24 Shaban marks demise anniversary of Late Sayyed Mohammed Hassan Husayni Nouri Shirazi

Sayyed Mohammed Hassan Husayni Nouri Shirazi (25 April 1814 – 20 February 1895), commonly known as Mirza Shirazi, was a Shia marja’. He is known for his 1891 verdict against the usage of tobacco in what became known as the Tobacco Protest in the Qajar era.

Sayyed Mohammed Hassan Husayni Nouri Shirazi (25 April 1814 – 20 February 1895), commonly known as Mirza Shirazi, was a Shia marja’. He is known for his 1891 verdict against the usage of tobacco in what became known as the Tobacco Protest in the Qajar era.

Born in Shiraz, Iran, Shirazi began his Islamic religious studies at the age of four. He completed his preliminary-level studies by age eight and at age 12, he began advanced lessons in jurisprudence and methodology at the Shiraz seminary. He later left Shiraz to study in Isfahan and Shi’ite holy city of Karbala in Iraq. At the age of 29, he began studying under Sheikh Morteza Ansari in Najaf. Upon Ansari’s death in 1864, Shirazi succeeded him as marja’. In 1874, he settled in Samarra, where he established the city’s first Shia seminary.

Among his notable students were his son-in-law, Sayyed Ali Akbar Falasiri, who first proposed the boycott to him, Sayyed Mohammed Kazem Yazdi, Mulla Mohammad-Kazem Khorasani, Mirza Mohammad Taqi Shirazi (called as Mirza the second), Sheikh Fazlollah Noori Tabrasi, Mirza Husain Noori Tabarsi and Mirza Ismael Shirazi. He died in Samarra at the age of 80 and his body is buried in the Imam Ali Holy Shrine in Najaf