10 Facts About Abol-Ghasem Kashani

Sayyed Abol-Ghasem Mostafavi-Kashani was an Iranian politician and Shia Marja.

Abol-Ghasem Kashani played an important role in the 1953 coup in Iran and the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh.

Abol-Ghasem Kashani's father, Ayatollah Hajj Seyyed Mostafavi Kashani, was a noted scholar of Islam in his time.

At 16, Abol-Ghasem Kashani went to an Islamic seminary to study literature, Arabic language, logic, semantics and speech, as well as the principles of Islamic jurisprudence, or Fiqh.

Abol-Ghasem Kashani continued his education at the seminary in Najaf in the Qur'an and Hadiths as interpreted in Sharia law, receiving his jurisprudence degree when he was 25.

Abol-Ghasem Kashani had 3 wives and 19 children, including 7 sons and 12 daughters.

Abol-Ghasem Kashani advocated the return of Islamic government to Iran, though this was most likely for political reasons.

Abol-Ghasem Kashani continued to oppose foreign, especially British, control of Iran's oil industry while in exile.

Abol-Ghasem Kashani served as speaker of the Majles, during the oil nationalization, but later turned against Mosaddeq during the 1953 Iranian coup d'etat.

Abol-Ghasem Kashani protected the violent Islamist group Fada'iyan-e Islam, led by Navvab Safavi, after their expulsion from the Qom seminary by Ayatollah Hosein Borujerdi in 1950.