A Primer on Ayatollahs: Part1
Who are the real Ayatollahs, who are grand ayatollahs, who are Fake Ayatollahs and how much power do they have?
The term Ayatollah in Arabic means "the sign of God" and in a Shi'ite theocracy is one of the highest rankings that a clergyman can achieve. However recently, this title along with other political and religious titles, have been distorted by those in power and the need to redefine any thing. Since this title carries a lot of weight in the Shiite sect of Islam. I will examine what it is and how one becomes in Iran.
Historically, it was not very difficult to be a clergyman in Iran. All you needed was the clergyman's cloth, knew a few religious songs (preferably a good voice) and a few religious stories for every occasions. Some of these clergymen were totally illiterate, and some worked in other professions .When ever there was a religious service in our house my mother would send me to our local ice-cream shop and tell the owner that we needed him for a specific date and occasion. I have forgotten his name now, but he was a pleasant fellow and was always on time. He would drive a moped and when he would show up for services he would wear the clergymen's clothes. He would sing a couple of religious songs for the participants, and sometimes he would mix his songs with a couple of religious stories .Most of these stories were related to all of the hardship that the Shiite saints went through. In contrast to his good voice his knowledge of history was bad. On his way out my mother would give me fifty cents to a dollar to pay him. I always kept it quiet because I could not understand why you should mix the services with historical malarkey.
In school we would study the Quran in Arabic and had religious courses along with other requirement. In high school I had found a place where I could buy the Play Boy magazines. The religious studies classes were the best time to discuss the pictures with my friends. Overall the religious classes, learning of the Quran, participating in a religious ceremony were not a big deal one way or another.
When I came to the United States I became close friends with an Iranian man whose father was an Ayatollah .He explained the process of becoming an Ayatollah for me in detail. It was interesting because I did not knew the subject, and it was intellectually more stimulating than I thought and quite pleasurable. He told me about the grand Ayatollahs of the past and the impending event of Khomeini becoming the sole grand Ayatollah and his definite clash with the Shah. I did not like the Shah, but I did not believe that a bunch of clergymen can destroy him; after all, the most famous one that I knew had an Ice cream shop and a moped.
According to my friend, and everything I have read since that time. Clergymen like the Ice-cream shop owner were the bottom of, the totem pole, and becoming a real clergyman was much more sophisticated.
When a person is interested in becoming an ayatollah he has to go one of the religious centers of the Shiites. In old times the center (hozeh). City of Najaf was the most famous academic center for Shiite religious studies. These days probably, the institution in the city of Qum is the most elaborate one. Once in the religious center of your choosing you change your civilian close and put the clergymen's cloth on. They are all almost identical except the turban is either white or black. A black turban means that you are some how related to one of the Shiite saints , in other words the blood of the prophet flows in your veins' .white turban means that you are a regular person with out any claims to the profit.
Your studies start with a book called Jameaol moghadamat " Collection of introductions". The idea is that you have to learn Arabic well so that you can move to actual books of religion and the Quran. The type of Arabic you learn is classical Arabic not the colloquial language. Once you have learned the introduction book well you take different class in the center and spend many years studying the Quran, Interpretation of Quran, Philosophy, Logic and many other topics that are as old as history of Islam. During this time you depend mainly on your family for finances. Through out this time you are called "talabeh" or student. Once your age goes up and you gain good command of different Islamic fields, and your writings are approved by the Ayatollahs of the time they refer to you as "Hojjat ol-Islam " which is probably equivalent to a bishop.
Many people at this level go back to their city of origin and become religious leaders. These men do not practice singing religious songs or participating in everyday life of the people. They usually run a mosque and lead people in the prayers five times a day. They answer peoples religious questions .They collect the religious taxation "Khoms, Zakat, and Hagh ol Imam" which has to be transferred to different Ayatollahs. They probably get a percentage, however I am not very familiar with this aspect of the deal, I just know that they push for the money and they have to send most of it higher up. They also develop a following of rich people, mostly the merchants who provide them with money one way or another.
Among some students who remain in the religious center become better-known, because they are better students, and have better command of several aspects of their education. They have to write certain books and must be able to teach the technical parts of the religious studies to others. The writing of several topics at the highest levels of Islamic religion is a must. At this point if they are good and have approval of several ayatollahs. They will get specific letters from those ayatollahs certifying that they have completed their studies and they are qualified to be called a "Mojtahed". A "Mojtahed is a clergyman who is educated and certified by other Ayatollahs to render his opinion on different religious matters.
Obviously it is very difficult to get to this point and there are only a few people in history who became a "Mojtahed" before the age of forty. It is at this point that they do gain momentum and referred to by their followers as an Ayatollah. Most of the Ayatollahs are older than sixty, and have very high IQs; currently there are about 80 ayatollahs in the world with the majority being in Iran.
The rest of the accomplishment of an ayatollah is more democratic. All Shiites are required to follow the teachings of an ayatollah. So if an ayatollah has a good name and heavy following then he automatically becomes a grand Ayatollah .He will write a book about how to conduct everyday life from a religious point of view.
A grand Ayatollah has a lot of power and if he writes a religious decree it has to be followed by his followers. With in the boundaries of Islam he has an open hand to order what he thinks is the best for Islam. Currently there are about 9 grand ayatollahs in the world.
Occasionally you have one grand ayatollah who has significant following, and they by pass all others. An example of such person was Ayatollah Rohollah Khomeini who was admired by millions of his followers.
Ayatollahs without proper credential.
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