Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Hassan Tabatabaei Qomi (Arabic: حسن الطباطبايي القمي; Persian: حسن طباطبايى قمى; also Seyyed Hassan Qomi, 1912–2007) was a prominent Shia marja' who (despite his name) was born in Najaf but lived in Mashhad, Iran.
[1] He opposed the Pahlavi dynasty, but after the Iranian Revolution also repeatedly criticized velayat-e faqih -- the new doctrine of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini and because of this was kept under house arrest from 1984 until his death in 2007.
[citation needed] His younger brother Taqi Tabatabaei Qomi is also a Twelver Shia Marja'.
[2] Beside his house arrest and limited opportunity to lecture and advice students, his importance as a theological authority was also decreased by virtue of the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran has systematically promoted Qom throughout the past 30 years as a center of theological learning at the expense of the city of Mashhad.
He also commented on the election of Mohammad Khatami to the presidency in 1997 as an indication of the rejection of the Vilayat-e Faqih on the part of the Iranian people.