In 1944...

In 1944, Ayatullah al-Udhma al-Hajj ash-Shaykh Muhammad Taqi al-Behjat returned to Iran and became a student of Ayatullah al-Udhma al-Kukhmari’s while also attending the lectures of Ayatullah al-Udhma al-Hajj as-Sayyid Muhammad Hussein al-Burujerdi on Fiqh and Usul. For the past fifty years, he has been teaching the Kharij level of Fiqh and Usul in his home to avoid publicity.

Ayatullah al-Udhma al-Hajj as-Sayyid Muhammad Riza al-Gulpaygani AyatullAh al-Udhma al-Hajj as-Sayyid Muhammad Riza Al-Gulpaygani departed for his heavenly abode on Thursday night, 9th of December at the age of 96. He suffered from acute respiratory deficiency and lung infection for which he was confined at hospital.

The Ayatullah who was the supreme religious authority of the Shi'a world, became terminally ill immediately after midnight Tuesday and was shed to the Cardiac Care Unit of the hospital but his condition continued to deteriorate despite the extra care and attention of his doctors. Ayatullah al-Gulpaygani went into a coma in the wee hours of Wednesday morning and eventually left the mortal world minutes before evening prayers Thursday.

He saw the light of day in the village of Koukeh near the city of Gulpaygan (135 kms north-east of Isfahan) in the closing years of the 19th century and at the age of 20 went to Arak which was the centre of the Theological studies. There, he received his education under Ayatullah al-Udhma ash-Shaykh ‘Abd al-Karim al-Hairi. Later in 1921 he went to the city of Qum to complete his studies.

In the early 1960s following the death of Ayatullah al-Udhma al-Hajj as-Sayyid Muhammad Hussein al-Burujerdi and during the banishment Ayatullah al-Udhma al-Hajj as-Sayyid Ruhullah al-Musawi al-Khomeini from Iran, he became superintendent of the Qum Theological Seminary. He took over the administration of the school at a crucial time when both the theological school and Islamic scholars were in at stake due to repressive measures directed by Shah.

At that time he had about 800 students who attended his classes and received advanced training in religious studies. Ayatullah al-Gulpaygani is the author of a number of scholarly works and treatises as well as commentaries on various other works of scholastically abstruse character. Among them is an annotation on the ‘al-Urwatul Wuthqa’, 'Tawzih al-Masa’il', ‘Manasik al-Hajj' and many others.