TEHRAN – Iranian President Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Raisi has praised the late Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi as a great jurist. 

Speaking at a commemorative ceremony held on the occasion of the second anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, President Raisi said that “our society today can reach knowledge and practice by knowing the character of Ayatollah Mesbah.” 

President Raisi pointed out that Ayatollah Mesbah was one of the prominent and influential teachers in the field of ethics and he was also an outstanding jurist in the field of practice and rulings.

According to Ayatollah Raisi, if someone's speech, actions and thinking were the manifestation of jurisprudence, he is a perfect jurist. “The speech of such a person reminds us of God and his actions are also manifestations of jurisprudence,” he continued.

Raisi emphasized that Ayatollah Misbah Yazdi was one of the fighters against the Pahlavi regime. “He has left some statements in this regard and he was fighting against the worst of things, which was the Pahlavi regime,” Raisi said. “And after the [1979], he supported with all his might the best of things that is the Islamic Republic.”

Ayatollah Raisi added, “The late Ayatollah Misbah Yazdi knew deviations well and fought against them well. For this reason, he was called the Ammar Yaser of the Revolution. He was very excellent in the field of the Clarification Jihad.”

Raisi noted, “He confronted deviant ideas and seditionists who wanted to bring chaos to the region, and he was one of the models of this confrontation and resistance alongside the martyred general Qassem Soleimani.”

Ayatollah Mesbah died in early 2021 at the age of 85 due to gastrointestinal disease. A philosopher and political theorist, the ayatollah was a member of the Assembly of Experts and the Society of the Seminary Teachers of Qom. He also founded the Baqir-ul-Uloom Institute and then the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute in the city of Qom, which he headed for the rest of his life.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed his condolences over the demise of prominent cleric, saying he himself is mourning the demise of a “dear brother.”

In a message, the Leader said Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi’s demise is a loss for the seminary and the Islamic studies.

“I received the news of the demise of Ayatollah Hajj Sheikh Muhammad-Taqi Misbah Yazdi – a spiritual scholar and a mujahid faqih and hakim – with considerable grief and sorrow. This is a grave loss for Islamic seminaries and for Islamic ethics in general,” the Leader said in the message. “He was an outstanding thinker and a competent manager who had an eloquent tongue in telling the truth and who stood firm on the straight path. His services in producing religious thoughts, in writing instructive books, in training brilliant and influential pupils, and in showing his presence in all the arenas where his presence was necessary are really and truly unique.”

He added, “From his youth until the end of his life, piety and devoutness were his eternal qualities, and the blessing of treading on the path of towhidi (Monotheistic) understanding was God’s great reward for his long-term endeavor.”

In the meantime, the Leader condoled with the bereaved family of the late ayatollah, his students, and the seminary.

“Being in mourning myself for the loss of this old-time and dear brother of ours, I express my condolences to his esteemed family, his honorable children, and his relatives, and I extend my condolences to the pupils and admirers of that great teacher and to the Islamic seminaries,” the Leader said.