Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani
Ayatollah Seyyed Abol-Ghasem Mostafavi Kashani (آیتالله سید ابوالقاسم مصطفوی کاشانی in Persian) (born
1884 in
Tehran,
Iran, died March
1961) was a prominent
Shia Islamic cleric and former Parliament Minister of
Iran.
His father, Ayatollah Hajj Seyyed Mostafa Kashani (آیتالله حاج سید مصطفی کاشانی), was a noted clergyman of Shiism in his time. Abol-Ghasem was trained in Shia Islam by his religious parents and began study of the
Qur'an soon after learning to read and write.
At 16, Abol-Ghasem went to Islamic
seminary to study
literature,
Arabic language,
logic,
semantics and speech, as well as the principles of Islamic jurisprudence, or
Fiqh. He continued his education at the seminary in an-
Najaf in the
Qur'an and
Hadiths as interpreted in Shia law, receiving his jurisprudence degree when he was 25.
Abol-Ghasem expressed
liberal leanings from early on in his career and opposed what he saw as "
oppression,
despotism and
colonization."
Due to
nationalist positions, Ayatollah Kashani was arrested and exiled by the British and Soviets. He continued opposing foreign control of Iran's oil industry while in
exile, organizing a movement against the
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, and played a significant role in the
nationalization of the Iranian oil industry in
1951.
Ayatollah Kashani died in Tehran in
1961.
*
"The Ayatollah and Me", a predominantly favorable account from
The Scribe (Journal of Babylonian Jewry).
*
"The Day Democracy Died", an article from
Iranscope, claiming that Ayatollah Kashani (along with
Ayatollah Khomeini) played a pro-Shah role in the toppling of the Mossadegh government.
