Ayatullah Murtaza Mutahhari was born on February 2nd, 1920, in Farīmān, close to Mashhad in Eastern Iran. He began his formal religious studies at the teaching institution in Mashhad where he discovered his great love for philosophy, theology, and mysticism that came to shape his entire outlook on religion. He later went to Qum where he was able to benefit from the instruction of a wide range of scholars.

Ayatullah Gulpaygani 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 studied under Ayatullah Sayyed Muhammad Hassan Khonsari and Sayyed Muhammad Taqi Gawdhi. At the age of 19 years he went to the city of Arak, and joined the Madressa of Agha Sayyed Zayauldeen where he completed his initial studies, before joining the lessons of Usul Fiqh at the Dars-e-Kharij level taught by Ayatullah Abdul Karim Haeri Yazdi for three years.

Ayatullah al-Uzma Sayyid Abul-Qasim al-Khui was born in Rajab 15, 1317 A.H. (November 19, 1899) at Khu’i in Iranian Azerbaijan. Around the age of 13, he moved to Iraq and took up residence in Najaf where he began studying Shia theology with the scholars of that city. He attained the rank of Ayatollah and was subsequently recognized as a Marja. He continued to live in Najaf, becoming a teacher for the remainder of his life, and oversaw the studies of scholars who would be qualified to issue fatwas based on Shia theology.

Ayatollah al-Uzma Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei (born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia Marja' and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously President of Iran from 1981 to 1989.

Ayatollah Sayyid Ruhullah Musawi Khomeini, also called Imam Khomeini, was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which saw the overthrow of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

He was born in 1902 in Khomeyn, in what is now Iran's Markazi Province. He began studying the Quran and the Persian language from a young age and was assisted in his religious studies by his relatives, including his mother's cousin and older brother.

Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleghani (Persian: محمود طالقانی‎, 5 March 1911 – 9 September 1979) was a theologian and a senior Shi'a cleric in Iran.