Ayatollah
Seyyed Abol-Ghasem Mostafavi Kashani ( ) (born 1882 in Tehran
, Iran
, died
March 14 1962) was a
prominent Twelver Shi'a
Muslim cleric and former Parliament Minister
of Iran.
Early life
His father, Ayatollah Hajj Seyyed Mostafa Kashani ( ), was a noted
clergyman of Shiism in his time. Abol-Ghasem was trained in Shia
Islam by his religious parents and began study of the
Qur'an soon after learning to read and write.
At 16, Abol-Ghasem went to Islamic
seminary
to study
literature,
Arabic language,
logic,
semantics and speech, as well as the
principles of Islamic jurisprudence, or
Fiqh.
He continued his education at the seminary in
an-Najaf
in the
Qur'an and Hadiths as
interpreted in Shia law, receiving his jurisprudence degree when he
was 25.
Later life
Personal life
One of
Kashani's children, Mahmoud Kashani,
was head of the Iranian delegation to the International
Court of Justice
in The
Hague
, Netherlands, in Iran's case with the United States
and a presidential candidate in the Iranian presidential
elections of 1988 and 2005.
Kashani was also a friend and mentor to future Supreme Leader
Ruhollah Khomeini.
Political Life
Abol-Ghasem expressed
Anti-capitalist leanings from early on in
his career and opposed what he saw as "
oppression,
despotism and
colonization." Because of these
beliefs, he was especially popular with the poor in Tehran
Dabby, Elias.
"The Ayatollah and Me." The Scribe - Journal of
Babylonian Jewry. Issue 70, October 1998.. He also
advocated the return of Islamic government to Iran, though this was
most likely for political reasons.
Due to
nationalist positions, Ayatollah
Kashani was arrested and exiled by the British and Soviets. He
continued to oppose foreign, especially British, control of Iran's
oil industry while in
exile. After he returned
from exile on 10 June 1950, he continued to protest. Angered by the
fact that the
Anglo-Iranian
Oil Company paid Iran much less than it did the British, he
organized a movement against it and was the "virtually alone among
the leading mujtahids in joining" nationalist Prime Minister
Mohammed Mosaddeq, in his campaign
to
nationalize the Iranian oil industry
in
1951.
Kashani served as speaker of the
Majles (or lower house of Parliament), during
the oil nationalization and 1953 coup.
Political allies against the Shah and the British at first, Kashani
and Mossedeq parted ways in 1953 after the emergency powers granted
to Mossedeq by the Majlis were extended for 12 months and Mossedeq
instituted secular reforms.By withholding his support, Kashani
played a crucial role in the success of the
1953 Iranian coup d'état that
overthrew Mossedeq.
Kazemzadeh, Masoud. "The Day Democracy Died."
Iranscope. Vol. 3 No. 34Following his break
with Mossedeq, he gave support to his former adversary, Shah
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.. and
even declared that Mosaddeq deserved to be executed because he had
committed the ultimate offense: rebelling against the shah,
`betraying` the country, and repeatedly violating the sacred
law."
He
also participated in some anti-British activities in Iraq
.
Curiously, despite his assistance in the 1953 coup, Kashani is
often portrayed as a victim of the coup, in the Islamic Republic of
Iran today on the grounds that the coup was a prime example of
American aggression in Iran, and that politically active clergy act
as bulwarks of Islam against from Western predation. The hard-line
Entekhab newspaper, for example in 2002 anniversary story
on the coup asserted the coup was launched `against
Mossadegh and also Kashani`
Ayatollah
Kashani died in Tehran in 1962, and his death paved the way for Khomeini to gain
influence.
See also
References
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