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Brief Biographies of the Maraja’ presented in this Book(1)

Ayatullah al-‘Udhma al-Hajj ash-Shaykh ‘Ali Araki

Ayatullah al-Udhma al-Hajj ash-Shaykh ‘Ali Araki was born in the early 1890’s, but the exact date is not known due to the lack of appropriate birth records at the time, in the Iranian city of Arak.

Following his preliminary religious studies, he demonstrated an aptitude to further his Islamic studies, and commented on the scholarly book, ‘Urwatul Wuthqa some 48 years ago (1952). This is a book upon which all Mujtahidin comment as soon as they are recognized as an expert in independent theological studies, according to their views. At the time of his review of ‘Urwatul Wuthqa, he was in the company of such great leaders as Ayatullah al-‘Udhma Khunsari, and others.

Although he was learned and a declared Mujtahid, following the demise of Ayatullah al-‘Udhma al-Hajj as-Sayyid Khusani and Ayatullah al-‘Udhma al-Hajj as-Sayyid Muhammad Hussein al-Burujerdi, he did not openly declare his Marja’iyyah. He was

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