Hadi al-Modarresi

Ayatollah Sayed Hadi Almodarresi or al-Modarresi (Template:Lang-ar; Hādī al-Mudarrisī) (1957– ) is an Iraqi Shi'a scholar and leader. Much of his career was marked by opposition to the government of Saddam Hussein, and he spent many years in exile. Almodarresi returned to Iraq following the 2003 collapse of Saddam's regime, and administers humanitarian projects in Iraq.

Early life

Almodarresi was born in 1957 to a family with a long line of top-ranking scholars that dominated the hawza (Religious seminarie) for many years in Karbala, Iraq. His family includes supreme religious jurists (marja’a) such as Grand Ayatollah Mirza Mahdi Al Shirazi (grandfather), Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Shirazi (uncle) and Grand Ayatollah Sadiq Shirazi (uncle), Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sabzowari (cousin), Grand Ayatollah Sayed Abdul Hadi Al-Shirazi (great uncle), as well as Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Al Modarresi (brother).

Almodarresi started his religious education in the Religious seminary of Karbala at the age of three and actively sought his religious studies under the auspices of many high ranking scholars. He completed the secondary part of the curriculum by the age of nine. Due to his distinguished abilities Almodarresi received the recognition of several maraje’ who appointed him as their special representative. Being A faith leader Bahrain, Grand Ayatollah Sabzewari and Grand Ayatollah Mar’ashi Najafi also awarded Almodarresi power of representation in which they praised him and labeled him as “scholar worthy of taking a leadership position” and urging Shias to follow his lead.^{[citation needed]}

Opposition to Saddam Hussein

Almodarresi's advocacy of political freedom and strong stance against terrorism started from an early age when Saddam Hussein came to power in Iraq. Seventeen members of his wife’s family were executed by Saddam's regime or simply disappeared in the notorious Baathist penitentiaries. Almodarresi wrote the first book openly attacking the Iraqi regime ever to be published by a religious scholar. Published under a pseudonym in Beirut, the book was titled No To Rulers of Iraq and sparked a massive political crisis in Baghdad and caused the Baathist regime to issue an ultimatum for the removal of all Lebanese nationals from Iraq within 72 hours.^{[citation needed]}

Almodarresi eluded execution by moving from house to house, often living in cellars for months and traveling in disguise. His uncle Ayatollah Sayed Hassan Al Shirazi was gunned down by Iraqi government assassins in Beirut for his role as a key opposition figure to Saddam's regime.^{[citation needed]}

Return to Iraq

Upon returning to Iraq after the fall of Saddam’s regime, he was greeted by over 30,000 people in Baghdad and 50,000 in Sadr City and a similar crowd in his native city of Karbala.^{[citation needed]}

Almodarresi established a television station upon his return to his hometown. He is also involved in several large-scale humanitarian projects in Iraq and has been involved in the building of mosques, schools, medical clinics, orphanages, and has been a stanch advocate of women's rights and consistently speaks out against the oppression of women in his lectures and books. He also facilitates marriage by providing financial help to people who wish to get married and has organized several large mass marriage ceremonies. Almodarresi also founded and currently heads the League of Religious Scholars which brings together many high ranking Shi’ite scholars or their representatives in Iraq.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

Official website
Arabic biography, excerpts from a biography of Ayatollah Almodarresi, by Mansour Al Sheikh, "Allamah Sayed Hadi Almodarresi; His Positions, His Thoughts", Beirut, Lebanon 1991. Reprinted in Baghdad, Iraq 2004.]