It was widely understood that he would soon replace Ayatollah Sadiq al-Shirazi as Marja, and succeed as the future head of the family.
[4] Born in Karbala, to Sayyid Muhammad al-Shirazi, and Zainab Maash,[5] he comes from the prominent al-Shirazi family of Shia scholars, who claim ancestry from Zayd ibn Ali, the son of the fourth Shiite Imam, Ali ibn Husayn.
[7] His education began at a very young age, he spent his basic levels of seminary studies at the hawza of Karbala.
Over there he spent his advanced levels of seminary studies, and excelled quickly under his father and uncle, as well as senior religious clerics such as Grand Ayatollah Vahid Khorasani and Mirza Jawad Tabrizi.
[10] Al-Shirazi was found dead in the kitchen of his home in Qom, in the early hours of Sunday, 1 June 2008.
[20] Al-Shirazi's funeral saw the attendance of many religious authorities as well as notable politicians including Ibrahim al-Jafari and Ahmed al-Chalabi.