Tehran, IRNA – Prominent Nigerian Muslim Leader Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky in a message on Thursday expressed condolence over the demise of Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Saafi Golpaygani.

Sheikh Zakzaky said in his message that the demise of Grand Ayatollah Saafi Golpaygani was a great loss for the seminaries, all Muslims, and Shias everywhere in the world because the loss of an influential cleric like Ayatollah Saafi Golpaygani has created a huge gap that would take years to fill.

He made significant contributions to scholarships for students and scholars of religious sciences from different ethnicities and nationalities around the world, Sheikh Zakzaky added in his message.

Ayatollah Saafi Golpaygani passed away at the age of 103 on early Tuesday. Ayatollah Saafi Golpaygani was a senior Iranian theologian, a Twelver Shia Marja, and the author of several significant books on Shia jurisprudence. He was born in 1297 (Iranian calendar) in Golpayegan.

He studied in seminaries of Qom under Grand Ayatollah Borujerdi, Hojjat, Khansari, and Golpaygani.

According to his will, his body was transferred to the holy city of Karbala, Iraq, to be buried in the shrine of Imam Hussein (AS).

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