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Self-proclaimed marja riles other Iranian ayatollahs

Conservative ayatollahs in Qom, Iran, are losing patience with one of their own because he deems himself a marja, or top religious authority, and because of his secular leanings.
AyatollahAlaviBoroujerdi.jpg

The growing visibility of a grand ayatollah in Iran’s holy city of Qom is arousing the anger of hard-liners who consider him dangerous because he promotes a secular and nonpolitical direction for the seminary there. 

Last year, Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammad Javad Alavi Boroujerdi declared himself a marja — a title given to the highest level of Shiite authority. This didn't sit well with ​Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, the powerful chairman of the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom, who recently berated Boroujerdi publicly.

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