QOM, Iran — On the walls surrounding the grave of “Fatima the Infallible," the names of the most prominent ayatollahs in Iran can be read. Their graves are situated under the marble covering the grounds of the shrine, which belongs to the sister of Imam Reza — the eighth Imam of Shiite Islam — who lived and died in modern-day Iran some one thousand years ago.

Around the shrine, the famous city of Qom, about 80 miles south of Tehran, grew to become the most significant center for Shiite theology, besides Iraq’s Najaf, bringing together the most important Islamic scholars.

While dead ayatollahs lie under the marble, future ones sit on top of it. They gather in circles to study and debate — some holding books, others with laptops. Meanwhile, the voices of worshippers around them are heard praying and crying. All of this comes together to form the shrine’s unique sound.

There, Al-Monitor met Hussain, a scholar who seemed taken with the heightened political debate as elections approach for the Islamic Consultative Assembly (also called the Iranian parliament) and Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body of mujtahids, or senior Islamic clerics, who elect the supreme leader, the country's highest ranking political and religious official.