Iran's Worst Clerics

GRAND AYATOLLAH NASER MAKAREM SHIRAZI

jafariyanews.com

Position: A grand ayatollah, the highest rank for Shiite clerics, Shirazi was very politically active before and during the 1979 revolution and played a role in writing the Islamic Republic’s constitution.

Worldview: Shirazi is among the most conservative of the Iran’s ayatollahs and one of the most influential. His views on gender roles are particularly extreme; he’s written that men should be permitted to beat their wives for failing to perform their sexual obligations. He is a “major player in terms of advocating the authority of the supreme leader from a religious point of view,” says Nafisi.

Possible election role: Shirazi, who can be relied upon to go to bat for Khamenei in any potential power struggle, came to his position of influence within the clerical establishment through a somewhat unusual route. After the revolution, Shirazi was given control of Iran’s sugar exports and became very wealthy in the process. “Today, Shirazi is powerful in Qom [Iran’s center of religious scholarship] because he is the man the other clerics go to when they need money,” Nafisi says. The “Sultan of Sugar” has more than a few favors to call in if his friend Khamenei needs it.

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