Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Hoseini nasab
A quick look at that ref and our articles reinforced my impression that projecting it on to the western system, Ayatollah is something more than a Ph.D. and closer to our  criteria.  It is a higher rank than Hojatoleslam and involves having followers already.  Grand Ayatollah seems very definitely notable, too high a bar, as there are only 20 or so of them for up to 170 million (using wiki's numbers and statements - overwhelming majority of 85% of 200 million) Usuli Twelver Shia Islam|Shi'ites
— User:John, 21:15, 27 November 2008 (UTC)
Stance: comment
Cited policy: WP:PROF (Wikipedia:Notability)