Ayatollah

Ayatollah

Ayatollah is a high ranking title given to Usuli Twelver Shī‘ah clerics. Those who carry the title are experts in Islamic studies such as jurisprudence, ethics, and philosophy and usually teach in Islamic seminaries. The next lower clerical rank is Hojatoleslam wal-muslemin...

 Reza Ostadi Moghadam (Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

: رضا استادی مقدم) (born 1937 in Tehran

Tehran

Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...

) is a member of the Expediency Discernment Council

Expediency Discernment Council

The Expediency Discernment Council of the System is an administrative assembly appointed by the Supreme Leader and was created upon the revision to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran on 6 February 1988...

 and the Assembly of Experts

Assembly of Experts

The Assembly of Experts of Iran , also translated as Council of Experts, is a deliberative body of 86 Mujtahids that is charged with electing and removing the Supreme Leader of Iran and supervising his activities.Members of the assembly are elected from a government-screened list of candidates by...

 of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Previously, during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami

Mohammad Khatami

Sayyid Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s...

, he was also a member of the Guardian Council

Guardian Council

The Guardian Council of the Constitution , also known as the Guardian Council or Council of Guardians, is an appointed and constitutionally-mandated 12-member council that wields considerable power and influence in the Islamic Republic of Iran....

.

While in the Guardian Council in 2000, he confirmed the rejection of 600 candidates out of an original 758 candidates who were running for public office.

Opposition

In July 2009, Ayatollah Ostadi issued a stringing criticism of Ahmadinejad and the 'status quo.' He announced he will stop leading Friday prayers at Qom

Qom

Qom is a city in Iran. It lies by road southwest of Tehran and is the capital of Qom Province. At the 2006 census, its population was 957,496, in 241,827 families. It is situated on the banks of the Qom River....

 Mosque. Ostadi belongs to the hardline Association of Qom Seminary Teachers.

See also

• Mohammad Alavi Gorgani
  Mohammad Alavi Gorgani
  Grand Ayatollah Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini Alavi Gorgani is an Iranian Twelver shi'a marja. He was born in a religious family in Golestan, Iran. He rose to a leading scholar in Najaf, and moved to Qom in 1979...
  
  
• Imam Khomeini
• Hashemi Rafsanjani
• List of Marjas