In his message on Tuesday, Ayatollah Khamenei expressed grief over the demise of Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi suffering from a long-standing painful illness.
The Leader also condoled with Ayatollah Shahroudi's wife, children, and the rest of his family, wishing God's mercy and forgiveness for the deceased cleric.
Here is the full text of his message:
In the Name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful,
"To Allah We belong, and to Him is our return" {Quran; 2:156}
I received, with sorrow and grief, the news of the demise of the great faqih, the chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council, Ayatollah Haj Sayyed Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi (May God grant him paradise). This heartbreaking loss, after about a year of fighting with a hard and painful disease, distressed all those who understand his status in wisdom and knowledge, and his valuable services to the Islamic establishment and to the seminaries’ fiqh, principle, and law bodies.
He was a great scholar in the seminary of Qom and a loyal official with the most important organizations of the Islamic Republic, an influential member of the Guardian Council, and a successful leader in the Expediency Discernment Council, and he left important scholarly works and blessings.
Additionally, he was the brother of three martyrs, as well as a great friend, disciple and companion of the prominent and imminent martyr, Seyyed Mohammad Baqer Al-Sadr.
On the passing of this prominent scholar, I would like to express condolences to his honored family, his respectable wife and children and his relatives, as well as the Qom Seminary and his pupils, colleagues and enthusiasts. I ask Allah the Exalted to bestow divine forgiveness and blessings on him and elevate his ranks [in the Heavens] to the highest.
Sayyed Ali Khamenei
December 25, 2018
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi passed away at Khatamolanbia Hospital in Tehran on Sunday at the age of 70 due to a digestive system problem late on Monday. The health condition of Ayatollah Shahroudi had turned worse since Sunday, and he was in the intensive care unit of for a digestive system problem; he had not attended Expediency Council's sessions since mid-summer and EDC Secretary, as recommended by doctors. The senior cleric was appointed by Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei as chairman of Expediency Council in 2017.
LR