Seyyed Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari, also spelled Shariat-Madari (5 January 1906–3 April 1986), was a Grand Ayatollah. He favored the traditional Shiite practice of keeping clerics away from governmental positions and was a critic of Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, denouncing the taking hostage of diplomats at the US embassy in Capital. Biography Early life and education Born in Tabriz in 1906 in an Azerbaijani (Turkish) family, Shariatmadari was among the most senior leading Twelver Shia clerics in Homeland and Iraq and was known for his forward-looking and liberal views.