Grand Ayatollah Hussein-Ali Montazeri
Ayatollah Ali Meshkini
Ayatollah Abolghasem Khazali
Ayatollah Mohammad-Hadi Ma'refat
Ayatollah Ahmad Azari Qomi
Ayatollah Ebrahim Amini
Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi
Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi
Activities
The society approves a list of marjas in Qom. In 1963 the society declared Ayatollah Khomeini as marja'. In 1994, after the death of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Araki, the society nominated seven of the Ulama as his successors to be marja', including Ayatollah Khamenei.
In 2022, during Iranian protests, the society urged the authorities to execute and use the amputation punishment to deter people from joining the protests.