His Eminence Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammad Ishaq Fayyaz, a senior Shia jurist and marja’, departed to the Divine Kingdom on Thursday(4 Jun 2026) morning at 96 years of age in a hospital in Baghdad.
In a statement, the office of this Shia marja’ declared: “It is with profound sadness and grief that we have learned of the demise of Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammad Ishaq Fayyaz . This comes following a life dedicated to serving the pristine faith, instructing in religious knowledge, cultivating learned men and virtuosos, laboring to propagate the doctrines of the Ahl al-Bayt, and elucidating the precepts of holy law.”
The passing of this righteous scholar is a great loss to religious seminaries and the community of believers at large, who benefited from his lofty religious and scholarly standing and the valuable scholarly works he left behind.
We ask Almighty God to grant him His vast mercy, to join him with Muhammad and his pure household, and to bestow patience upon his relatives, students, followers, and loved ones.
Grand Ayatollah Fayyaz was born in 1930 in Afghanistan and was one of the grand Shia sources of emulation (maraji’) and a teacher of advanced jurisprudence at the holy Najaf Seminary. He was also one of the close students of Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Abul-Qasim Khoei.