Ayatullah Gulpaygani was born on the birth of the 8th Imam and was therefore named Muhammad Radha. He was born in the village of Koukeh near the city of Gulpaygan (135kms north-east of Isfahan) in the closing years of the 19th century. He lost both his parents at a very young age; his mother died when he was 3 years old and his father died when he was 9 years old.