24th of blessed month of Sha’aban marks passing anniversary of Shia jurist, Ayatollah Mirza Shirazi

Born in 1815 in Shiraz, Iran, the late Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Muhammad Hassan Shirazi, also known as Mirza Shirazi, and is remembered in history as Mirza the Great or Mirza Mujaddid, is from the well-known Hosseini Shirazi family, a family that has served people and defended Shia rights as clerics and religious authorities.

At the age of 18, his consuming passion for learning led him to study at the Islamic seminary of Isfahan, and at the age of 27, he mastered his studies at the seminaries in the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf. Very soon, he joined the circle of the special disciples of Sheikh Ansari.

After the demise of Sheikh Ansari, the scholars of Najaf unanimously recognized the religious authority of Mirza Shirazi. At this point, he moved to Samarra, and lived in this city until the end of his noble life. For about thirty years, he served the Shia community. His fight against British colonialism earned him permanent fame.

On the 24th of Sha’ban al-Azm 1312 AH (1895 AD), Mirza passed away in Samarra at the age of 82, and his body was buried in the shrine of Imam Ali (peace be upon him).

The fatwa of Mirza Shirazi against tobacco monopoly had such an influence that Naser-ud-din Shah canceled his contract with the British company and had to pay compensation.

According to his students, mourning ceremonies over his passing continued to be held for a year; for he was a leading Shia scholar, who spent his hounorable life in the service of knowledge and the defense of Shiism and Shias. Mirza Shirazi is the evident embodiment of the Shiarzi family’s struggle, which is now seen in the life of Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Sadiq al-Husseini al-Shirazi, may Allah Almighty prolong his hounorable life.