Ayatollah

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Ayatollah (Arabic: آية الله; Persian: آيت‌الله) is a high rank given to major Shīˤa clerics. The word means "Sign of God" and those who carry the title are experts in Islamic studies such as jurisprudence, ethics, philosophy and mysticism and usually teach in schools (howzeha) of Islamic sciences. The next lower clerical rank is Hojætol-Islam ("Authority on Islam").

The rank is granted by consensus, rather than ceremonially: an esteemed religious scholar who has earned the respect and admiration of his teachers for his knowledge and behavior after completing his howze studies. By then he would be able to issue his own edicts from the sources of religious laws: Qur'an, Sunnah, Ijmāˤ and Aql "intellect" (the equivalent of the Sunnī principle of Qiyas). Most of the time this is attested by an issued certificate from his teachers. This Ayætollah then can teach in religious howzeha according to his speciality and can act as a reference for their religious questions and as a judge.

Only a few of the most important Ayatollahha are accorded the rank of Grand Ayatollah (Ayætollah-e Ozme, "Great Sign of God") or Mærjæ'e Tæqlid ("Reference for Emulation"). This usually happens when the followers of one of the Ayatollahs refer to him in many situations and ask him to publish his Juristic book in which he answers the vast majority of daily Muslim affairs. The book is called Resale-ye Elmiye, which is usually a reinvention of the book Al-Urwatu l-Wuthqah according to their knowledge of the most authentic Islamic sources and their application to current life.

There is usually one Grand Ayatollah in Iraq that heads the Howzeha (currently Ali al-Sistani) and a few that coordinate with him like Mohammad Said Al-Hakim, Mohammad Ishaq Al-Fayyad, and Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi. There are more in Iran and wherever the Shi'a exist. There are more than 20 living world-wide; the most famous of them are Jawad Tabrizi, Ali Khamenei, Ali Sistani, Kazem al-Haeri, Grand Ayatolah Sadiq Rohani, Muhammad Fazel Lankarani, Ali Montazeri, Mohammad Hussein Fadlullah, and Sadiq Hussaini Shirazi.

When Westerners say "the Ayatollah", they usually mean Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who brought the word into the international limelight during the 1979 Iranian Revolution; a possible secondary meaning would be the term's use to indicate the serving Supreme Leader of Iran.

"The Ayatollah" is also the name of the celebration performed by Wales rugby captain Gareth Thomas when he scores a try, and the celebration performed by Cardiff City F.C. fans when their team scores. The celebration itself consists of using both arms to pat the head at the same time, and is derived from some of the mourning actions that were displayed when Ayatollah Khomeini died, and is intended to symbolize the opposing team's grief at conceding a goal.

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