Biography
He was born in the city of Shiraz, Iran. According to his website, his father was Ali Mohammad, his grandfather was Mohammad Karim, his forefather was Mohammad Baqer and his progenitor was Mohammad Sadeq.[3] According to Parvaneh Vahidmanesh, he has Jewish ancestors.[4] He finished his school in Shiraz.
He started his formal Islamic studies at the age of 14 in the Agha Babakhan Shirazi seminary. After completing the introductory studies, he started studying jurisprudence (fiqh) and its principles (usool al-fiqh).
He made rapid progress and finished studying the complete levels of introductory and both the levels of the intermediate Islamic studies in approximately four years. During this time, he also taught at the Islamic seminary in Shiraz.
At the age of 18, he formally entered the theological seminary of Qom, and for the next five years was present in the religious gatherings and classes of some of the leading Islamic teachers of those days, such as Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Burujerdi, & Ayatollah Seyyed Kazem Shariatmadari.
In Najaf
In 1950 he made his way to the seminary of Najaf, Iraq. Here, he was able to take part in classes of teachers such as Ayatollah Muhsin al-Hakim, Ayatollah Abul-Qassim Khoei and Ayatollah Abdul Hadi ash-Shirazi.
At the age of 24, he was granted complete ijtihad by two senior scholars in Najaf. Ayatollah Muhsin al-Hakim also wrote a short, comprehensive letter of commendation for him.
In 1951 he returned to Qom, since he did not have the means to survive and continue his studies in Najaf.
After returning to Iran, Ayatollah Nasir Makarim Shirazi began teaching the intermediate and higher level of studies in usul al-fiqh and fiqh. Also, he was a member of the editorial board of the first Islamic magazine published in Iran named "Maktab'e Eslam", next to Ayatollah Shariatmadari.
He has won the Iranian Royal Academy of Philosophy' award for his essay "Filsuf-Namaha".
Political career
Ayatollah Makarim Shirazi was active in the pre-revolution days, hence he was thrown in jail many times. He was even exiled on three separate occasions to three different locations-Chabahar, Mahabad and Anarak. After the Iranian revolution, he was appointed to the Assembly of Experts for construction and played a major role in writing the first constitution. He is no longer a member of the government, and resides in the city of Qom. On November 23, 2014 and after months of preparations, he finally managed to gather in over 600 religious scholars from around the world in a conference titled The International Congress on Extremist and Takfiri Movements in the Islamic Scholars’ View. It was a meeting for discussing controversial issues effecting the Muslim world, especially Takfiri movements.[17] After the first successful hosting in which he condemned the inaction in the face of ISIL atrocities, he decided to reorganize another conference, Extremism and Takfiri Movements in Today’s World in 28 January 2016, to further focus on the responsibilities of the Muslim scholars regarding the unwelcome emergence of extremism. At the second congress same as the first one, scholars of more than 80 countries received invitations and was participated by about one thousand people.
Selected bibliography
Some of his publications include:
the Message of Quran
OUR BELIEF
Khums the Fund of Independence of Bait Al Mal
Quran Translation and Commentary in Brief
Life under the Grace of Ethics
Universal Government of Mahdi
Islamic Law
sexual problems of the youth
Shia Answers
Commentary on the book Kifayatul Usul (at age 18)
The Manifestation of Truth
Commentary on the Quran (Tafsir Nemooneh)
The Message of the Quran
Anwar al-Fuqahah
al-Qawaidul Fiqhiyyah
The Limits of Azadari
They Will Ask You
50 Life Lessons from the Ahl al-Bayt (a)