Ayatollah Seyyed Hassan Modarres (Persian: سید حسن مدرس) (1870? - December 1, 1937), was an Persian/Iranian cleric and politician. He was among the founding members of the Reformist Party (hezb-e eslaah-talab) of the time, which was formed during the fourth national Majlis of Iran.
Born in Shahreza , and having studied Islamic sciences in Isfahan and Najaf, Modarres turned to become a religious teacher in an Esfahan's madrasa. The name Modarres, that means "teacher", is because of his job there. In 1910, he was chosen by Najaf's cleric community and sent to Tehran to supervise the laws passed by the Majlis of Iran, to make sure they are not against the rules of sharia. Later, in 1914, he was elected as a Majlis representative of Tehran.
In 1916, during the World War I, he migrated to Iraq, Syria, and Turkey together with a handful of other politicians, and served as the Minister of Justice in a cabinet formed in exile by Nezam os-Saltaneh . After returning to Iran, he was elected in the Majlis elections a few more times.
Modarres has also fought against the presence of British forces in Persia.
Modarres strongly opposed Reza Shah Pahlavi in the plan for deposing the Qajar dynasty in 1925. A few years after an assassination attempt in November 1926, which Modarres survived, he was expelled to Khaf and then Kashmar , and was finally killed in a prison in 1937.
Ruhollah Khomeini, who later became the Supreme Leader of Iran after the Iranian Revolution, was among Modarres's students. A picture of Modarres appears on the Iranian 100 rial banknote.
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Last updated: 08-20-2005 07:52:35
