Ayatollah
Ayatollah ( ; ) is an Honorary for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy in Iran and Iraq that came into widespread usage in the 20th century. Etymology. The title is originally derived from Arabic word "Āyah" pre-modified with the definite article "al" and post-modified with the word "Allah", making "ʾāyatu llāh" (). The combination has been translated to English as 'Sign of God', 'Divine Sign' or 'Reflection of God'. It is a frequently-used term in Quran, but its usage in this context is presumably a particular reference to the verse "We shall show them Our signs on the horizons and  in their own selves", while it has been also used to refer to The Twelve Imams by Shias. Variants used are "ʾāyatu llāhi fī l-ʾanʿām" (), "ʾāyatu llāhi fī l-ʿālamayn" (, dual form) or "fī l-ʿālamīn" (, plural form) and "ʾāyatu llāhi fī l-warā" (). Origins. The earliest known address of this title is for Ibn Mutahhar Al-Hilli (died 1374), however it was not in use until the recent century. Glassé states that following domination of Twelver branch by followers of "Usuli" school and demise of "Akhbari" school, the title was popularized by "Usuli"s as an attempt to promote their status. Hamid  Algar maintains that this title entered general usage possibly because it was an "indirect result of the reform and strengthening of the religious institution in Qom". Abdul-Karim Haeri Yazdi who founded Qom Seminary, may be the first to bear the title according to Algar. "Loghatnameh Dehkhoda" indicates that during the Persian Constitutional Revolution (1905–1911), the honorific was used by constitutionalists to refer to Mirza Sayyed Mohammad Tabatabai and Seyyed Abdollah Behbahani. While Ayatollah was sporadically used during the 1930s, it became widespread in the 1940s. Contemporary usage. Usage by location. The Sunni community of Iran does not use this  title. It is also absent in the vocabulary of Shias in Lebanon, Pakistan, and India. In Iraq, while the title is not unknown, it is only used for clerics of Iranian origin. Devaluation trend. The title Ayatollah has been cheapened in the recent decades. Michael M. J. Fischer opines in "" that the Iranian revolution led to "rapid inflation of religious titles", and almost every senior cleric was called an Ayatollah. The same phenomenon happened to the title Hujjat al-Islam before, which is today a less prestigious title than Ayatollah. However, as of 19th century it was given to people  who were not only "Mujtahids", but also were the most distinguished clerics of that time. Today there are "tens of thousands" called with that title, who are just aspiring to become a "Mujtahid". This trend led to invention of a new title called "Ayatollah al-Uzma" (). In the beginning, about half a dozen people were addressed with the latter title, but as of 2015, the number of people who claimed that title was reportedly over 50. Political connotations. Addressing someone with or without this title may have political reasons, rather than for purely religious credentials. Ali Khamenei –who was addressed  with mid-level title of "Hujjat al-Islam" when he was in office as President– was bestowed the title Ayatollah immediately after he became Supreme Leader of Iran in 1989, without meeting regular unwritten criteria (such as authoring a "Risalah"). Since the 2010s, sources under government control tend to give him more distinguished titles like "Grand Ayatollah" and "Imam". Certain clerics have been downgraded by not being addressed as an Ayatollah, such as Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari and Hussein-Ali Montazeri. Qualifications. Though no formal hierarchical structure exists among Shia clerics, a "hierarchy of difference" can be elaborated to describe the  situation. Traditionally, the title Ayatollah was awarded by popular usage to prominent figures only –who were necessarily a "Mujtahid"– and it was reserved for the very few highest rank clerics. Plus qualification as a definite "Mujtahid", such person was regarded among his peers superior in "aʿlamīyat" () and "riyāsat" (), the latter being determined by popular acclamation, as well as collecting a huge amount of "Khums" (religious taxes). Those conditions being applied, by 1960s a cleric addressed as an Ayatollah was expected to be a "Marja'". An unwritten rule of addressing for Shia clerics has been developed after the 1980s as a  result of Iranian Revolution, despite the fact no official institutional way of conferring titles is available. Since 1979, the number of individuals who call themselves an Ayatollah, instead of being recipient of that title, has raised dramatically.<ref name="Momen205/206"></ref> The title that was previously customary for addressing a "Marja'", was gradually applied to an established "Mujtahid". With recent bureaucratization of Shia seminaries under the current regime, four levels of studies were introduced and those clerics who end the fourth level, also known as "Dars-e-Kharej" () and pass the final exam, were called Ayatollahs. Moojan Momen wrote in 2015 that  every cleric who finished his training calls himself an Ayatollah and this trend has led to emergence of "thousands of Ayatollahs". Stages of contemporary titles for Shia clerics in Iran can be understood from the following table: Grand Ayatollah. Only a few of the most important ayatollahs are accorded the rank of Grand Ayatollah ("Ayatollah Uzma", "Great Sign of God"). When an ayatollah gains a significant following and they are recognized for religiously correct views, they are considered a "Marja'-e-Taqlid", which in common parlance is "grand ayatollah". Usually as a prelude to such status, a "mujtahid" is asked to  publish a juristic treatise in which he answers questions about the application of Islam to present-time daily affairs. "Risalah" is the word for treatise, and such a juristic work is called a "risalah-yi'amaliyyah" or "practical law treatise", and it is usually a reinvention of the book "Al-Urwatu l-Wuthqah".