Career
In contrast to the other maraji of his time, who lived in the holy cities of Qom or Najaf, he was based in Tehran, where he ran his own hawza. Grand Ayatollah Khonsari came to Qom in 1923 and became one of the leaders of the hawza after the death of Abdul-Karim Ha"eri Yazdi. But he felt Khomeini’s direct challenge of the Shah, claiming to speak for the entirety of Iranian religious leadership, went too far.
Khonsari openly criticized Khomeini’s behaviour.
Khonsari was a quietist, who believed the clergy should not exercise political power. As such, he opposed Ayatollah Khomeini’s interpretation of the concept of velayat-e faqih.
Abdollah Motevalli: Ayatullah Seyyed Ahmad Khonsari be Revayat-e Asnad. Markaz-e Asnad-e Enqelab-e Islami – Tehran.
2004. 256 pages.
