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Ayatollah Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari (Persian: محمد کاظم شريعتمداري), also spelled Shariat-Madari (1905, Tabriz – 3 April 1986, Tehran), born to an Azeri family in Tabriz, he was among the most senior leading Shia clerics in Iran and Iraq and was known for his somewhat liberal views. After the death of Grand Ayatollah Borujerdi in 1962 he became one of the leading marjas, with followers in Iran, especially Pakistan, India, Lebanon, Kuwait and the southern Persian Gulf states. He recognized Ayatollah Khomeini as a Grand Ayatollah in 1963 and was a key participant in the Iranian Revolution. He later led one of the political factions against Khomeini and founded the Islamic People's Republican Party in 1979. He also headed the Center for Islamic Study and Publications and was the administrator of the Fatima Madrasa in Qum.

In April 1982, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh was arrested on charges of plotting with military officers and clerics to bomb Khomeini's home and to overthrow the state. Ghotbzadeh denied any intentions on Khomeini's life and claimed he had sought to change the government, not overthrow the Islamic Republic. He also implicated Ayatollah Shariatmadari, who, he claimed, had been informed of the plan and had promised funds and his blessings if the scheme succeeded. Shariatmadari's son-in-law, who served as an intermediary between Ghotbzadeh and the Ayatollah, was sentenced to a prison term and a propaganda campaign was mounted to discredit Shariatmadari. Because of his position as a mujtahid, he was not executed; but his party was disbanded, his Center for Islamic Study and Publications was closed, and he remained under house arrest until his death in 1986.

• Moojan Momen Shi'i Islam Yale University Press 1986
• Shaul Bakhash, Reign of the Ayatollahs, ISBN 0-465-06887-1
• Nikki Keddie, Modern Iran

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